A dozen dedicated bakers have been rewarded for a combined record of more than 270 years of service.<\/p>\n
The Jones Village Bakery held a special ceremony to thank them for their loyalty and presented each of them with a voucher for \u00a3250.<\/p>\n
One of them, Leisa Reeves, goes back a very long way with the Jones family who run the award winning bakery.<\/p>\n
Purchase ledger supervisor Leisa, 50, who lives in Coedpoeth, was in nursery school in nearby Minera with Christien Jones, the firm\u2019s project director.<\/p>\n
Leisa started at the Village Bakery 20 years ago and says she thoroughly enjoys what she does.<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cI know all the Jones boys and I was in nursery school with Christien.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love the people that I work with and the company has grown and developed a lot since I joined.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe only had the one bakery in Minera when I started and I\u2019m now based in the new bakery down on the industrial estate in Wrexham.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am very proud of everything the company has achieved. I\u2019m happy to work here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nancy Shuttleworth, 63, who\u2019s been there for nearly 26 years, makes hand raised products like Eccles cakes and pork pies.<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cI am very proud of what we do and I must admit the products we make are very, very good.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe company was nowhere near this big when I started and it\u2019s great to part of that success. The secret is that we make fantastic products which people want to buy.<\/p>\n
Her colleague, Maxine Davies, 52, has been employed there for 21 years and works on the line that makes the company\u2019s signature sausage rolls and slices.<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cIt\u2019s local for me and I work with a good bunch of people \u2013 I can walk here if it\u2019s snowing, which I have done in the past from Southsea where I live.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was lovely to receive the voucher \u2013 it\u2019s always nice to be appreciated and valued.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was a sentiment echoed by driver Paul Davies,60, who has been with the bakery for more than 25 years, having previously worked in retail.<\/p>\n
He said: It\u2019s a family run concern and I enjoy working here. There are not many places where you can call the directors by their first name. You\u2019re not just a number \u2013 they know everybody by their first name.\u201d<\/p>\n
The bakery will be celebrating its 90th<\/sup> anniversary next year.<\/p>\n The Jones family bought the company from the Edwards Brothers in 1964, exactly 40 years after it was established.<\/p>\n In those days it was based in Park Road in Coedpoeth and employed just five members of staff.<\/p>\n The company now has six bakeries in Minera and on Wrexham Industrial Estate where it employs a total more than 800 people.<\/p>\n Managing director Robin Jones said: \u201cThe long service awards and the vouchers we have presented today are our way of showing our appreciation and now much we value them individually.<\/p>\n \u201cThey are a fantastic bunch of people and we are super proud of what they have done for the business.<\/p>\n \u201cThe growth we\u2019ve seen has been amazing and these special people have been an integral part of our success.<\/p>\n \u201cThey all work in different parts of the company and it was nice to get them together and they\u2019ve all done a great job.<\/p>\n \u201cThe have been doing this for such a long time that they are now part of the furniture, so to speak.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat their long service provides is continuity and an incredible understanding of the ethos of the Village Bakery.<\/p>\n \u201cChristien and myself, and our dad, Alan, are very proud of what they\u2019ve done \u2013 they are the Village People.\u201d<\/p>\n