Mike had been battling ill health for many years but continued to demonstrate the mischievous side of his nature throughout. He cheerfully tackled his health problems by regularly regaling to his friends and colleagues with the latest score in the match he called “Mike v Nature,” describing, in a detailed and scientific manner, the many treatments being tried and the consequential side effects.
Mike and his younger brother Graham were raised in a flat in the Portswood area of Southampton. Mike had a strict Catholic upbringing, was educated at St Mary’s Catholic School, and was an altar boy at the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church. He then progressed to Manchester University, where he obtained a BSc, MSc, and PhD in Chemistry. During vacations, he briefly spent time “On the Buses” for Southampton City Transport but more time following in the footsteps of his grandfather, father, and uncles before him, working on a Union Castle Ship, the last member of the Inkson family to do so.
On leaving university, Mike’s sugar career started with Tate & Lyle Research and Development, based in the Philip Lyle Building at the University of Reading; amongst other projects, he endeavoured to produce a drill-bit lubricant from sugar products. When T&L’s R&D closed, he transferred to T&L Enterprises / Engineering based in Bromley, from where he was soon seconded to the Triangle Estate in Zimbabwe. It was there that he met his soulmate, Win; later they moved to Durban, where they married. His role at Triangle was managing an expansion to increase the capacity of Triangle Sugar Factory to match additional cane availability as new cane fields were being developed. This involved installing additional cane processing and upgrading the factory, boiler, and powerhouse. His responsibilities included the design, selection of bidders, adjudication of tenders, installation, commissioning and handover to the operational team. Mike was highly proficient and dedicated to undertaking these responsibilities, setting the seal for his ongoing career. Mike then joined T&L Agribusiness, based in Bromley but working mainly in South Africa, followed by T&L International, mainly in Miami, until the closure of the Bromley Offices in 1992. His skills were not limited to sugar technology and engineering, he was also very innovative in writing programs in the early days of computers.
After the Bromley office closure, Mike began his new career with SKIL (Sugar Knowledge International) and TES (Thermal Energy Systems) as CEO and a very illustrious career, too, judging by the commissions he gained and the many scientific papers that he authored and co-authored. Mike was an excellent and humorous presenter of papers and won many awards. He was a past president of the British Society of Sugar Technologists (BSST) and brought in many new ideas, not least the closer ties with the sugar beet industry, which resulted in a name change from BSSCT to BSST. He was also involved with ISSCT in the (Co-Products Commission), S.I.T. (Sugar Industry Technologists), and other institutions.
I have heard many adjectives used to describe Mike: brilliant, intelligent, thoughtful, innovative, generous, kind, a prodigious work ethic, very fine man, superb colleague, caring and creative, modest and unassuming, but a common thread throughout has been fun-loving, mischievous and party animal, traits that he shared with Win. In Zimbabwe, he formed an Aero Club where a 2-seater Cessna was acquired along with an instructor to teach up to PPL, numerous braais (barbeques) and Burns Nights; on the closure of the TLA office in Bromley, he organised a very memorable wake on T&L’s historic “May” sugar barge motoring along the river Thames in front of T&L’s Thames Refinery. As BSST President, he organised an Autumn Technical Meeting at the bulk sugar terminal in Calais, arranging for the demonstration of a “controlled” sugar dust explosion using a transparent pressurised cylinder and just a spoonful of sugar dust on ignition, the flames shot through the paper bursting disc and had the glass chandeliers dancing overhead in the Calais yacht club much to everyone’s shock and amusement, clearly demonstrating the dangers of dust explosions and was so good that Mike organised an encore at the next BSST AGM in London.
Both Mike and Win’s sense of fun was most vividly demonstrated by the wonderful parties that they threw with only minimal justification being needed, at Chelsfield and latterly in their extensive garden in Peasmarsh, where his engineering skills were amply exhibited in his construction of a ‘ruined’ Abbey and a lake. The parties included Jazz Festivals, multiple Anniversaries, Burns Nights, and Easter Egg Hunts; the eggs were mostly of glass construction with labels such as Gordons, Johnny Walker and Captain Morgan.
Mike will be sadly missed by all those who were fortunate enough to meet him and whose lives he touched; we hope you are still able to enjoy cooking boerewors on a braai, accompanied by some fine wines.
Alan N. Mead
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