The End of an Era: Farewell to John White
It is with a fond farewell that we wish our technical director, John White, all the best in his retirement from Newton Commercial. On Friday we began part one of John's retirement celebration with a socially distanced BBQ with the team and we look forward to celebrating with John and his family with a proper party when the pandemic allows.
John has been with Newton Commercial for over 33 years as part of our technical and development team and has seen many changes over the years as the company expanded from three people working in Richard & Vera's garage in Friston to our current team of over 50 people across three factories in Leiston. John's background before starting Newton Commercial was in engineering and he has always taken pride and pleasure in "making stuff" and creating solutions to manufacturing that has allowed us to continue to be world leaders in the manufacture of classic car interior trim.
John was instrumental in supporting Richard and Vera in the development of our range of classic car interior trim over the years, making products in the original way with original manufacturing techniques and skills that he has helped pass on to our skilled craftsmen and women over the years. John and Richard used their contacts within the industry and their skills in developing new products to continue creating high quality classic car interior made to original specifications patterned from original products. John's support of our production team from product development to improving our internal specifications leaves Team Newton in great shape to continue to develop new products and skills across our team and we hope he is as proud of his achievements as we are of him.
The care and attention to detail that Richard, Vera and John kept as their main ethos was passed on to the growing team of Newton Commercial skilled craftspeople, men and women from the local area creating a strong link with the local community. Our years of experience in making classic car upholstery continue to be an important part of Newton Commercial. A number of our team from sewing, to panels, to seat fitting, to welding have been with Newton Commercial for over 25 years and continue to pass on their expertise to our expanding team. We continue to offer a diverse range of skills and experience with four members with over 30 years of service, another four with over 20 years and 13 with over 10 years of experience in their respective departments. This experience ensures that time honoured skills, company ethics and values are passed down through generations as part of our family run business and while John will be sorely missed, he is confident that we are in great shape to write the next chapter of Newton Commercial history.
It takes a special kind of person to work for one company for over 33 years and John is definitely one of those special people. Importantly you must be good at your job and enjoy what you do, but you must also be loyal and enjoy the company of the people you work with. You must also have the patience to ride out both the ups and the downs and love the industry that you work in. John has seen it all! If you have been a long term supporter of Newton Commercial then it is likely you will have seen John at one of our many trade shows and classic car events over the years. John is always happy to talk to customers about their latest project and how we can help them achieve their dream car. John has helped support our sales team with his years of experience and has passed on his knowledge for a range of classic cars from MG to Mini, Morris Minor to Triumphs.
We hope that you join us all in wishing John a fantastic well deserved retirement. He will likely continue to be seen at local car shows so please feel free to say hello if you bump into him...
Comments on this post (2)
Many thanks to you for support. I should.
— gamesellru
Best regards to John White on the occasion of his retirement. I always enjoyed working with John during my 35 years at The Roadster Factory. He was always there to sort out issues.
— John Swauger - Employee-at-Large Emeritus The Roadster Factory