Dennis Cooper
Owner of The Brandon Brewery
Dennis was born & educated in Northern Ireland. On leaving school in 1965 he followed in his father’s footsteps, as did many other young men in the city, and secured an apprenticeship as a Toolmaker with Short Bros. & Harland Aircraft Factory. In 1967 his employers entered him in the International Apprentice Competition & he was awarded the gold medal for Northern Ireland. After completing his apprenticeship he worked in the Jig & Tool Design Office.
In 1969 Dennis joined the Ulster Division of the Royal Navy Reserve. The Belfast headquarters was HMS Caroline, a fast cruiser which had seen action in the Battle of Jutland during the First World War. Thereafter weekends were spent at sea, working as a mechanical engineer on HMS Kilmorie, a coastal minesweeper. During this period Dennis spent time at HMS Sultan in Portsmouth, where he had the opportunity to take the Royal Navy Trade Test & therefore attain the rank of Petty Officer. He received the Hubert Humphrey award in recognition of his Trade Test results.
In 1972 the “troubles” in Belfast were escalating & Dennis decided to join the Merchant Navy & was employed by British India ( part of P&O’s General Cargo Division ) as an Engineering Officer. At this time in his life he was more interested in the consumption of beer than in brewing it. His years at sea took him to many countries in the Middle East, the Far East & Africa. While on Foreign Service there were trips to Australia & New Zealand, where he spent 18 months ashore.
In 1978 he married, left the Merchant Navy & moved to rural East Anglia. Work in the area was scarce but he was able to find employment, in various companies, as a toolmaker. During his spare time he now started to brew beer at home. In 1981 he joined Sceptre Engineering who made tooling for the car industry. Sceptre Engineering were subsequently taken over by a major American company specialising in the manufacture of machine tools. Two years later he was offered a job in the Cost Estimating Office which led to promotion as Office Manager, a responsible position as the company’s turnover was now 50,000,000 a year. This was followed by a further promotion to Contract Administration Manager. After 15 years a major internal reorganisation gave Dennis the opportunity to downshift & accept redundancy.
From 1996 onwards Dennis helped his wife run a small cottage nursery & worked part-time at a local micro-brewery helping with general maintenance, cask washing, bottling etc. He then built a micro brewery for another company & on completion started working for them as a brewer.
In 2005 he built the Brandon Brewery.
Dennis has many interests & hobby’s but of late very little time to pursue them. They include……………
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Drinking Beer
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Reading
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Archaeology
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Taxidermy
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Walking
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Bird Watching
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