Graham Griffiths

here are still one or two snippets to catch up on from those hectic Liverpool days. Today's post concerns a fantastic meal last week at the Arch Chinese restaurant in Newcastle. Graham Griffiths, who I used to work with before returning to student land, retired from Stoke-on-Trent City Council last week, and, in an amazingly generous gesture (amazing because Graham wasn't very high up the corporate ladder), hired the entire restaurant for his farewell celebration and paid for everyone's meal.

I'm sure the fact that over eighty people attended is a testament to Graham's popularity as a colleague and not just the generosity of the evening, but what made the gathering even more remarkable was the number of people who, like me, had previously left the Council but returned for the evening.

It was odd enough for those of us who had left, seeing all those familiar faces one more time. How much more odd must it have been for those who hadn't left, seeing a sudden host of ghosts among those they still work with. One revenant, who had retired twenty-five years ago, was, fittingly, the person who had hired Graham over thirty-one years ago. Two others present had seen Graham arrive and leave at the Council.

It certainly beats my seventeen years there, with five off in the middle for good behaviour I mean, a secondment. This is hardly the end of an era like pre-1914 Edwardians (cf 'The Shooting Party'), but with so many changes in employment these days, there can't be many people still in the running for long-service awards.

Tags: Graham Griffiths | Arch restaurant | retirement | long service