FORMER employees of construction company A J Tracy and Sons Ltd gathered last Saturday evening for a reunion at Elstead Village Hall.
Around 120 people attended the event, including previous employees, office workers, family members and subcontractors - some even came as far as Spain for the evening.
Raymond Tracy, former managing director, organised Saturday’s reunion and described it as “very unusual” because “not very many companies have reunions once they’ve wound down”.
He added: “I thought it would be nice because it was a close company. I decided to go ahead with it and invite as many as I could. People came down and said how nice it was to see each other after such a long time.”
A J Tracy was a well known building firm in Elstead, founded by Alfred John Tracy in 1890.
Alfred lived in Milford and was apprenticed at Miltons in Witley. When he decided to set up the business, it is believed that his mother purchased the land for around £200.
However, when World War I broke out the company was forced to close. Alfred and his eldest son, Reginald, were conscripted to work at Weyburn Engineering on munitions work.
In 1919 the firm reopened, and a year later Reginald was joined by his younger brother Ronald and his sister Kathleen, who was the bookkeeper. In later years Kathleen’s husband, Cyril Spenceley, became the office manager.
Undertaking work began between the World Wars and continued until the late 80s. At the outbreak of World War II, Reginald and Ronald continued to run the firm but many employees were called up for military service. A J Tracy and Sons continued to function, carrying out general repairs.
When the war ended in 1945, men returned to their pre-war employment and the firm resumed normal business. In the later 40s and 50s, the company had an excellent team of bricklayers, carpenters, electricians, plasterers, joiners, plumbers, ground workers and painters.
Apprentices in all trades were constantly trained up to continue the good name of the firm, which was employed in building new houses and bungalows for the council, as well as many quality private houses.
In 1957, David, Ronald’s son, joined the company having also been apprenticed as a plumber at Miltons. The following year the firm opened a small hardware shop, which was extended serveral times until it became a large DIY store.
A J Tracy and Sons expanded rapidly in the latter half of the 20th century, during which time the majority of its work was new builds, extensions and general domestic repairs.
Reginald became known as ‘Mr Elstead’ due to his philanthropic work and inspiration for many buildings still known today, such as the new village hall and the creation of the youth centre. Raymond, Reginald’s son, joined the business in the 1960s as a carpenter, before taking over as managing director in 1974.
A J Tracy and Sons was now at the peak of its success and celebrated its centenary in 1990.
But, the introduction of red tape - described by Raymond as the “biggest enemy in construction” - and company law made trading more difficult, and the shop was now in direct competition with industry giants.
After trying different ways to keep the business going, the decision was made to start winding down before completely closing in 2012, with 50 direct workers on the books.
Raymond’s nephew, Christopher Spicer, went on to set up his own building business, Elstead Building Company, and is still trading today.
Raymond said: “Our clients were lovely. They were great because we went back several times to the same houses over decades. Those regular clients really helped keep us going.
“Because we had such a good, reliable, honest workforce we were asked to go back and that meant a lot. That was a necessary basis to survive, especially through recessions.
“It’s the end of an era but you’ve got to change with the world.”
Raymond wanted to say a “huge thank you to repeat business from regular clients”, and to the workforce - “thank you for your loyalty and reliability”.