Page 158 - WHO'S WHO OF DUDLEY ROTARY

for clients. Yates found that daily commuting from Cheshire was too onerous so withdrew from
Birmingham leaving John to continue on his own and change the name to Madeley Computer
Systems in 1985. He moved offices to Castle Street, Dudley in about 1990. John fell off a ladder
whilst pruning conifers in his garden in 2013 and fractured his spine. He spent six weeks in
Oswestry lying flat on his back and fortunately the spine healed itself. However the accident
prompted him to work from home.
In his younger days John was a keen sportsman, including playing cricket for Netherton and
football for Dudley Town Youths. He continues to be a keen supporter of Aston Villa football
team.

527 Roger Winston BANNISTER (1954- ) (Inducted 6.2.1989; left July 1990.)
Pattern Making Engineering. Director and Chief Executive Officer of
Pressvess Ltd, now Pressvess (international) Limited, of Stallings Lane,
Kingswinford, one of the UK’s leading fabricators of industrial tanks,
pressure vessels and storage silos. Most recently Pressvess has become
Europe’s leading manufacturer of kilns and retorts for making charcoal for
cooking. Roger is also CEO of Merlin Asphalt Mixers Ltd, which he bought
in 2017, and has been Managing Director of numerous other industrial
companies including R & B Pattern Makers, Dust Suppression (UK) Ltd,
Engineering Excellence (UK) Ltd, and Eorocrane, and various property-related ventures including
Capital First Property Investments, Silver Rent, and Gospel End Care Home. He was raised in the
Rowley Regis area and attended Britannia High School. His early ambition was to be a jewellery
designer and maker but he started his engineering business at the age of 22 or 23. He has lived
in Cot Lane, Wordsley since the early 1980s.

528 Martyn ALLEN (1945-1998) (Inducted 20.2.1989; left in 1989/90.) Finance, Banking, Local.
Manager of the Midland Bank branch, 226 High Street, Dudley but his home was in Studley,
South Warwickshire so perhaps his appointment was only temporary. He was born in Dudley
but moved to Epping, Essex in about 1970 before returning to the Midlands 12 years later.

529 John Michael ROBINSON (1944-2015) (Inducted 27.2.1989; President 2002-03; left 5.7.2006.)
Insurance, General. Agent for Prudential Assurance based at Birmingham
Street, Dudley until 1995, and then a self-employed Insurance broker with
the new classification ‘Insurance - Life & General’. In 1998 he changed
again to ‘Recruitment Services’, still working on his own account from his
home in Wordsley. He was brought up and worked in Wednesbury before
coming to the Dudley area. He transferred to the Dudley Rotary Club from
the Wednesbury Club. In his earlier years he was a keen guitarist and
singer with a group called The Invaders. He was an active freemason, a
member of a craft lodge in Edgbaston for many years until it was
disbanded in 2012 when he joined the Priory Lodge, Dudley. He was a trustee, and Chairman
from 2005, of the Dudley Church of England Schools Foundation, supporting the Bluecoat,
Netherton and St Johns Schools.

530 Charles Ernest ASHTON (1950?- ) (Inducted 27.2.1989; left in 1991/92.) Restaurants. Owner
of The Gallery Restaurant, Bridgnorth Road, Wollaston, Stourbridge. The restaurant closed quite
soon after he left the club. He then, with his partner, took over The Limes Hotel on Hagley Road,
Pedmore, a small bed-and-breakfast hotel, which has continued successfully since. For more
than 20 years he lived in Wordsley but moved to Wollaston in 2009.