Meet the Team - Pepe Sloman

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As part of our 40 year anniversary celebrations, we will be sharing memories of Axe Skips over the years. Pepe is our wonderful Office Administrator and one of our longest serving employees. Here is her story.

I have worked at Axe Skips for more than 18 years, the longest I have ever worked anywhere and have seen it change and expand enormously during that time. It is like working with a large extended family. As a group we have been through all manner of dramas and traumas -  deaths, weddings, divorces, births and we have all helped each other through so many events.

When I first started work the “office” in the yard was an old portakabin. In the summer it was hotter than hell and in the winter absolutely freezing! The only heating was a wood burner in the corner and on a cold morning I would start by rifling through the wood bay so I could light it. By mid morning I had thawed out and by lunchtime would have to have the door open. The boys in the yard would heat their lunch on the top of the burner. It is all mod cons now with a double decker container office with heat and air conditioning.

Juliette (the owners' daughter) was just a year old when I started and she used to sit on the desk with me, watching out for daddy in his lorry to come in. Now she works in the office and has her own HGV licence. Where has all that time gone?!

We have gone from being solely paper and pen without a computer in sight, everything written in longhand to being fully computerised and digital. Karen and I stumbled through all the changes over the years and learnt so much mainly from our mistakes. We are both now nearly computer literate! Tracey now manages the office very efficiently.

I have virtually retired now and mainly work from home book keeping. I keep trying to fully retire but Karen and James (our owners) won’t let me. Obviously there have been ups and downs along the way but it has been enjoyable and I am very pleased I saw the job advert all that time ago!

The first "office" - a somewhat chilly portakabin!