For the past year, Marje Mason has really been looking forward to her retirement – and on Friday she was able to celebrate it with colleagues at the Kettering clothes firm of Wallis and Linnell on the eve of her 60^th birthday.

Canadian born Marje, who lives in Glebe Road, Burton Latimer, came to England with her parents when she was two and has lived in Burton Latimer ever since.

At 14, she started work at the Kaycee clothes firm in Burton Latimer, where she did her training, and has spent most of her working life in the trade.

Her only break occurred during the war when she worked on the railways in the goods section. “We used to unload the wagons,” she recalled. “12 tons a day with a 3d bonus for every ton over that.”

At her retirement ceremony at the School Lane factory, Marje was presented with an electric blanket, a mantelpiece clock, a travelling alarm clock and a glass vase by her colleagues and a bouquet of flowers from the firm.

Mrs Jack Linnell also presented Marje with a china plant pot holder on behalf of herself and her husband, the son of one of the firm’s founder members.

Although she will miss her job, Marje, who is an active member of Burton Latimer Baptist Church, says that she has been looking forward to her retirement. She intends to catch up on her gardening and travel round the country visiting her friends.