Just what do you give someone who has been a valuable part of your organisation for 47 years? For Greenacres’ longest serving supported employee Keiran Jones, his lifetime of work was celebrated with a Hornby British Steam Locomotive and a Bunnings voucher.
Not the typical retirement present but 65-year-old Keiran, who has two main passions in life collecting model trains and gardening – was thrilled with his gift.
While Keiran will no longer be working at Greenacres Industries, he will not be leaving the Greenacres family completely. He has swapped assembly work for fun activities at the Kemira centre in Kanahooka for three days a week.
Ready to welcome him to retirement life will be many of his former friends and workmates who have already made the change and are enjoying the relaxed pace of Kemira.
Greenacres Senior Supervisor, Mark Edwards, said he remembers meeting Keiran when he first started at Greenacres in the early 1990s.
When I first met Keiran he was feeling a bit lost and despondent because Greenacres had stopped Mercury Footwear where he had been working for the previous 20 years, Mark said.
Luckily Keiran was able to use his skills again in belt manufacturing and his sense of purpose quickly returned.
When we stopped making belts we were concerned that he might feel lost again but he very quickly adapted and became an important part of the assembly team.
Keiran is fairly quiet and a very hard worker but he also has a great sense of humour and we would often joke around. I will definitely miss him.
At a special morning tea, all of Greenacres Industries stopped work to celebrate Keiran’s incredible contribution to our organisation, thank him for his hard work and dedication, and wish him a wonderful retirement.
