Owen Hannah has retired after 50 consecutive seasons working at the Nelson freezing works. Photo: Simon Bloomberg.

Retiring after 50 years at freezing works

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1927

One of the Nelson freezing works longest serving employees admits “it’s going to feel strange for a while” after retiring following 50 consecutive seasons at the Stoke plant.

Owen Hannah spent his last day at the Alliance Group’s plant on Main Rd Stoke after starting work at the then Nelson Freezing Company works in 1963.

It was his second job after leaving Nelson College and working at McKay’s department store on Bridge St for a year, and Owen says he remembers his first day at the works like it was yesterday.

“My father (Jim) worked as a supervisor on the slaughter board so he got me a job there. I remember my first day stamping lamb carcasses in the cold store and tying on grading tickets – it was very physical work, it was hard yakka.”

Owen subsequently worked in the beef house in the old plant before making a move to the mutton chain in 1972. The 66-year-old has witnessed a lot of changes in the industry over the last half century, including the move to the new modern plant in October 2000 and the introduction of strict hygiene regulations.

“When I started all the slaughtermen wore black woollen singlets and khaki pants and we worked with wooden-handled knives in old wooden buildings. Now there’s stainless steel everywhere and we all wear white and have to scrub and sanitise everytime we start work.

“We also used to do a lot more by hand before all the mechanisation came in. Some of it was really hard too – the pelting was probably the hardest.”

Despite half a century of 6am starts and long, hard 10-hours days Owen says he has enjoyed his time at the freezing works.

“I have done every job on the chain which has been interesting and I like the people I work with. It’s been the comradeship here that has been the best part of the job.

“We always help each other out. You are part of as team.”

Plant manager Terry Kreft says Owen has been a valuable staff member over the years and is one of a select group of dedicated, long-serving employees.

“We have a few of them who have 30 years plus and one or two like Owen who have done 50 years. Doug Scowen has already done 50 years and he’s still going but they don’t make them like Owen and Doug anymore.”

Now that Owen has retired he plans to spend more time gardening and catching up on jobs around the house. Travel is also on the agenda, although he will have to wait until his wife Lorraine retires from her job at Westmeats where she has worked for 43 years.

But according to Lorraine there is one thing won’t change now that Owen has hung up his white gumboots.

“He’s always cooked tea because he started so early and knocked off before me so I don’t expect that to change,” Lorraine says.