25 years of service

It's been 25 years since Plant Operator Chris Hancock officially joined the Champion Groundworks team. As if that wasn't a milestone enough, Chris worked on a self-employed basis for Champion before he made the switch to being on the books - which means he'll have been with us an incredible 39 years this coming January.

Being the fifth addition to the original Champion Groundworks team alongside Fred, Chris has seen a huge amount of change both within the business with the Champion team size now exceeding 350 across more than 40 active sites in Devon & Cornwall - but also within groundworks as a whole. The introduction of very stringent Health & Safety procedures is the area he feels has changed the most. Gone are the days when you could happily work on-site in hot summer months in your skimpiest shorts!

We asked Chris what his advice would be for anyone considering getting into a career in Groundworks and he said:

"My advice would be to go for it! It's a good job. Yes it's hard - cold in the winter and hot in the summer, but it's a great career and if you're willing to work hard there's so much opportunity."

We wanted to take a moment to extend a huge congratulations to Chris on this incredible milestone and share our appreciation for his continuing hard work and loyalty as a key member of our team. You Chris, along with our original team are literally the backbone this business was built on and we'll consider ourselves very lucky if we have workers with as much grit, determination and humour to get the job done for the next 40 years!

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