Ian Pavey was a Flight Test Engineer at Westland and remembers the Yeovil factory being a friendly place to work

Westland was not unlike Clarkes in many ways. It was a family concern. A lot of it was 2nd and 3rd generation of the same family who’d sort of been Westland man and boy for years. Regrettably, I think those days have now gone. There was a tremendous sense of belonging and pride in your product and I think that was one of the things which I found. Everybody knew everybody to a greater or lesser extent and work was fun. I think, unfortunately, it’s another thing which is possibly no longer around, as it was then. Monday morning was never a problem. I thoroughly enjoyed going to work, thoroughly enjoyed friends and colleagues. You could speak of them as exactly that; my friend and colleague or, colleague and friend.

Even now, after all this time, you see somebody you haven’t seen for 20 years and the old friendship is immediately there.