WORKERS at the Pressed Steel Company at Cowley were well known for their long and devoted service.

Good wages and job security meant many workers stayed for many years.

As we have recalled, an annual dinner was held to honour those who had completed a quarter of a century at the car body factory.

The managing director or other senior executive would welcome workers to the 25 Year Club and present each one of them with a club pin and a gold watch. The dinner was usually followed by cabaret, featuring well-known local artists.

We are not certain what year this dinner was held, or where it took place.

But others we have featured were in the plush surroundings of the Randolph Hotel.

The picture comes from Janet Simons, whose father, Henry ‘Harry’ Irving, worked for the company for many years.

He was a founder member of the 25 Year Club, but does not appear to be in this photograph.

As we recalled (Memory Lane, Aug 1), Mr Irving worked as a jig and maintenance engineer, but was also a volunteer with the St John Ambulance Brigade.

He was often called upon, on and off duty, to treat work colleagues who had suffered injury.

Mrs Simons, of Tackley, recalls: “Often, workers with little bits of metal in their eyes would call at our home in Dene Road, Headington, and would be treated.”