A BORN and bred Bromsgrove man who held a number of political roles in the district during his life has passed away aged 75.
Peter Jarrett developed a strong interest in politics in 1961 – his grandfather had twice been a Parliamentary candidate and his mum was heavily involved in local politics.
For the next 17 years, he held several posts and later became the chairman of Bromsgrove and Redditch Conservative Association.
Mr Jarrett became a local councillor in 1967 and stayed in office until 1983.
He was deputy leader of Bromsgrove Council from 1973 to 1975 and leader from 1975 to 1977. He retired from the council in 1983 because of a disenchantment with the group’s leadership and because of increasing pressures in his work.
He was chairman of Bromsgrove Conservative Association for a second time from 1999 to 2003 taking over at a time when there was deep division in the local party, helping overcome those divisions and reuniting the party.
He supported Julie Kirkbride until she stood down in 2009 and was also in Redditch MP Karen Lumley’s campaign team when she got elected.
Fellow former chairman of the Bromsgrove Conservative Association Tessa Gillespie said his knowledge of the Conservative Association and national rules was second to none.
“I relied on him a great deal during my time as Chairman from 2003 to 2007.
“He was a loyal member of Bromsgrove Conservatives and could always be counted on to get involved in local campaigning.
“He will be sadly missed within the Conservative party and within Bromsgrove,” she added.
Mr Jarrett was educated at Bromsgrove County High School at Parkside and attended Imperial College London where he obtained a physics degree.
In 1959, he joined Lucas Gas Turbine as an assistant development engineer before being promoted to development engineer.
In 1963, he moved to theoretical design and worked closely with Concorde engine designers at Bristol Aircraft.
His work on Concorde saw him promoted to senior performance engineer in 1965 and three years later he left Lucas to join GKN.
In 1969 became involved in a world survey of the camshaft market which took him to most of the major engine manufacturers in Europe and to conferences in Montreal and Detroit, helping increase GKN’s share of the camshaft market dramatically.
In 1972, he became involved in the development of the novel Wankel engine and later became an expert on them.
GKN Castings and GKN Transmissions were amalgamated in 1976 and Mr Jarrett became planning manager for this much larger division and was involved in the development of aluminium wheels and automatic motor transmissions.
Mr Jarrett was married to his wife Isobel for more than 50 years and loved cricket. He played for his university and was a keen Warwickshire supporter.
Mr Jarrett died at Hereford County Hospital and hundreds attended his memorial service.
