Tamworth engineering firm celebrates 50th birthday

Geoff Chatterley set up the company in 1973 as a two-man band

An engineering firm is celebrating its 50th anniversary, with its 77-year-old co-founder still at the helm.

D&C Engineers in Tamworth has worked on projects such has HS2, Hinkley Point and the London Underground, with Geoff Chatterley as its managing director.

The company, launched in Birmingham, has many staff with more than 10 years' service, and director Bryn Dixon has been with the firm for 43 years.

Mr Chatterley said: "Perhaps one day I'll retire."

But he said right now he was looking forward to the next projects in the pipeline.

He set up the firm in 1973 with another man, John Dale, initially in the centre of Birmingham, before moving to Fazeley and then Tamworth in 1980.

They started out as two people carrying out maintenance and servicing to the concrete, quarry and asphalt industries - and the company now employs more than 40 staff.

Mr Chatterley said things had changed a lot since the 1970s, but added: "Looking back at what has been achieved, it's actually quite startling to see the evolution of the business over the decades."

He also said it was a "privilege" to still be working with staff who had been with him since the 1980s and 1990s.