AN AUDENSHAW engineering firm has toasted an employee that has clocked up an astonishing four decades of service.
When Christine Corbett began in 1985, Transpower Engineering was known as Archer Security and operated in Hyde.
Now it is at Shepley Industrial Estate South and owned by parent firm Ceenorm.
And her dedication was celebrated with a ceremony as her colleagues paid tribute.
Christine recalled: “My dad had previously worked at the company, building large panels, as a sub-contractor.
“He had a great relationship with the boss, Alan Fletcher, and at the time my sister Kaye had already been working there for two years.
“Kaye worked as an assembler, and she advised me to go to the unit – which was in John Street in Hyde – and speak to Alan. This was supposed to be just a chat – but at the end he asked me when I could start, and I started work the very next working day.
“I remember clocking in and having to wait nervously for Alan’s wife to arrive one site, as she was my mentor for a week and was tasked with showing me the ropes.”
Archer Security had three different firms operating out of the same building – upstairs they made fire alarms and downstairs DC Emergency made emergency lighting.
Also located downstairs was a transformer manufacturer, and Christine started there – and it was a learning curve.
Christine added: “God knows how they fitted us in the room. It was only a small building.
“There were six ladies working on the transformer side of the business and one bloke doing winding for larger transformers.
“I knew nothing about transformers. Not a sausage. Never knew they existed, what they were used for, or how to make one.
“In the first week, I started on the winding machine, manufacturing small panel-mounted transformers – it as a on a machine that had a program built it and it was much faster other machines – it was horrible.
“But after a successful first week, I moved on to another machine – which was manual. As I was good at it, and they were all finished, they let me move to another.
“At the same time, with the wires being so thin on the primary coils, I kept snapping the wires – and I was convinced that I was going to get the boot!”
Forty years on, and Christine still works as a rewinder – although these days she also completes the whole transformer.
She also trains new staff – with former ‘trainees’ including Dave Berry, the manager of Transpower Engineering.
“He picked up the job well” said Christine, “and listened to my advice. Thank God he listened to what I told him, or he would not be where he is today…”
With four different owners and four different premises, Christine has seen numerous colleagues come and go – and to some extent, it’s always been a family affair.
Not only did her sister Kaye introduce her to the company, but she met her husband Paul while at work in 1991.
She recalled: “Nora, the cleaner, told me that Paul fancied me, and quizzed me about whether I would go on a date with him.
“I said yes, and obviously he must have impressed me on that date, as we have been married for 13 years and have two children.”
Incredibly, Christine’s daughter also worked for Transpower Engineering for three years and also met her husband there – without Nora’s help.
And would she go back 40 years and make the same decision?
Christine simply replied: “Yes, I really like what I do, and the people I work with.”