Gornal News & Goings On

NEWS

John Newey of Summit Garage (update 16/8/03 email from Ian Cunningham at foot of article) John Newey Gornal lost another well known character last Tuesday when John Newey, boss of Summit Garage on the Himley Road, died suddenly aged 65, from a heart attack while at his desk. Sons John and Nick, fellow Directors of the company like father and grandfather before them, told the Dudley News that their father had been busy at his computer minutes before his death. John jr. paid tribute to a no-nonsense chap who strived to keep the company at the forefront of technology, saying: "Dad was never afraid to speak his mind and people respected him for it and he was a hard-working bloke. He didn't stand being messed about, called a spade a spade and believed in paying up and being paid." Here at Yampy we can vouch both for John Snr.'s interest in technology and his business nous. When we first launched the Yampy concept we called at Summit to try to sell our web site design package and advertising space. John kindly gave us his time without prior appointment, and was interested in our project, but explained that he handled Summit's web site personally. As for the advertising, he told us that he already spent thousands on publicity and said that, while appreciating that we were only after ten quid, "you've got to stop somewhere, haven't you?"! This tragedy comes just weeks after another stalwart of the Gornal auto trade with a proud family tradition, Henry Raybould, lost his life trying to stop a car theft at his premises (click here for article). * * * Ian Cunningham writes: Sad to see the item about the sudden death of John Newey. We bought Suncroft in Himley Road from John's parents when they moved down the road beyond High Arcal so knew the family well. Happy memories of going to the All-in-Wrestling in Birmingham with John's Mum and Dad. Discovered the website by chance today and will certainly re-visit often. Ian was a Gornal G.P., first at the old surgery at the top of Water Road and then at Bull Street.

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