Norman Shortland
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• If you're feeling a little out of sorts this morning then there is no better man for you to meet than Norman Shortland. Last Friday we announced his retirement for health reasons from his post as chairman of Mortons (BRS) Ltd. The following day he became a director of Wyndon Motors (Coventry) Ltd, a local body repair company.
It is almost 12 months since Norman Shortland had his coronary, but now he is walking three miles each day and, in addition, playing nine holes of golf. Believe it or not, he said: "I am giving myself another year to be back to peak fitness."
Physical and mental fitness are vitally important to Norman Shortland who has played both amateur and professional cricket for Warwickshire and was awarded his county cricket cap in 1946. In the winter he played centre three-quarter for Nuneaton Rugby Club and for the County, and as a schoolboy he was capped as scrum half for England v. Wales.
Soccer club directors will tell you that theirs is the most coronary-inducing activity. Norman sees things differently because only recently he became a director of Coventry City Football Club. In fact, he joined the board on the same day as Sir Jack Scamp.
Although he has retired as chairman of Mortons, which he joined as an office boy 37 years ago, Norman will carry on his association with State transport as a director and part-time marketing consultant with Cartransport (BRS) Ltd, and his experience in the industry should prove invaluable in his new role.
Back in 1962 his Mortons fleet was 70-strong: by the time it was acquired by BRS in 1968 there were 220 vehicles. One is inclined to associate all of the BRS activities with haulage at home, but Norman Shortland pioneered European operations.
In 1970 his company won contracts from Chrysler and Ford worth a total of 44-rr 1, due in no small measure to the amount of personal attention that Norman Shortland gave to the job. The personal touch and attention to detail are very much part of Norman Shortland's character. He is never too busy or too tired to talk about transport from any angle. It seems that the only period in his life when he has not been involved in transport was when he served as a staff captain with the 8th Army in ttne
Western Desert. I.S.