Page 127 - WHO'S WHO OF DUDLEY ROTARY

father Sam and his uncle Fred continued the business, followed by Fred and his brother and, in
turn, Fred’s son Michael. Fred lived in Dudley all his life except during the War when he served
as a Driver in the Royal Army Service Corps. He saw action in France but was evacuated from
Brest (rather than Dunkirk) in June 1940 and spent the rest of the War in England. The firm
carried out stonework repairs for the Earls of Dudley at Witley Court and repaired the Dudley
family memorials in their private Garden of Remembrance at Himley, particularly during the
1960s, but the memorial of which he was most proud was that for celebrated footballer Duncan
Edwards, raised in Dudley and killed in the Munich air disaster of 1958. In Rotary he lived up to
the motto for his year as President: ‘Fellowship and Fun’ … as organiser of many social events
and a lively dancer. He headed the first party of Dudley Rotarians to visit our twin club, the
Rotary Club Côte des Légendes in Brest. He was a keen member of Enville Golf Club and lived in
Paganel Drive from 1963/4.

423 Thomas Norman PRICE (1915-1993) (Inducted 27.5.1968; left in June 1971.) Electric Light and
Power Installation. Proprietor of T Norman Price (Dudley) Ltd, electrical contractors based in
Hall Street, Dudley. He was raised in Lower Gornal and became a ‘breakdown and repair’
electrician as a young man, possibly working with his older brother who had the same trade. He
started his own electrical engineering business in Sedgley about 1957, moving it to High Street
Dudley by 1960, then Hall Street in 1967 and Dixons Green by 1974, where the firm remains
today. From the 1950s he lived at Goldthorn Park, Wolverhampton, and then at Edgbaston and
later Sutton Coldfield.

424 Harold Geoffrey (‘Geoff’) GROVES (1915-1995) (Inducted 21.10.1968;
President 1986-87; died December 1995 whilst still a member.) Education,
Secondary Schools. Headmaster of the Wrens Nest Secondary School from
1965, renamed Mons Hill School in 1975, until retiring in 1977. Geoff was
born in Holly Hall, Dudley and attended Holly Hall School, Dudley Grammar
School and Dudley Teacher Training College. His first job was as an
elementary school teacher until the War, when he served in the RAF from
April 1940, rising to Sergeant and qualifying as Physical Education
Instructor. He was released early, in September 1945, to resume teaching
at Northfield Road Secondary Modern School, Netherton as Sports teacher, later also Deputy
Head. From 1953 to the late 1950s he was Headmaster of the Wolverhampton Street School,
then Head of the Park Boys Senior School until moving to Wrens Nest in 1965.
He played football and cricket for many years. Whilst in the RAF, he played centre half for
Watford, Lincoln City, and Crystal Palace football teams. In 1948, as trainer for Dudley Town
Schoolboys’ Team, he coached the 12 year old Duncan Edwards, who soon went on to play for
England Schools, Manchester United and the full England team and was tragically killed in the
1958 Munich air crash.
In 1954, with Bill Merritt (member #310) and a friend, he obtained a patent for improved
cane hoops as used in gymnastics and for children’s play. These were originally manufactured
behind Bills’ sports shop in Dudley Arcade until Slazengers bought out the business. He later
joined Dudley Golf Club, reducing his handicap to single figures. He was very involved with the
process of resurrecting the fortunes of the Golf Club, including the move to its present home on
Turners Hill, becoming Captain and then a life president. He also joined Enville Golf Club where
he played until the early ’90s. He organised several very successful fund-raising Am-Am golf
tournaments for the Rotary club.

425 George Howard HARVEY (1918-2012) (Inducted 21.10.1968; President 1984-85; made a Paul
Harris Fellow 1999; died 31.12 2012 whilst still a member.) Local Government - Trading
Standards Officer. He was Chief Weights & Measures Inspector (and Petroleum Officer) for
Dudley from 1965, becoming Senior Trading Standards Officer with West Midlands County