13th February 2008

Two disabled Spennymoor men are celebrating the fact that they have just found their first jobs in mainstream employment after working for a combined total of 32 years at their local Remploy factory.

James Murdoch, aged 37, was a production operative at the site on Merrington Lane Industrial Estate for 17 years, whilst Anthony Greenland, aged 43, was assistant leading hand for 15 years before they both decided to make the move – and they haven’t looked back since!

James, who has epilepsy, spotted a vacancy for an assembly worker at local firm Hydram Sheet Metalwork, a leading supplier of sheet metal components, assemblies and light fabrications to customers throughout the UK.

“I thought the job sounded interesting, so I asked our factory employment advisor, Barrie Lund, to help me apply for it,” said James.

Barrie accompanied James to a site visit where he was immediately offered a four week work trial – and after completing just half of it, he had impressed his managers enough to be offered a permanent job.

“I was really chuffed as I’d enjoyed the work trial – I’d been kept so busy all the time, working on different orders,” said James. “I hadn’t thought about leaving Remploy until there was a possibility of the Spennymoor site closing, but coming to Hydram made me realise that there are lots of other opportunities out there. It’s been easy to make the move and the people are great – in fact I knew some of the lads already.”

After learning of James’ success, Anthony, who has mobility difficulties, decided to follow in his colleague’s footsteps and is now revelling in his new job.

“There’s a lot more variety in the work we do at Hydram, which gives us the chance to learn new skills,” said Anthony. “And the team are a canny set of lads.”

Operations Director, David Greatorex, said:

“We’ve been really impressed with James and Anthony’s progress, particularly their flexibility. They started in the assembly area as we thought this would best match their skills but they’ve since moved around other sections and have quickly picked up any new work they’ve been given, with basic, on-the-job training.

“Both James and Anthony have a strong work ethic, are never absent, and have fitted quickly and easily into our team.”

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