Pioneering cement works boss, 90, dies (From The Northern Echo)

Pioneering cement works boss, 90, dies

8:00am Wednesday 22nd February 2012 in Crook & Weardale News

TRIBUTES have been paid to a former cement works boss who brought a touch of magic to children in a dale.

Shaun Reid, described as an adventurous pioneer of the British cement industry, spent 12 years as works manager of the Blue Circle plant in Weardale, County Durham.

Away from the plant, he liked nothing better than entertaining children at the local Sunday school with tricks he had learnt as a member of a magic circle.

Mr Reid, 90, who was born at Portadown, Northern Ireland, died last week in hospital in Derbyshire. He leaves a son, John, and daughter, Janette.

His wife, Megan, who shared his life in retirement in the North Derbyshire village of Baslow, died in 2003.

His funeral service will take place in Baslow Methodist Church at 11am today and will be followed by a reception at Chatsworth House.

Mr Reid studied engineering at Campbell College, Belfast, and started work as an apprentice on the railways in Northern Ireland, where he remained for five years before being called up to serve in the Home Guard during the Second World War.

In 1947, he moved to Kent to work at a cement works, moving north 18 months later to Humberside to take up a post at a plant.

He later became works manager and met his wife, Megan, a secretary in Blue Circle’s offices in Hull.

In 1967, they moved to Eastgate, in Weardale, where Mr Reid worked as manager until 1979. At that time, Blue Circle employed about 350 men. It closed ten years ago after being taken over by the Lafarge group.

Mr Reid’s daughter, Janette, recalled how her mother used to take classes at the Sunday school at Eastgate Methodist Chapel.

She said: “Dad used to turn up to entertain the children with the bag of tricks he learnt as a member of Hull Magic Circle. They loved it.”

After leaving Weardale, Mr Reid took on a role as technical advisor with Blue Circle in London, which led him to work in Mexico and Indonesia, helping to establish Blue Circle as a world force in cement production.

Former management colleague Richard Sams said that first impressions of Mr Reid were of a quiet, mild-mannered manager, but he said: “This belied his real ability to be very effective and highly regarded.”

Mr Reid retired from the cement industry as works manager of the Blue Circle plant at Hope, in Derbyshire, in 1980.

His daughter said: “My parents loved the scenery and lifestyle in Weardale and had a lot of contact with the farming community, with Blue Circle helping sponsor Stanhope Agricultural Show.

“They were very proud to be part of Weardale life.”