Bentley is celebrating the 50th working anniversary of its longest-serving employee this month. Noel Thompson, a coach-trimmer at the headquarters of Bentley Motors in Crewe, England, began working for the world’s leading luxury automotive brand on 1st September 1969, when he was 16 years old.<br /><br />Noel was one of 60 fellow apprentices to arrive on the shop-floor of the factory that day, where he spent 12 months receiving rotation training across various divisions, predominantly within engineering, before specialising in coach-trimming. An outstanding and highly-sought after line of apprenticeship schemes at Bentley has continued to train highly skilled craftspeople to this day.<br /><br />For 22 years, Noel Thompson was fortunate to work at the factory at the same time as his own father, who was employed as a coach-painter for almost 40 years until 1991, a period when Bentley was a subdivision of Rolls-Royce. Noel’s grandmother also worked in the factory during the second world war.
