On Thursday 29th August, family, friends, customers, suppliers and staff gathered at Shepley Spring, on The Knowle, to celebrate and pay tribute to our original founder, Selwyn Smith.
Our Head Office site was renamed ‘Shepley Spring Selwyn’ and the new sign was unveiled by road and track cyclist Ed Clancy OBE, gold medal-winner and the most successful Team Pursuit cyclist in history.
The celebration took place in the loading bay area and our Managing Director, James, one of Selwyn’s sons, gave a speech about the business and a personal insight into the character of his Dad. There were refreshments available, and the area was decorated with blue and white balloons, decorative plants and a banner with the name Selwyn written across it. Each letter was composed of images significant to or representing an aspect of his life. There was also a delicious cake which was a replica of the banner.
Selwyn was born in 1942 and lived in Shepley his whole life. His first business, J Selwyn Smith (Shepley) Ltd, was founded in 1974 and still operates today – renamed Penmoor UK Ltd in 1998.
Our current premises, a former textile mill, was bought by Selwyn 50 years ago and became Shepley Textiles – supplying reconditioned machinery all over the world. It was discovered in the drought of 1995 that the water supply from the textile borehole was of extremely high quality, and a new business was founded in 1996 – supplying bottled water to retailers. Selwyn led this journey of transition away from textiles, taking many of the staff with him along the way, which is testament to his commitment to his workers and their loyalty to him.
James spoke warmly about his Dad, saying “he was an honest, decent, hardworking man, an engineer, a perfectionist and an entrepreneur. He wasn’t afraid to take a risk and used to say that as long as we ‘Get more right than we get wrong, we will be okay’.” If things didn’t function efficiently or profitably, he would be quick to make changes. James also revealed that Selwyn was a hard taskmaster. He was passionate and enthusiastic about the business and thoroughly enjoyed what he did. If staff did something wrong, they would know about it in no uncertain terms – but he would always take the time to explain and to show them how to put things right.
He believed in producing ‘a good product at a good price’ and no doubt this has helped to maintain the longstanding relationship Shepley Spring has with leading retailers such as Morrisons, Lidl, Booker Tesco, Iceland, Home Bargains and Sainsbury’s. The fact that the business is continuing to grow, opening our third site in Harrogate this year, demonstrates that the values and principles he put in place all those years ago are still relevant today.
Selwyn was a family man with five children, eleven grandchildren, and three great grandchildren, and his family values extended into the business too. Although Selwyn died in May 2023, his legacy lives on in the success of our company, the largest family-owned bottled water manufacturer in the UK.
His father’s name is on the Shepley war memorial, and now Selwyn’s name is there for all to see on the side of the building where he worked until his last day.
