HB Bearings announces death of its founder Norman Hirst

The chairman of HB Bearings, Norman Hirst passed away peacefully on Thursday 16 September after a short illness. He was devoted to the company and worked tirelessly to make it a success. He worked in engineering for over 70 years, starting as an apprentice engineer at Thomas Broadbent and Sons, which is now a very good customer of HB Bearings, before working his way up to managing director at Broomfield Engineering.

In 1972, Mr Hirst Norman took the bold step to go it alone and set up HB Bearings; and while he will not see the company celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2022, he saw the recent expansion of the company with the acquisition of Gamet Bearings in 2019 and the transfer of its production capabilities from Colchester to HB’s manufacturing facility in Huddersfield.

Aged 88 years, Mr Hirst had to step back due to Covid-19, but was still involved with HB on a consultancy basis.

His son Graham is HB Bearings’ current managing director; he has been in the business since 1983 and became his father’s business partner in 1997. He said would like to thank everyone for their kind words of support, adding that his father’s vast bearing knowledge was invaluable to both colleagues and customers alike.