Staff at Nottingham-based A1 Flue Systems have said ‘goodbye’ to the firm’s longest-serving employee. Dave Smith, who has clocked up 45 years’ service, joined the company as a 20-year-old — just 18 months after it was founded — and has since seen it become a market leader in the design and manufacture of commercial and industrial chimney, flue and exhaust systems.
It now employs more than 140 people at its purpose-built factory in Ollerton, near Newark.
Mr Smith fondly recalls the early days (before the company’s move into flues and chimneys), when he was making air-conditioning ducting in a small shed one day and installing it the next day with company founder Colin Moir — anywhere in the UK.
He said: “It was very much hand to mouth back then. I’d snip shapes out of stainless steel, form it and weld it to make sections of ducting, before going to site with Colin and fitting it.
“I’ve had a fantastic time at A1 and have worked with some great people.
“I’ll be sad to go and I’ll really miss everyone, but I think I deserve to take it easy after 45 years!”
Mr Moir, who at 77 years old is still very hands-on at the company he started, said: “Dave and I have been through a lot, and it’s been a pleasure to work with him for well over four decades.
“He was there in the very early days, and he’s been an integral part of this company and its success.”