Former Bahrain residents with links to Awali recently gathered together in the UK, as highlighted in the GDN, and news editor Sandeep Singh Grewal caught up with one British expatriate who was born and brought up in the kingdom and one of many who carry their extraordinary experiences with them throughout their lives.
A Bahrain resident has fondly recalled growing up in Awali in the late 1950s and early 1960s and witnessing the kingdom develop over the years creating a fascinating juxtaposition of old and new.
Bill Murray was born in 1958 in Awali Hospital and in his early years grew up in the once bustling oil town (Awali) that was built by Bapco in the 1930s.
He was the youngest as his two brothers – Jimmy, 72, and David,70 – were also born in the same hospital in Bahrain.
“Awali stood as a self-contained community, a haven for expatriate workers and their families,” said Mr Murray.
“The town was a curious blend of British suburban planning and Arabian architectural influences.”
“Each home was equipped with modern amenities, a luxury in many parts of the world at that time, let alone in the middle of the Arabian desert.”
Awali was the first modern self-contained township in Bahrain when it was constructed in 1934. Since then it has remained an integral part of the Bapco community and holds the distinction of being the first in the region to have central air-conditioning and a central sewage system.
The Murray family, like many British expatriates, was drawn to Bahrain by the promise of well-paid work in the booming oil industry and the opportunity for an exotic lifestyle.
His father Jim was picked by Standard Oil of California to go to Bahrain when they were building the Refinery as a Turbine Specialist in the late 1940’s. He worked for 34 years with Bapco.
“Like many other families at the time, we maintained many British customs such as gathering around a shortwave radio to listen to BBC broadcasts, keeping up with news from home,” said the 66-year-old.
“Tea time would have been observed religiously, with imported PG Tips or Typhoo tea leaves brewed to perfection.”
Mr Murray still remembers the call to prayer echoing five times a day, the aroma of Arabic coffee and cardamom wafting from neighbouring Bahraini homes, the chatter of Arabic, Hindi, and various European languages in the local Suq – all of which formed the backdrop of his childhood.
The British resident recalls studying at the Awali School which followed a British curriculum, ensuring that children like himself could seamlessly transition back into the UK education system upon returning home.
However, the school experience in Awali would have been far from typical.
“Lessons might have been interrupted by sudden sandstorms, turning the sky an eerie orange,” he said.
“Physical education classes could involve swimming in the warm waters of the Arabian Gulf rather than in a traditional pool.
“Weekends for the family involved trips to the beaches of Muharraq or Sitra, where the warm, shallow waters of the Gulf provided a perfect playground.”
He left Bahrain at the age of 12 to a boarding school in Scotland, but would visit ‘home’ every holiday.
The oil and gas sector pulled him closer after graduating and he worked for Loffland Brothers in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia drilling the Khuff Gas Well and later moved to Parker Drilling Company in Kuwait.
He was injured in 1978 while working at the Burgan Oil and gas field as the rig blew up after hitting high pressure resulting in serious injuries that required him to be airlifted to an Orthopaedic hospital in Glasgow, Scotland.
Mr Murray recovered and worked in several countries before returning back to Bahrain 13 years ago as a consultant throughout the Middle East and North Africa.
He left Bahrain in 2022 and is currently in ‘good spirits’ and full of determination facing a new health challenge undergoing cancer treatment at The Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre in Glasgow.
His wife, Anne Marie, and their son, Brendan, 34, live in US sunshine state of Florida. She teaches special needs children and flies back and forth to Scotland.
“Living in Bahrain exposed me to a rich tapestry of cultural experiences such as festivities of Eid Al Fitr, Ramadan feasts and family gatherings and Bahrain national day celebrations,” he added.
“There was a time of rapid development from the 1950s and early 1960s which included construction of the first bridging causeway connecting Bahrain to the island of Muharraq in 1964, a marvel of engineering at the time.
“New buildings rose in the capital, Manama, and cars began to replace donkeys on the streets.”
Today, Mr Murray looks back on his early years in Awali, and recalls the shimmer of heat rising from the desert sands, the taste of fresh dates and the sound of Arabic chatter in the suq.
He is an active member of a group of former residents known as the Awali Teenagers made up of people who spent their childhood mainly in Awali from the 1950s to 1980s.
They recently held a reunion in Manchester, the UK which Mr Murray attended.
Officials from the Bahrain Embassy, Bapco representatives and Bahraini postgraduate students studying in British universities attended the event which marked the fifth reunion of the group since its inception in 2008.
More than160 guests flew in from across the globe, rekindling fond memories and reflecting their deep sense of belonging and enduring affection for Bahrain and its people.
“I think my story, like many others, is a testament to the complex and rich experiences of expatriate families in the mid-20th century,” he said.
“It offers a glimpse into a unique time and place – when the oil industry was bringing people from around the world to the shores of the Arabian Gulf, creating multicultural communities in unexpected places, and shaping the lives of children who would carry these extraordinary experiences of Bahrain with them throughout their lives.”
sandy@gdnmedia.bh
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