At Guyson International's Skipton headquarters, Monday 15th August saw rain, much needed, and celebrations, much deserved. Employees from the company's blast and wash division gathered outside to congratulate seven employees who were presented with long service awards. And between them amassed a total of 180 years of service at Guyson, with one, Keith Miller celebrating 50 years of service.

In typical unpredictable UK weather, after so many days of bright hot sunshine, it clouded over and began to drizzle the moment the presentations were due to start, but that didn’t dampen the celebratory mood.

The long service awards culminated with the presentation, in front of colleagues, of an etched glass vase and gratuities from the Guyson group’s Managing Director James Thomson to machine assembler Keith Miller who was achieving a magnificent 50 years of continuous service.

Below: Keith Miller (left) with James Thomson (right) – Celebrating Keith's Fifty Years Service at Guyson

Keith originally joined Guyson way back in 1972, when Guyson was located in North Avenue, Otley and worked there for many years, originally starting work under the then Managing Director, Robert Thomson – grandfather of the present MD. Keith has now remarkably worked alongside four generations of the Thomson family.

Over the years Guyson outgrew its site in Otley and in 1984 decided to relocate its manufacturing to the brand new Snaygill trading estate in Skipton. However, Keith has never left his roots and still lives in Otley, commuting to Skipton daily. In a short speech, Keith stated that “He has worked with some good people over the years but I think this will be my last long service award!”

A number of other long service awards were presented to staff members on the day, including Chris Holmes (Machinist) ten years, Pauline Wildman (Credit Controller) ten years, Oonagh Briggs (Guyson Group Executive Finance Director) twenty years, David Wood (Business Development) thirty years, John King (Technical Support Manager) thirty years and Mick Banks (Field Service Manager) thirty years. Huge congratulations to them all.

Group Photo Left to Right: Mark Viner – Guyson Blast and Wash Division Managing Director, Chris Holmes, Pauline Wildman, Oonagh Briggs, Mick Banks, Keith Miller, James Thomson - Guyson Group Managing Director, David Wood, John King.

About Guyson

Guyson International Limited is a privately owned family company with a worldwide reputation for excellence in the design and manufacture of blast finishing, spray wash and ultrasonic cleaning equipment. Formed over eighty years ago, the company is registered to ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 45001:2018 and its head office is located at Skipton, North Yorkshire, in the north of England. Guyson has four international subsidiary companies: Guyson Corporation of the USA, located in Saratoga Springs, New York State; Guyson SA, situated near Paris, France; Guyson Sdn Bhd in Penang, Malaysia; and Guyson CN, in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, China.