Martyn Elvin joined Eastern Electricity as an apprentice at the age of 16. He has since risen through the ranks progressing to a field engineer and more recently a maintenance manager.
An electricity worker from Bungay has been recognised for his 40-year strong commitment to his work.
Martyn Elvin joined Eastern Electricity as an apprentice at the age of 16.
Since then, the 56-year-old has risen through the ranks to progress to a field engineer and more recently a maintenance manager.
In his career, Mr Elvin worked with the field teams to restore power after the Great Storm of 1987.
He said: 'One of my biggest memories is of the Great Storm of 1987, when we worked from six in the morning until midnight for seven days on the trot to get everyone back on supply as quickly as possible.
'I had moved house the day of the Great Storm and our new home was one of those affected. I couldn't do anything about it because I was out getting everybody else back on supply. I hardly went home for a week and all the jobs I'd planned to do with us moving house had to go on hold.
'Restoring power supplies following big storms is rewarding work when you can react quickly for people. We do a lot of other things as a company, but to me it should always come back to the basic rationale of us keeping the lights on.'
Because of his long service to the company, which delivers electricity across East Anglia, London and the South East, Mr Elvin has offered his knowledge and services across the globe.
'I've got memories of working in the South of France, in February 2009, following a severe storm. I led a team of about 30 linesmen and engineers through villages near the Pyrenees.
Mr Elvin said: 'We would travel from place to place repairing the damaged overhead lines and restoring supplies. The locals were really friendly and greeted us like heroes.
'There were some challenges too, nobody in the hotel we stayed at spoke English for instance and some of the electrical systems were a bit different, but many of the skills we had were interchangeable with the French ways of working and we were able to make a significant contribution.'
Mr Elvin joins a group of 400 other employees who have remained with the company for more than 40 years.
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