Colleagues reminisce on collective 160 years as part of the Willerby family

“The people and friendships formed” are what makes Willerby, Willerby say our longest serving colleagues.

We recently hosted our long service awards to recognise colleagues who’ve reached major milestones in their time with us, and we took the opportunity to sit down with some of our most dedicated team members to hear their stories from over the years.

Our long service awards presentations were an occasion for celebration and recognition as well as for colleagues to reflect on their many years in the Willerby family.

We’re proud of the amazing loyalty of our employees, with over half of our workforce being with us for 10 years or more. For some, their service goes back decades.

Four of our longest-serving colleagues are Prototype Chargehand Ian Wilson, Jig Shop Operative Michael Harrison, Production Manager Glenn Craig and Maintenance Coordinator Peter Gallagher. In total, they have contributed more than 160 years to the business and all agree that it is their fellow colleagues that have made those years so enjoyable.

Our longest-serving colleague is Ian Wilson who has dedicated 47 years to the business since joining as a 16-year-old apprentice cabinet maker, whilst fellow long server, Jig Shop Operative Michael Harrison, has spent over 42 years with us.

We moved to our current site on Hedon Road in Hull in the late 1980s with Ian and Michael both briefly working at our former site on Main Street, Willerby and remembered the transition.

Ian said: “The original site must have been about half the size of the new one, it was much smaller.

There was only one production line for a long time and then a second one was added towards the end.

“I think it was quite a gradual move over to the new site so that production could continue throughout.”

Michael added: “When we moved to the new site it seemed so huge compared to what we’d been used to. I remember when we first moved over here we all brought bikes just to cycle from one side of the site to the other!

“Over the years it’s changed massively and the company bought more land and expanded even further.”

Fellow long servers Glenn Craig and Peter Gallagher joined Willerby shortly after the move, with Glenn now having been with the company for 37 years, and Peter serving 36 years.

Recalling some of his earliest memories, Glenn, who joined us when he was 15, said: “I actually had my heart set on going into the Navy after school, and was only planning to work at Willerby for a couple of months to earn some money, but I met a great set of friends and enjoyed the work so much that I just stopped considering the Navy and now I’ve been here nearly 38 years!

“I remember when I first started there was a cake factory next door. A lot of the lads had girlfriends who worked there and would bring cakes over for us!

“In the end the factory closed and Willerby bought that land and expanded the site over there too.”

Peter added: “I joined Willerby when I was 19 after being in the army and briefly working for my father. I had a lot of friends working here and one of them managed to get me a job, it was just meant to be temporary to begin with but 37 years later I’m still here!

“All the holiday homes were much smaller back then, between 8-10 ft and we weren’t making as many of the components in-house then either.

“The work was so much more manual than it is now and we did a lot of things by hand using quite traditional processes. Things have changed a lot, health and safety has improved massively, the manufacturing site is so much cleaner and tidier and there’s much more automation to the processes these days.”

Speaking about what has encouraged them to remain with the business for so many years, despite all revealing they’ve each received speculative job offers over the years, the four colleagues all agree it is the close-knit atmosphere, friendships and family feel.

Such is the close-knit community within Willerby that many colleagues have encouraged family members to apply for jobs within the business, and there are many real family connections amongst the colleagues.

Longest server Ian has worked alongside numerous family members over the years, with his brother Billy working in the business for over 30 years before his retirement, as well as his son and cousin being part of our team over the years too.

Glenn has a similar story, with his son Ben having also worked in the team for over 15 years, starting as an apprentice and now working as a Chargehand in the plumbing team. Even for those who haven’t had a real relative come through Willerby’s doors, they say they’ve met friends over the years who’ve become just like family.

Glenn said: “The people and the friendships made here are what makes Willerby such a great place to work. It’s a really nice culture and everybody respects each other.

“It’s also great for personal progression – Willerby is really good at investing in its people and helping them grow.”