A DEDICATED employee was treated to a surprise celebration to mark her 40 years of work in the print industry.

Pam Burch, a print technician at Sprint Signs in High East Street, Dorchester, was shocked when she arrived at work to find her colleagues had laid on a day of celebration to mark the milestone.

Pam, 63, who lives in the county town, has worked at the same site since 1971 when she began working at what was then Pitfield’s Printers.

She initially worked in lithographic printing but has moved with the times to work in the current digital printing business.

Pam said: “The technology has changed vastly and I’ve had to keep up and learn a lot more.

“It has been a very enjoyable job because it’s varied and no job is the same.”

Pam has built up an array of loyal customers over the course of her career, including Grassby Funeral Directors for whom she has been producing service sheets for 40 years.

She thanked her colleagues for a ‘wonderful’ surprise after they threw the celebration for her.

Pam said: “It was an absolute surprise, I hadn’t even said very much about it.

“It was wonderful and it really was a lovely day.”

Pam said she had no immediate plans to retire and would continue working in the short term.

However, she joked: “It certainly won’t be for another 40 years!”

Owner and managing director of Sprint Signs Cathy Walker praised Pam for the way she had moved with the times over the years and said that staff at Sprint Signs were keen to do something to recognise her commitment over the last 40 years.

She said: “She has stayed in the same shop for the last 40 years, she started out at Pitfield’s and has moved through the ages of lithograph printing right up to digital printing.

“It was a really lovely day because we made her a banner and it was all very hush-hush, she didn’t have a clue we were going to be surprising her and it really was a huge surprise for her.”