90th birthday party celebrates founder of major Gloucestershire family firm

One of Gloucestershire’s biggest family businesses, Hewer Facilities Management, is set to host a rather special open day in April 2022 to celebrate its founder’s 90th birthday.

By Andrew Merrell | Published Tuesday 5 April 2022

David Hewer, pictured back when Hewer Facilities Management first began in 1965 in Seymour Street, Gloucester. One man, a van and a great idea.

Founder of Hewer Facilities Management, David Hewer, is due to be honoured with a special 90th birthday party at the firm's Gloucester headquarters on Wednesday 27 April.

Family, friends, staff, former colleagues, customers and first apprentices, have a very special date in their diary this month – to visit Hewer FM and to celebrate the 90th birthday of its founder, David Hewer.

The firm, started in 1965 by one man with a van, is about to unveil a fleet of 16 new vehicles and has become the largest family-owned heating, electrical, renewable and mechanical engineering business in the region with a turnover of £15 million and 150-plus staff.

And in a salute to its roots, the Quedgeley-based company has announced a special 90th birthday party for its founder – open to all who have got to know him throughout his long career and since.

Simon Hewer, managing director of Hewer FM and the youngest of David’s three children, said: ‘My mum, Rona, will be there. She joined the business back in the 1970s as it began to grow, looking after the company’s books. My sister, Sue, who also works for the business will join the celebrations.

‘A lot of our current staff know him, but he doesn’t know about some of the people we have invited. We have some of his first apprentices attending, staff who worked with him in those early years and some of the many customers who he got to know well too.’

He added: ‘My dad worked for his dad for a while before branching out on his own. He was a lad from a poor background in Matson who knew the only way he was going to make it was by working for himself and working hard – and that’s what he did.

‘I started as an apprentice under him in the business. He was a tough task master, but that is how he had to be, and then as the business got bigger he changed with it too as he developed and learned.

‘The values I was taught have shaped the business we have become – treat others how you wish to be treated; trust people; be trusted; be honest; be reliable; always do what you say you will do; tell the truth even if you know it’s not what someone may want to hear; give them the problem and then solutions.’

David J Hewer’s open office birthday party is due to take place at the firm on Wednesday 27 April 2022 from midday until 2pm.

Hewer FM