Rank Hovis News

01/02/2011
John Hale retires after 47 years service with Rank Hovis

We bid a sad farewell to John Hale in February who is retiring after 47 years with Rank Hovis. John’s long standing career with Rank Hovis started back in 1963 where he worked in the back offices at one of Rank’s original dock sites in Birkenhead, where his first wages were 55 shillings! His career has seen many changes over the years; in the early days being part of the company when the Rank family were still at the helm, to the RHM merger in 1962 to more recent times when Premier Foods acquired the business.

The majority of John’s time spent with Rank Hovis has been in Sales, in 1974 he became the Territory Manager in the North Wales and Cumbria area, his company car was a Ford Anglia – with no radio and a radiator that was either very hot or very cold. The first account he opened was The Apple Pie Eating House – which is still going strong today! In the latter stages of his career John took over the National Account Controller’s role with responsibility for both the North and South teams and more recently restructuring the teams into Business Units after the Premier acquisition.

John has made many sincere friends over the years and he will be sadly missed at Rank Hovis, not only for his dry sense of humour and wealth of knowledge but he is a true gentleman. We send him off with our best wishes and the best of luck in his retirement – he’s definitely earned it!

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