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R&B Group celebrates its 21st birthday

Event production company R&B Group is celebrating its 21st birthday this month, and is all set to toast the event with a bang. As the company approaches its landmark anniversary, we sat down to reminisce with R&B Group’s longest standing staff member, Sandra Sanson.

You’ve been with the company pretty much from the start, working freelance for a couple of years before accepting a permanent position as Financial Controller. So, here you are 21 years on, you must be happy in your work?

“Extremely happy. It’s such a friendly working atmosphere here. It always has been.You’ve watched the company grow and develop.”

What’s changed?

“We’ve gone from 3 staff in the early days to 30. I’ve seen a few people come and go, worked at four different sites and although I now have some female company, the business still remains very male orientated. I’ve seen many changes in technology and equipment as well as having to adjust from simple paper based accounts to computerised systems.”

Obviously, you have known Barry (R&B Group’s Operations Director) for many years; do you have any funny stories?

“In the old days, when we worked at Matfen, I was a bit of a drinker and loved the staff Christmas parties. I can remember ringing Barry one ‘morning after’ to ask him to drive me to work. And if that wasn’t bad enough, he had to pull over on the military road in Hexham to let me out! I’m a good girl now though. I married, had a daughter and settled down and I’m known to the rest of the staff as Aunty Sandra! Barry is a joker, always has been. I can remember going into work and telling him about my near miss the night before when I’d been out with Unis, a friend of the company. Unis was driving and had been so busy chatting that she drove around a roundabout the wrong way. Barry found this most amusing and proceeded to call her pretending to be the local Police. I almost wet myself. She took it all in, believed him and even dropped me in it telling the policeman that I had been there too and we’d been to weight watchers!”

As the longest serving staff R&B Group staff member, you are clearly respected and looked up to but do you have any bad habits?

“I often sing along to the adverts on the radio. I used to get away with it as I’ve always worked in an office or at a desk by myself but now I work on the main floor of the office, I think my secret’s out!”

Who is your longest standing Account?

“I’d say our longest relationship must be with the Royal College of Nursing. We’ve worked with them to produce their nursing conferences throughout the country for over 16 years.”

If you could re-live your career over and finance wasn’t an option, what career path would you follow?

“Well to be honest it’s something I haven’t considered. I worked on an ice-cream van at sixteen , maybe I’d just go back to serving Mr Whippy and 99’s with monkeys blood!”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Miranda Dobson .