Kerrie escapes her desk

Kerrie escapes her desk

Kerrie Fraser began her tenure at Kingston Bros 50 years ago, and has given 48 years of service in her time since.

After leaving school in 1971 Kerrie picked up a job in the office at Kingston’s working alongside Shirley Cameron as she picked up the basics of running the books of the business.

“When I started they had me on one of those real old manual accounting machines that take up half the desk,” Kerrie explained.

“I’ve done two generations. I started with Gordon and Burt and I’m now with Dale and Trevor.”

A family owned business, Kerrie says that Kingstons have been providing metalwork services to Circular Head for as long as she can remember.

“You only have to walk in with an idea and the Kingston Boys will invent it to work for you, then the workers will put it together for you,” she said.

Now that her days have opened up, she is keen to put the feet up for a while, before lending herself to some volunteer work after a rest.

“I reckon for the first month I won’t do much at all,” she said.

“But they’re still writing books, I’m a big reader, and I can paint pictures, there’s plenty I can get up to at home.”

Though she is looking forward to the next step, Kerrie acknowledges that she will miss a lot of aspects of work life.

“We’re like one big family, it’s a bit like adoption when we employ someone,” Kerrie said.

“We back each other up and things like that, that side of things has been very enjoyable.

“But I certainly won’t miss this computer!”

Kerrie says that besides finding the time to volunteer and offering a helping hand in the community when she can, she will still find an excuse to pop in and say hello to everyone she has worked alongside over the journey.

“As I said it’s like a big family, we’ve all been together for awhile.

“So I’m sure I’ll find an excuse to be in to visit… I’ll dream up some jobs for them.”

Kerrie will officially retire on April 16.

 

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