Page 132 - WHO'S WHO OF DUDLEY ROTARY

in Solihull. He was then made regional sales director for British Gas North West but by the early
1980s he had become Director of Sales for the whole of British Gas plc, for which he was made
an OBE at New Year 1988. He retired from the gas industry a few years later to village of
Brockenhurst in the middle of the New Forest, Hampshire, but continued as a Management
Consultant. He was soon appointed a board member of Hampshire Enterprise, Hampshire
Training and Enterprise Council, the Hampshire Foundation for Young Musicians, the Winchester
Diocesan Board of Finance and his local church council and a housing association. He grew up
and his early career was in the North Manchester area. He then worked at the Warwickshire
Division of West Midlands Gas, Coventry before coming to Dudley.

442 John SHIPWAY (1934- ) (Inducted 16.11.1970; left in 1978/79.) Catering Service. Director of
Shipway Brothers (Caterers) Ltd based at The Lodge restaurant in Wellington
Road, Dudley. He started in event catering with his brother Les in the late
1950s but the business grew rapidly so they formed the limited company in
1962. They also owned The Lodge, meeting place of the Rotary Club from
1989, and home of numerous masonic lodges. John retired in 1995 but
remained a director of Shipway Caterers until 1998. Their father Leonard was
a publican, so John was born in the White Hart, Paradise Street, Birmingham.
The family moved to Dudley in 1939, first to the Crown & Anchor in New Hall
Street and then The Woolpack, Castle Street from c.1941. His father also took over the Saracens
Head Hotel in 1946 and was licensee until his death in 1959. John started at Dudley Grammar
School in 1945, having won a Jesson’s Scholarship ... which meant his parents were excused the
£5 a term fees! He left the grammar school in 1950 and joined Percy Hill’s menswear
manufacturing firm ‘Pathfinder’. In September 1952 he was called up for National Service and
spent the next two years with the Worcestershire Regiment. He was granted a commission,
being promoted to Lieutenant, and saw service for 11 months with the Royal West African
Frontier Force in Sierra Leone. He returned to Pathfinder for short period, although he
continued in the Regular Army Reserve of Officers, becoming 2nd In Command of a Training
Battalion. After Pathfinder he joined Swift & Co., wholesale meat suppliers at Birmingham Meat
Market. From there he moved for a short time to Cannock-based frozen food distributor MKG
Foods (because he was offered a car and £10 per week). From MKG he branched out with his
brother Les, catering at first at weddings and smaller events, then at agricultural shows, trade
fairs, etc., and eventually at British embassies from Paris to Moscow and even for the Russian
government. He and Les were also directors of several other catering-related companies: Dudley
Catering Company, Dudley Catering Equipment Services, Swift 1087, and Shows and Parties
Limited. He lived for many years at View Drive, Oakham, and has now retired to Hagley.

443 Robert (‘Bob’) John ROOKE (1918-2006) (Inducted 5.4.1971; left 1973/74.) Chief Fire Officer for
the Borough of Dudley from 1968 until his retirement, presumably in 1973. He was born in
London. After naval service in the Second World War, he joined the Surrey Fire Brigade in 1949;
Hertfordshire in 1957; then Oxfordshire in 1964. He moved to the Isle of Wight as Chief Fire and
Ambulance Officer in 1965 before coming to Dudley. He appears to have retired back to the Isle
of Wight.

444 Leonard (‘Len’) Roy LEWIS (1921-2006) (Inducted 5.4.1971; resigned 27.2.1978 on changing his
business.) Metal Spraying. Director, then Managing Director from 1974 (in succession to Eric
Bulley, member #340) of Metallisation Service Ltd, Peartree Lane, Dudley. He was also a director
of the parent group Charles Clifford Industries from 1969. Before joining Metallisation he was a
steel works general manager, but his first job on leaving school was as a wholesale clothiers
clerk. He was born and lived in the Dudley area all his life, from 1969 at Wall Heath.