AFTER 40 YEARS St. ANN’S WORKER TO RETIRE

There was no chance of Chris Hampton getting lost on her way to work – she has spent her entire career in the same shop, in Cheadle.

Chris who is now 63, is the manager at the St Ann’s Hospice shop and retires at the end of the year after almost four decades based at 3, High Street.

Every day she has undertaken the same 25-minute walk from her home in Cheadle to the same location, and worked there when it was Weinholt Bakery, her first job after leaving Kingway Girls School aged 15 in 1965.

Chris (left) said:

“At the start I did get a taxi to work because I had to be in the bakery at 4 am, making steak pies and bread and it was a high class cake shop.”

She took a decade off work to bring up sons Michael and Stephen but went back to the bakery before it became the charity shop 23 years ago.

Initially, she was a cleaner and became a cook in the upstairs café before eventually running the shop, one of 15 operated by St Ann’s across Greater Manchester.

“As you can imagine, I’ve got lots of memories of working here. The Coronation Street actress Sue Nicholls comes into the shop regularly to donate clothes and I’d like to thank all the customers, staff and volunteers for being so supportive over the years.

“Without their help I wouldn’t have been able to do it, and I think that’s why the hospice has such a good name because of their support and commitment.”

Chris is holding a farewell party for colleagues in the New Year and although she will take time out for a hip operation she plans to volunteer in the hospice charity shop on Turves Road, Cheadle Hulme.

“I’ve been married to Gerald for 43 years and he thinks I’m crackers but I can’t leave the hospice. It’s been an honour to work here and has been my life.”