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The three of us in the Despatch Office received letters saying only one person would be required in the Office as the transport was being transferred to an outside haulier, which included the shipping overseas.
There would only be enough work for one person, therefore one could be transferred to the Packing Department and one voluntary redundancy. I immediately saw that if I took redundancy I wouldn't have that horrible journey every day. This was all scheduled to take place in August 1998, therefore I would only be 6 months away from retiring.
At the bottom of the letter we had to put our preferences and I put Voluntary Redundancy. John the young lad said he had also put redundancy which surprised me as he was only 21 yrs old. Clare the other one put that she would like to stay where she was.
I could see that I was going to have a fight on my hands but I was ready. I tried to argue my case with John and was surprised that Clare agreed that it should be me, as I was so close to retirement but John was adament, he wouldn't budge.
We would just have to wait and see the outcome. Mark spoke to John and said he thought it was a bad move for him to take redundancy as he had only been there 2 years so would not get very much redundancy money and he would have excellent prospects in the packing Department.
A few days past and John changed his mind he decided to go to the Packing Department and Clare wanted to stay in Despatch so hopefully the redundancy would be mine. We had a meeting with the group of Managers who were dealing with the re- structure and we each stated our reasons for our choices. They were delighted with the outcome and it was signed, sealed and delivered and we were told to expect confirmation in the next few days.
John and Clare both got what they wanted and I waited for my confirmation. It arrived the next day and I was so surprised at the amount I was to receive, pleasantly surprised I might add in fact I was in shock. This would set me up for the rest of my days if I was carefull. It also meant Roxanne and I could go to Jersey again as I had promised her. I had been at Ovaltine for just over 10 years.In spite of everything I had really loved my job, if not some of the people.