Family pastry makers to celebrate 70 years of trade

Michael, 71, and Elena Dickson, 44, are still at the helm of the family business

A family-run business is celebrating seven decades of making saveloys and pies.

North East firm Dicksons, which launched in 1953, will mark the occasion on 18 June.

The family began with a single shop in South Shields, which they lived above, and now employs more than 300 members of staff.

Dicksons now has 31 stores, sells more than 12,000 pork pies every week and produces 1.5 million pots of pease pudding a year.

Husband and wife Michael Irwin and Helen Dickson launched the food-retailer on Prince Edward Road.

Now, their son Michael Dickson, 71, runs the business as chairman.

He took over the company as a teenager with his late sister Christine, following their father's death.

Michael Iwrin launched the business with his wife in South Shields

Mr Dickson said it was "crazy" to have been in charge of three shops and a workforce at a young age.

“We were stuck with all these responsibilities and broadly clueless, or at least I was.

“We did, in time, become a good team and a force to be reckoned with, so when Christine passed away 10 years ago it had a profound impact.

"I don’t think our parents would have thought the company would still be around or let alone turn out as successful as it has, so I’d like to think they’d be quietly impressed by what we achieved together."

Feeding the North East

Dicksons is the largest family-run provider of meat and food products in the region.

It makes (approximatley):

• 1.5m saveloys each year

• 1.5m pots of pease pudding annually

• 26,600 mince pies per week

• 12,700 pork pies each week

• 24,000 sausages are sold in sandwiches a week

The company has been serving saveloys since 1953

The company supplies goods to most major supermarkets and has celebrations planned to mark its anniversary, including the production of "new mystery flavour pasty products".

Mr Dickson, who admits he is not "a big fan of fuss", conceded that marking the occasion is "important".

He said the family have played "a small part of local history" and thanked the dedication of staff and the loyalty of their customers.