MORE THAN one hundred former Harris factory workers joined members of the owning family to reminisce about their work life at a tea party held at Calne Heritage Centre.

The reunion, which was free and took place during the afternoon of Wednesday, September 7, added to the success of the town's second heritage week.

Sue Boddington, Curator of the Calne Heritage Centre, said: "About 110 employees came to the event and most of them got there at the same time and it got very noisy! A lot of them, even though they live in Calne, hadn't seen each other in a while so there were lots of conversations taking place."

By the time of the factory's closure in 1982, twenty per cent of Calne residents were employed by the factory and its legacy and the worker's memories still live on.

Jane Marshall of Calne Our Place said: "All who came had a wonderful time meeting up with old colleagues and friends and swapping stories. They also really enjoyed looking at photos and memorabilia from the Heritage Centre's collection.

"Lots of people that I spoke to started working in the factory when they were fifteen and there was one person who started working at the slaughter house on their fifteenth birthday which is unimaginable."

On Friday, Calne town council also hosted an exhibition on the history of Wiltshire cure which was well attended by the former employees and a man from Exeter who travelled down specifically to show off his collection of memorabilia from his time as a Harris sales representative.