Ginger Singh-Kauldhar
Wishing Andy all the best for the future
For many years, the loyal and skilled team at Tomlinson die-makers has been known as the ’Tomlinson family’, and even after a team member has retired or moved on to pastures new, they’re given a warm, family welcome whenever they return to visit their former colleagues at our manufacturing premises in Leicester.
Tomlinson’s production team is a close-knit group, many of whom have worked together for decades. Andy Latham, Tomlinson’s former Despatch Co-ordinator and staff member for thirty-seven years is one of them.
In 2024, Andy was diagnosed with ‘spinal stenosis’, a painful condition that causes numbness in the limbs and debilitating back pain when standing; Andy’s role in despatch involved spending many hours on his feet which greatly exacerbated the pain he was experiencing. Facing a major operation on his spine to help ease the condition, Andy’s future felt uncertain as he would need to spend an unknown amount of time in recovery. Thus, after lots of careful thought and discussion with Tomlinson’s three directors, it was mutually agreed that Andy would take early retirement in order to focus on making a complete recovery.
Andy has a very friendly and gentle manner and speaks fondly of his years working for Tomlinson. As a naturally caring person, and for some time already, Andy has been a carer for his wife, Rosie, who is currently also suffering with ill-health and restricted mobility. Since leaving Tomlinson, he expresses how he has missed the banter and camaraderie he had with his fellow teammates and reflects on his thirty-seven years of loyal service to the company.
Andy joined the Tomlinson family in July 1987, doing general duties while he learnt about the various processes involved in making foiling and embossing dies and counterforces. Then, when he passed his driving test at twenty-one, he was offered the opportunity to become a delivery driver for Tomlinson which he loved and remembers very fondly. When couriers eventually took over Tomlinson deliveries, Andy went on to manufacture counterforces in the company’s Plastics Department, and trim and finish dies in the Finishing area. Finally, when a vacancy became available in Tomlinson Despatch Department, Andy accepted the role and spent the last twenty years of his career diligently wrapping and packing dies and preparing paperwork ready for customer or courier collections, as well as dealing with international deliveries, which he very much enjoyed.
Tomlinson Employee Ownership status plays a major role in how the company responds to staff members’ unforeseen life circumstances. Equally, being ‘EO’ means that Tomlinson staff members, its co-owners, value and recognise ‘the bigger picture’ in terms of the wider impact on the business as a whole.
Due to Andy’s urgent need to take time off due to his diagnosis and impending operation in the autumn of 2024, there was sadly no opportunity for the whole team here at Tomlinson to say a fitting ‘farewell’ to their colleague of so many years. However, in July 2025, this was duly rectified!
Each year, Tomlinson marks and celebrates its annual ‘EO Day’ by doing something simple yet special that brings the ‘Tomlinson family’ together to chat and reflect on the past twelve months. As this year’s ‘EO Day Guest of Honour’, Andy’s valuable contribution became the special focus of the celebration where he once again stood shoulder-to-shoulder with his former colleagues, enjoyed a delicious fish and chip lunch, and shared laughs and memories of his long and successful career at Tomlinson. The team wished Andy all the best with his ongoing recovery and future wellbeing, as well as to salute Tomlinson continuing success.