8:32am Sunday 9th September 2007
By Emma Goodfellow
A much-loved member of staff has retired from the Packet after nearly 25 years.
Cheryl Thomas, who worked her way up from type-setter to production manager responsible for a team of workers, was showered with gifts and cards on her last day.
Cheryl was in her late teens and working at the Wincanton Garage on the Penzance Road, Helston, when she went for an interview at the Helston Gazette Office, then trading in the building next door to the current Wendron Street premises. She was given a job type-setting adverts by the then-proprietors, Stan and Babs Owen, and never looked back.
Since then she gave dedicated service to the Packet, only leaving for a short break at the birth of her first child, Ross.
She has two children, 15-year-old Ross and 11-year-old Rachael, with her husband Richard, who owns Pascoe's Motorcycles in Helston. The couple, who live at Trevenan Bal, spent most weekends at grass-track racing events.
After relocating to the Falmouth office, Cheryl worked her way up the ranks, latterly taking on the role of production manager with the responsibility for all newspaper and commercial publications, including Cornwall Review, Smallholder and South West Farmer. She was also the main Royal Cornwall Show co-ordinator on the production side of the Packet.
A large number of staff, both present and from the past, attended a farewell party held at the Five Degrees West in Falmouth. She was also presented with a number of gifts, including an engraved vase, a necklace, toiletries, perfume, a voucher for her favourite hairdressing salon and lots of flowers, as well as a large card signed by all the staff.
Cheryl is due to start her new job, as a teaching assistant to a blind pupil at Wendron Primary School, this week.
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