Tributes for former stonemason who helped build 125-year-old family business

Stephen Herbert was taken on as an apprentice in the late 1950s by his father when A Herberts and Sons was based in the old Norman Street.

He eventually took over the business which is now known as Melton Building Supplies and has been located since the 1980s at Thorpe Road.

Stephen died on January 31 at Leicester Royal Infirmary and his funeral will be at Waltham Parish Church on Tuesday February 25, at 10.30am.

His son, Jon, who is the fourth generation of the family to work in the business, told the Melton Times: “Dad was very work-orientated, work and family was his life.

“I have got my work ethic from him. He was very proud of the business and being a part of it.”

Stephen was born in 1942 in Odd Fellows Hall, where the business was then based and where his mother moved to while it was put on hold during the Second World War.

He attended the old Boys Modern School before becoming an apprentice stonemason under his father, Albert.

Stephen attended masonry college in Leicester and building classes at Melton College – he learned quickly and took over as managing director in 1972.

The building of the Norman Way inner relief road in the 1980s saw the Norman Street site sold to the council and the relocation to its current location off Thorpe Road.

Jon, who now runs the company, which sells building and DIY supplies and operates as a coal merchants, added: “He still came into the business when he was semi-retired. He always kept an interest in the business.”

Outside work, Stephen rekindled his love of golf later in life and was a regular at Greetham Valley.

Family was important to him – he leaves wife Sussie, son Jon and Nathan daughter Luci, grandchildren Jamie, Sam, Bradley and Ellis, great grandchildren Zara, Ophelia, Othello and Aurora.

Friends and colleagues are welcome at the Waltham funeral – parking will be available at the nearby Royal Horseshoes pub.