By Carmelo Garcia – Local Democracy Reporter
Ebley Mill fell silent last night and tributes were paid to Renishaw co-founder Sir David McMurtry and former Stroud District Councillor John Jeffreys.
Councillors paid their respects to the co-founder of engineering firm Renishaw who died at the age of 84, the company confirmed earlier this month.
Sir David McMurtry set up the Wotton-under-Edge-based firm with business partner John Deer in April 1973.
The company, which makes precision measuring equipment for industries such as aerospace, automotive and energy, employs around 2,600 staff in Gloucestershire as well as a similar number internationally.
The business also has sites in Charfield, Stonehouse, Woodchester and Old Town.
And tributes were paid to former Conservative Councillor John Jeffreys who served 11 years on Stroud District Council. He died peacefully at Tewkesbury Hospital on October 30.
District Council Chairman Kate Kay (G, Nailsworth) led the tributes at the full council meeting on December 19.
“John was elected in 2000 for the Nailsworth District ward. During his time in office, he served as cabinet member for housing, health and wellbeing, and leisure and culture,” she said.
“The thoughts of the whole council are with his friends and family this evening, and I wondered if there were any members who would wish to pay any tribute to John in the course of this meeting.”
Tory group leader Lindsey Green (G, Berkeley Vale) said she did not know Cllr Jeffreys but many of her colleagues did.
“As the chair of councilors just said, I would offer their deepest condolences to all of his friends and family.”
Former Stroud MP David Drew (L, Stroud Central) praised Cllr Jeffreys and said residents were immensely grateful for the work he did.
“John, and we had some interesting discussions over the years,” the Labour Councillor said.
“We didn’t always see eye to eye, but the thing he was passionate about was actually representing his ward and also this council, and he did feel passionately also about council housing.
“So it is something given that he was on the other side of the divide that I was immensely grateful for.
“I couldn’t attend his funeral, sadly. But I know some of the tenant reps have been in touch with me.
“To say how much they valued his expertise and his involvement, it just shows that sometimes party politics can be transcended with issues where people are more concerned about the common values that we all share.”
Council leader Catherine Bruan (G, Wotton-under-Edge) echoed the comments and praised the former cabinet member’s contributions to the authority.
Cllr Kay said it was important for the council to recognise the efforts of Sir David McMurtry and the importance of Renishaw for Stroud District.
“Its heart has been in the Stroud district since Sir David and John Deer founded the business in 1973, and Renishaw now employs more than 5,000 people in 36 countries and the thoughts of the whole council are with his family, friends, and colleagues.
Cllr Drew said he was very moved by Sir David’s death. “David wasn’t only a genius,” he said.
“He could have saved Rolls-Royce, but they decided that probes were no future.
“So he came over and set his own company up Renishaw and I think they’ve done rather better than Rolls-Royce subsequently.
“He was a very humble man. The thing about David is that he would never talk about his own greatness, even though right to the very end he would be still looking at the designs coming through and sign them all off into his 80s.
“When we hit the problems in 2009, and I managed to get some money to help both Renishaw and what was then Delphi, he was always very personally indebted to me.
“There are very few people that you really feel that you’re with greatness when you sit down. But he was there, but he never thought about himself.
“He always thought about the company, his employees. He hated the City of London. It was the worst decision he said he would ever have made to have gone public with his company.
“In his case, he really did feel that what he wanted to see was British manufacturing, always given the place it should be, which is, you know, the history of the workshop of the world. So I am very sad.
“I’ve written to Lady McMurtry just to talk about some of my experiences with him. He’s responsible for thousands of our constituents, thousands, you know, we’ve got three plants in the district.
“He was forever being chased by the Welsh Development Agency. In the end, he did go over with one plant over there, but he kept it here because he said ‘my loyalty is to the Stroud district’, and there are very few people that you can say that about.”
Liberal Democrat group leader Linda Cohen (LD, Wotton-under-Edge) said the council owes him a great debt. “He was a visionary,, and he was also a philanthropist in the truest sense of the word,” she said.
“He did so much not only to improve the prospects of the district,, but also to support the community in which he operated, and as I say, the list goes on and on, small community projects, housing, just the buildings.
“It was always done with the greatest care and real regard, and only about a fortnight before he died, I was at an event at his house and he was still there hosting events for raising funds for cancer care.
“And so to the last, he was supporting people in his community and he was the biggest, they were the biggest private employers in the county, and we owe him a great debt.
Cllr Green said she completely echoed the previous comments. “The work that he and his company have done for our future engineers as well as the work that he or the company has done with local schools and STEM days, I think we all owe him a huge debt of gratitude.
“My huge condolences to everyone that has ever been touched by this man who, you know, I don’t think I need to say it is, is just irreplaceable.”
And Cllr Braun also said Sir David McMurtry played a huge role in the district.
“He always had a twinkle in his eye, and I think even seeing him in his 80s, speaking with such great passion about a brand new engineering project was just fabulous,” she said.
“And I’d only known him for a few years really, and I know so many people across the district have really lasting bonds and friendships with with him and his family and the whole of the Renishaw family. I just wanted to say how pleased I was to see all the tributes in the local press to him, and I hope that does give heart to his family and to his colleagues.
“The manufacturing industry has lost a great innovator, and many at Renishaw have lost a father figure and a friend, and I know many people in our communities will feel that they’ve lost a friend too.”
All those present in the council chamber observed a minute’s silence in honour of both men.