John Gruber
Back to People
John Gruber was born 19th January 1927 at West Chiltington. After school he joined the British Army taking up the role of mechanic within the Motor Transport Corps. John clearly impressed his superiors because when he was due to be redeployed with some of his fellow soldiers, John was held back from this overseas role. His skills as a mechanic were deemed too essential to lose from his team in Kent. However, a little later, John's role within the army changed when there was a call for volunteers to join the Royal Engineers Bomb Disposal Unit. He was very proud to serve in this way helping to clear the south coast beaches of mines left from the war.
John married Florrie on 1st February 1947 at West Chiltington Church. They lived at Watersfield before moving to Lyminster in 1955. They were married for nearly 73 years, until Florrie's death in January 2020. Florrie and John had a caravan and enjoyed exploring not only the UK but many other countries. Wherever they stayed they always found the nearest windmills, always taking a keen interest in them. John's passion for engineering meant that in his spare time he would create large working replicas of windmills, taking care that he got the details and measurements exactly right, visiting the windmill and talking with the people running the windmill.
John passed away on 9th February 2021 but I am sure he would be proud and very pleased that his collection is going on display giving others pleasure and enjoyment of windmills that he has had over the years.
The John Gruber Model Windmill Collection, of motorised model windmills, was donated by Martin and Jenny Tillman to High Salvington Mill Trust Limited in March 2021.
