Engineer retires after 45 years with one Wiltshire company

After four decades working for Hiscock Engineers (Trowbridge) Ltd, Chris Durbin, 64, says he intends to ride his motorcycle, play more golf and go fishing.

He said: “I will be 65 in February and I have been there for 45 years. I thought it was about time to slow down.

“Financially, I don’t have to work again and I thought I would take up my leisure activities.

“I am a keen motorcyclist, so I will ride my motorbike, play a bit of golf, do a bit of fishing and take things easy.

“It has been a great place to work. It is a job for life and I have never thought about leaving.

“It is a fantastic firm. It is a small family company. I have really enjoyed the work.

“We are all friends, we are all mates. It is not just work, we go out socially as well.”

Chris Durbin has retired after 45 years with Hiscock Engineers (Trowbridge) Ltd. (Image: Trevor Porter)

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After leaving school at 16, Chris started off working in 1976 for Jack Plowright Motorcycles in Mill Street, Trowbridge.

“I was a motorcycle mechanic but the pay was dire so I left after a year.”

Mr Durbin trebled his wages by going to work for Airsprung, the bed-making company, for a year but didn’t enjoy the repetitive factory work.

Hiscock Engineers became a limited company in 1947 but has a 300-year-old history as a blacksmithing and farriers business.

Mr Durbin started work at the steel fabrication firm in November 1979, and has spent the past four decades making metal railings and gates, among other things.

Chris Durbin with his last piece of work for Hiscock Engineers - a pair of steel gates he has made for Conkwell Grange. (Image: Trevor Porter)

Director Ernie Hiscock said: “What can you say about someone who has been a loyal and excellent worker for 45 years? I can’t praise him highly enough really.”

Mr Hiscock remembers that when Chris came for the job, they offered him £1 an hour for a 40-hour week.

“Chris said to me, ‘I’m taking home £60 a week from Airsprung’ and I said ‘we’re sorry, but we can’t match that’.

“He turned round and walked down to the road. He got to the road, turned round and came back and said ‘when can I start?’”

Mr Durbin will celebrate his 45 years with Hiscock Engineers with family and friends at Trowbridge Rugby Football Club on Saturday (November 9).