Employee bids a fond farewell after nearly a quarter of a century (From Gazette & Herald)

Employee bids a fond farewell after nearly a quarter of a century

MALCOLM Foggin is retiring after almost half a century at the same company and a role recording the hatches, matches and dispatches of thousands of Ryedale residents.

The father-of-three has worked for 49 years in conveyancing and probate for solicitors firm Pearsons & Ward, Market Street, Malton, and has been a registrar of births, deaths and marriages since 1963.

Mr Foggin, of Welham Road, Norton, has worked his way right up the ladder from office junior to his current senior role.

"I consider myself very fortunate. I've always worked for nice people.

"I've always lived in Norton so it's not just faces off the street that I'm dealing with, it's people I know," said Mr Foggin, a widower.

"It was suggested on more than one occasion that I should stay and make it 50 years, but what's a number?"

He left school at the age of 16 and attended a year-long commerce course at Scarborough Technical College where he studied book-keeping, shorthand and typing.

Mr Foggin started his career at Pearsons & Ward branch office in Malton as an office boy earning £2 a week and after two years took an opportunity to learn his trade at a branch office in Norton.

During his role he has drawn up many apprenticeship deeds for jockeys coming to Ryedale stables to work for racehorse trainers.

Forty-two years ago Mr Foggin became a registrar of births, deaths and marriages and has met thousands of Ryedale residents in the role.

Mr Foggin estimated that in his career he must have registered more than 15,000 births, deaths and marriages.

He jokes that a walk to the bank can take hours because he is stopped so many times along the way by people that know him.

Mr Foggin was chairman of Malton Bridge Club for 25 years and secretary and treasurer of Malton and Norton Angling Club for 40 years.

In his retirement, Mr Foggin is going to concentrate on his key interests - his three grandchildren, fishing and golf.

Updated: 15:26 Wednesday, June 15, 2005