Airedale International has been celebrating the hard work and loyalty of its long-serving employees who have reached milestones of between 10 and 35 years of service.
An annual event, this year's awards celebrated nearly 900 years of continuous service by more than 40 individuals, who have notched up an average of 21 years of service each. The business employs more than 425 people globally and 330 in the local area.
Airedale's technical quality engineering manager, Tony Bedard, is one of two employees with 35 years' service. Attracted by the appeal of a young company which presented him with the opportunity to develop new skills and growing prospects, he joined Airedale in 1978 from a local plastic moulding machine manufacturer.
At the age of 28 he started as an electrician and was soon promoted to production supervisor for the electrical department, where he set on Airedale's first three apprentices, all of whom have now progressed into other areas of the business. His son, Robert, who recently collected his doctorate in Engineering from Hull University, also works in the project engineering team at Airedale.
Internal sales engineer for the north of England since 2006, Jeremy Hodgin, has similarly progressed during his 20 years at Airedale, advancing from electrical wiring to test technician and, later, technical support, roles which armed him with the specialist knowledge he needs to respond to customer queries pre and post-sales in his current role.
Joining at the start of the technology boom of the 1990s, he has seen the product range broaden from comfort and industrial process cooling systems to include more technologically advanced precision air condition systems and chillers for an increasing number of data centres, clean rooms and laboratories.
Airedale HR director, Steve Joyce said: 'The very high retention rate which we enjoy has many benefits, particularly in terms of transferring skills and knowledge and ensuring business continuity. It is great to be able to attract apprentices and young graduates and to see them progress into bigger roles.'