IT WAS a romantic gesture that would have probably earned him the sack today. But rule-breaker Ted Smalley, 74, thought the view from the top of Hull Royal Infirmary's tower block was too much of a good thing to miss out on.
The bricklayer, who worked on the construction of the building in the 1960s, decided he would whisk his then-girlfriend up to the top of the newly built block for a view out across the city.
Ted took Carole, now his wife, to the top of the tower block while he was working on the site, and believes she was the first woman in Hull to go up there.
"I was courting her at the time, so I decided to see if I could smuggle her up to the top," said Ted, who lives with Carole in Anlaby.
"We went up the stairs and then got to the top so she could have a look around.
"I imagine she was the first woman up on the top of the roof, as we were still working on it.
"Nowadays, you would be sacked for doing that."
Carol, now 68, says it was an incredibly romantic gesture.
She said: "When I went to meet him, he was waiting at the top for me and waving.
"He then came down to meet me and took me up there.
"I've never forgotten it, I remember it like it was yesterday.
"I looked out across all the city and spotted our house. It was very romantic."
Ted was one of hundreds of construction workers who helped build the tower block at Hull Royal Infirmary.
He believes he worked on it from about July 1964 to March 1966.
Today – September 25 – marks 50 years since the foundation stone for the building was laid by MP Enoch Powell.
Although Ted did not attend the foundation stone laying, or the official opening of the hospital by the Queen in 1967, he does remember working on the site.
"I was working with a mate on the university site, brick laying there, when he said he was going to the hospital job," said Ted.
"The money was one and sixpence an hour extra on top of the basic wage, which in those days was an incredible amount – it was terrific money for me.
"I was about 24 or 25 at the time when I started working there."
Ted, who also worked on one of city's other tallest buildings, Hull College, said the work was carried out in two main stages.
One set of workers was in charge of putting up the big main walls, while Ted's team followed behind them, doing smaller bits they had left behind.
"We worked Monday to Friday from 7.30am to 6pm, so it was long days," said Ted.
"Saturdays were 7.30am to 4pm and we also did alternate Sundays.
"On Sundays, we got double the rate but we had to show we had done lots of work to make sure we got offered the following fortnight's Sunday.
"I was saving up to get married, so I needed all the money I could get."
Today, the tower block is undergoing resurfacing works as part of a major revamp by Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust.
Anyone walking past the hospital can spot workers a mile off – with their hard hats and high-vis jackets.
They are also surrounded by netting and barriers to prevent them from falling off the scaffolding and exterior lifts.
But Ted, who has saved some photographs he took while working on the site, had a very different uniform.
His pictures show him in a flat cap and work boots, leaning on just one bar of scaffolding, positioned at waist height, to prevent him from falling.
He said: "In winter, it got incredibly cold at the top.
"Once, the wind was that bad, they had to take us off. It was ghastly."
Old photographs are not just kept at Ted's home. The hospital has a vast collection of archived pictures, records and documents, presided over by Mike Pearson.
He often shows history groups around the hospital's collection – which includes a visitors book signed by the Queen, the trowel used by Enoch Powell to lay the foundation stone, and photographs of the Royal visit.
"I'm a big history fan, I wouldn't have lasted without being that," said Mike.
"We're going to be opening up the archives on the hospital Innovation Day on Friday, so everyone is welcome to come along and take a look."
Mike says Hull Royal Infirmary was actually named eight months after opening, and was known as Western General Hospital before then.
When pressed for a favourite piece in the archive collection, he says: "There is a manuscript from 1698 from the workhouses.
"I just love it because it is so old – and is 81 pages of handwritten script.
"It is fascinating."
