On the second day of MACH 2014, Lyn Gray — widow of NCMT founder Gerry Gray — cut a cake in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the company's formation.

In 1964, Mr Gray was the first person to import a Japanese NC machine into the UK, NCMT having been appointed sole agent for Makino machining centres and spark erosion machines.

One of Mr Gray’s abiding missions was to raise the status of British engineering, being dismayed at the way manufacturing was often disparaged in the UK, unlike in Japan and Germany.

It inspired him to help promote the sector by funding education in universities and colleges; his initiative was later put on a more formal basis by the creation of the Thomas Gerald Gray Charitable Trust.

The first — and to this day principal — relationship was with Brunel University, London, which is given a bursary to help engineering
undergraduates who demonstrate both need and ability.

More recently, the Trust has started to assist in funding an apprenticeship scheme at NCMT (www.ncmt.co.uk). Students achieving an NVQ level 3 or equivalent qualification at the company’s Midland Group Training Services Centre have their initial year’s salary paid; and to promote learning in STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), a relationship has been formed between the Thomas Gerald Gray Charitable Trust and the Arkwright Scholarships Trust, which makes awards to students throughout the UK who aspire to a career in engineering and related areas of design.