Workers clock up 35 years

FOUR friends who all started working for Oldham Council on the same day have just celebrated 35 years in the job.

Andrew Heap, John Hickman, Phil Brown and Dave Whitehead all started work as fresh-faced teenagers on apprenticeships with Oldham Council on July 12, 1979.

Andrew, a painter and decorator; John, a plumber; Phil, a plasterer; and Dave, a joiner; all remained with the council and were transferred to First Choice Homes Oldham.

All four of the 51-year-olds have remained friends and still regularly work on jobs together.

First Choice chief executive officer Cath Green sent letters of congratulations to each of them to mark their impressive milestone.

Andrew said: “I think it is a fantastic message to young people that sticking around really pays off. We all knew we were going in for the long haul but I think we may have even surprised ourselves with us all still being here together.

“We have worked on almost everything in Oldham over the years — you name it, we’ve done it.”

The quartet celebrated 35 years of service with a good old-fashioned pub crawl.
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