How long are you thinking of staying in your present job? A year? Two? Meet Herbie Wainwright, who joined the staff of the Mid Ocean Club not long after the Second World War ended, and has worked there more or less ever since. He began his career with the Club before motor vehicles were allowed on Bermuda's roads and well before Bermuda had television.

Mr. Wainwright's first couple of years were spent in the Club's pantry, and then he spent some time as a caddy, enjoying the outdoor life. For the last 50 years straight, since 1958, Mr. Wainwright has worked in the golf club's locker room.

His duties changed when the original Club building, opened in 1921, was replaced in the early 1970s. In the original locker room, Mr. Wainwright's duties included serving food at four tables, for golfers who wanted a relatively quick meal before heading out onto the links. A golf club locker room includes showers and a changing area, together with lockers for the players to store their kit and clubs in. Ladies have their own locker room, naturally.

"Sometimes, in the old days, I'd have to serve food in the ladies' locker room," Mr. Wainwright recalled. "I'd have to go in sideways," he said, to avoid seeing women changing their clothes. "One woman used to say 'Come on, get on with it, have you never seen a naked woman before?'"

Pressing clothes and shining shoes were also among Mr. Wainwright's duties. "I looked after Archie Compston, who was the professional here, took care of all his stuff," he said, stretching his mind back over the years. "Times were different then, of course."

Mr. Wainwright was in great demand as a bartender, up in Tucker's Town. "That's when I fell in love with this job, and knew that these people really wanted to have me around," he said.

"When I first got the job, it was just a job. But once I got here to the locker room, I really felt like part of the family."

Mr. Wainwright has worked and caddied for every general manager of the Club since 1957, and fondly remembers attending to many of Bermuda's most famous names when they took time out for a round of golf. Today, along with the Club's members, local and international, he is responsible for maintaining the lockers of the golfers who come to Bermuda for the annual Grand Slam of Golf, being held at the Mid Ocean Club for the second time next month.

"Last year, I had to supply 12 lockers, two each for the four pros who played the Grand Slam, plus one each for the caddies," Mr. Wainwright said. "Part of what I do is to I keep my eyes on the lockers while everything is going on."

Mr. Wainwright has attended to more than his share of famous golfers in that time, including such greats as Sam Snead, Dutch Harrison, Gene Sarazen and Mason Rudolph.

Although what goes on at a private club such as the Mid Ocean stays there, Mr. Wainwright does remember one occasion when a call was received from the ADC at Government House, "to say that His Excellency Sir Julian Gascoigne was coming down to play golf with Mr. Compston, and would like to eat in the locker room, before they started playing. I was told that Sir Julian would like a fresh fruit plate, and Mr. Compston would like a cheese and onion sandwich on brown bread, a glass of beer and a glass of water. They had to be Bermuda onions.

"Suddenly, the maître d', a German fellow called Rudi, appears in the locker room with a tablecloth. Mr. Compston arrived and removed the tablecloth. He wasn't having a tablecloth in the locker room!"

Mr. Wainwright even recalls serving drinks in the shower, in the old days.

"'Can you get me a Scotch and water?', someone might call out from the shower," Mr. Wainwright said.

He is reticent to share more recent details, although he does acknowledge that times have changed in the 50 years he has worked in the locker room.

Mr. Wainwright lived on the premises for a while. "I admit I shed a few tears when they knocked the old building down", he said. He lives in Devonshire now, with his wife Gladys. They have a son, Dion, and a daughter, Donna.

Although at 77, he is past any official retirement age, Mr. Wainwright intends to continue working. He is a big West Indies cricket fan.

"I just love the game" said Mr. Wainwright, who played for Flatts in the County Cup, and Social Club.