Fri, 18 October, 2024
Derek Drury
Posted: August 24th, 2024
Mirror library stalwart DEREK DRURY died on July 20 [2024] in St Peter’s Hospital, Chertsey. He was 90. His son Piers was with him. Derek’s funeral is at 11am on Friday, September 20 [2024] at Woking Crematorium, Hermitage Road, Woking GU21 8TJ. A celebration of Derek’s life will follow at noon at The Nag’s Head, Bagshot Road, Knaphill, Woking GU21 2RP
DEREK’S friend and colleague TOM ASHMORE writes: Derek Drury was a stalwart Mirror librarian of the old school. Known to his friends and colleagues as ‘Nodder’, he was the keenest and most dedicated of librarians for more than 40 years, starting in the mid-fifties.
His nickname came from an eye condition which meant had to peer very closely at anything he was working on. This often gave the impression – wrongly – that he was asleep! This did not deter him from playing in goal for the Library Lions. football team.
He began his tenure dealing with editorial enquiries, then moved to the marking up of newspapers, which was the heartbeat of the creation of the massive and unsurpassed Mirror press-cuttings library. A major reorganisation of the department saw Derek moving back as head of the enquiries desk. Here he was in his element. Very unhappy when press cuttings were kept out overnight – they could be needed by any of the MGN titles – he was to be avoided when heading to the editorial floor to retrieve library files. Mirror journalist the late Murray Davies based a character on Derek in one of his novels.
Then came the company’s move to Canary Wharf, and eventually the library that Derek knew and loved no longer existed. And so the time came when Derek took his redundancy. Did he sit back and relax? Absolutely no way. Teaming up with his long-time library pal Alan Freeman, the pair, who shared the exact same birthdate and had done more than 80 years between them at the Mirror, joined The Sun’s picture library.
In retirement Derek took quite a few holidays a year all around the globe (see link to Mirror Pensioner feature below). He always looked forward to meeting up with old colleagues at AMP meetings and other occasions. In 2014, Alan Freeman shared his 80th birthday celebration with his best pal, and the event was well attended by old librarians.
On a personal note, Derek was my friend. Along with Alan we would meet in Croydon and keep in regular contact. When we worked together there was a friendly rivalry. I recall gifting him a large photograph of myself. It ended up full of holes after being used as a dartboard! We spoke just a few days before he passed away.
Condolences from myself and his library friends Bob Turner, John Ainsworth, Jimmy Dean, John Miller, Dave Ash, Peter Strong, Margaret Rule and Ruth Bland.