Employees Celebrate Silver Anniversaries

Two senior members of staff who originally joined Matform on day-release from the same school have etched their credentials into the company’s history.

Managing Director John Kelly, and Patricia Mant, who is in overall charge of Inspection and Packing, have demonstrated their staying power by notching up 50 years between them.

Back in the early 1980s they were pupils of Westergate Community School, West Sussex, and were introduced to Matform through a students’ day-release scheme.
They have witnessed the company grow in size and strength, expanding from a workforce of six to 26.

“When I first joined Matform it was almost like a cottage industry – now it has more structure and a growing client-base of between 300-400,” said John, who started as a trainee printer and tea-boy at the company’s former premises in Ford on June 1, 1982.

He worked his way up through the ranks, initially deputising for the screen printer, also taking on the role of print shop foreman before being appointed Managing Director about four years ago.

“Although the business has diversified and made substantial investment in state-of-the-art machinery, it is also gratifying to have retained some of our customers from 25 ys, Sears ago,” commented John.