Description:This photograph was taken at the eight annual dinner for pensioners of the Imperial Chemical Industries Ltd., (I.C.I.) Salt Works, Stafford, which was held at the Station Hotel in Stafford. Pictured enjoying his drink is Mr H Lowndes aged 79 with 26 years’ service, others in the group from left to right: Mr W J Dodd, Works Council Secretary, Mr A Parr aged 74 with 49 years’ service, Mr T Crompton, Director and Chief Accountant, Mr H Joynes, Works Manager, and 74 year old Mr D Massey.
Between the 15 pensioners who attended the dinner, many with their wives, they had contributed 529 years of service and if the firms full complement of 22 pensioners had been able to attend, the total service would have been over 738 years. Six of the veterans attending the dinner were still working on their jobs, Mr S Bennett aged 69 with 45 years’ service, Mr G Beardmore aged 68, Mr E Eccleston aged 67, Mr E Wilkinson aged 66 with 45 years’ service, Mr J Holford aged 67 with 40 years’ service and Mr W Clarke aged 65 with 43 years’ service.
Presiding and extending a welcome to the guests was Mr Horace Jones, a former Mayor of Stafford, he had spent his whole working life of 46 years in the salt industry at Stafford, starting as an office boy at the age of 13 and succeeding his father as works manager in 1930.
Addressing the company, Mr T Crompton, Director and Chief Accountant, said that it gave him pleasure attending the dinner which was more like a family get-together than a works gathering, where he could meet those responsible for the company’s prosperity in the past. He added that he had served with Chance and Hunt Ltd., long before it became part of the Salt Division of I.C.I. He said that Mr Joynes was the only Works Manager he knew of who was still called by that term which combined affection and respect “Gaffer”. Thanking Mr Crompton for his references to the Stafford Works, Mr Joynes said that the Stafford Works had always been run “practically as a family concern”. He paid tribute to the part the pensioners had played in the progress of the works and wished them the compliments of the season and good health for the coming year. He then referred to the forthcoming retirement of Mr H Bailey and extended a welcome to the new technical assistant, Mr P G Higson.
Among other guests at the dinner were Mrs Crompton, Mrs Joynes, Miss G Moore, wages clerk, and members of the Works Council, Mr J Turner management representative, Mr A Law and Mr C Leeson workers representatives and Mr W J Dodd council secretary.
This photograph was published in the Staffordshire Newsletter on Saturday 10 December 1955. Reproduced by kind permission of the Staffordshire Newsletter who retain copyright.