A long-serving maintenance worker has hung up his paint brushes and tools after 50 years of working with the same Norfolk-based company.

Eastern Daily Press: William Speer has retired after 50 yearsHe is pictured with work colleagues and boss Martin GoymourWilliam Speer has retired after 50 yearsHe is pictured with work colleagues and boss Martin Goymour (Image: Archant)

William Speer, from Banham, worked for residential property company Goymour Properties and had also carried out work for Banham Zoo and its sister site Africa Alive in Suffolk.

At the age of 15 he joined C H Goymour and C A Goymour & Son as a property maintenance assistant in August 1966.

In the 1980s C A Goymour & Son merged with a number of the family-owned residential property companies to become Goymour Properties, which is the parent company of the Goymour Group that also owns Dinosaur Adventure at Lenwade.

While Mr Speer has mainly undertaken work over the 50 years in maintaining the residential property portfolio, his skills have been called on to maintain and decorate buildings at Banham Zoo and Africa Alive.

Both attractions were owned by Goymours but are now under the auspices of the Zoological Society of East Anglia, a registered charity set up in 2013.

A keen golfer, Mr Speer, who is married to Margaret, said his retirement would see him decorating his Banham home, enjoying holidays and playing golf.

Martin Goymour, managing director of Banham-registered Goymour Properties, said: 'It is difficult to say goodbye to someone I have worked with most of my working life; being a family-owned business we work with people, and while we all work for a living, those that we work alongside become part of your extended family.

'However after nearly 50 years I envy William's opportunity to enjoy a quite different, more leisurely, phase of his life and know that that opportunity will be put to the test.'

Mr Speer is the second member of staff with 50 years or more service who has retired this year from the company, as a few months ago Nicholas Bunning, the housing manager, left.

Are you celebrating a long-serving employee or retiring after 50 years? Email anthony.carroll@archant.co.uk