SOME 50 years ago, in November 1962, a small pioneering group of employees walked on to the Hooton Park site in Ellesmere Port and started their employment at Vauxhall Motors.
As that first intake of employees began work, in a bitterly cold winter, little did they know that this was the birth of what was to become Wirral and Cheshire’s largest private employer.
At its peak, Vauxhall in Ellesmere Port employed more than 12,500 people and during the past 50 years 50,000 local people have, at one time or another, been on the payroll – some for only days and others for more than 40 years.
This month, to help recognise this milestone in the plant’s history, a small group of Vauxhall retirees revisited the site and went on a guided tour of the Griffin Trust’s activities, located in the original Second World War hangars which are now owned by the Hooton Park Trust.
Both organisations help to keep the spirit of the Hooton Park site’s history alive for future generations.
Among the group of Vauxhall retirees were Albert Spauls and David Dryer.
Both were among those early pioneers who started work in November 1962 and went on to spend their working lives there, before retiring from the Ellesmere Port Plant.
To help celebrate the plant’s 50th anniversary, all retired staff personnel are invited to a nostalgic ‘Noggin & Natter’ in the Astra Bar in the Vauxhall Sports and Social Club, Rivacre Road, on Wednesday, November 21, from 7.30pm.
