A HUSBAND and wife are each celebrating a quarter of a century at one of the UK’s leading manufacturers and suppliers of equipment to food industry.

Vanessa and Ady Boyes joined Pickering-based Invicta Bakeware Ltd just two months apart in 1989 and have remained with the North Yorkshire firm ever since.

Although the couple had met each other through mutual friends prior to starting their employment at Invicta, it was not until they worked together that romance blossomed. Their marriage in 1997 was attended by many of their colleagues and the then managing director of the company drove the bride to the wedding in his car.

“One of the fantastic things about Invicta is the close family atmosphere,” said Vanessa, who is now sales office manager having worked her way up through the ranks from her first job at the company as an office clerk.

“People often ask what it’s like to work with your spouse but it is great being part of the same team and sharing that common ground.”

Ady started at the company just after Vanessa, initially hand-crafting tins and other products in the factory, but has spent the last 16 years as one of the drivers, delivering Invicta products across the UK.

“Vanessa organises the orders and I deliver them, so in every sense we are the perfect partnership,” said Ady. “I enjoy being with the team at the company base in Pickering but I also like getting out and about and meeting Invicta’s customers, some of whom I have known for many years,” he added.

As well as Vanessa and Ady, nine other members of Invicta’s staff - about a third of the total workforce - have been with the firm for 25 years and more. They produce a wide variety of stainless steel bakery racks, oven racks, baking sheets and trays, cup trays, bread pans and cake tins, as well as a new range of plastic products.

Managing director, John Waddington, who himself has been with Invicta for over 30 years, acknowledges the role that this long-term staff commitment has to play in shaping the character of the company.

“Invicta has an amazing team of staff, many of whom have been with the company for the majority of their working lives. This continuity and dedication is undoubtedly reflected in the inclusive family approach to business and strong sense of customer service for which Invicta is known throughout the industry,” he said.

Invicta Bakeware was established over a century ago in 1912 and for most of its history was under the care of the Jones family – Peter Jones bought the business in 1925 – and until recently the third generation of that family was still represented on the board of directors.