Sadly George Hardwick passed away in December 2015.

George was an extremely talented engineer in the traditional British sense. Largely self-taught, it seemed like he could make anything that he turned his mind to, and would never take an easy option if a better, but more difficult one, existed. Some years ago, he designed and built his own sidecar racing outfit making almost the entire thing from scratch. He raced it successfully himself, showing another aspect of his many talents.
It was at about the same time that carbon fibre started to become commercially available, and George soon recognised its potential. He set about buying the necessary materials then discovered that he would need an autoclave to make the kind of things that he wanted to create, so in typical George fashion, he made his own!
Not surprisingly, it all worked very well.
On first meeting he seemed to be a kind of Victor Meldrew character who had no time for fools, politicians, benefit cheats and a whole raft of others. He could certainly be a hard man to read and understand, and he sometimes came across as being heartless and uncaring. Those who knew him well, though, often saw another side of his
personality. That was the George who would do anything he could to help someone who was trying to improve their own lot, or who had genuinely fallen on hard times and needed a hand back up.
George was one of a kind, and he will be greatly missed and fondly remembered by the many people whose lives he touched.