FORGET working nine 'til five - Bill Morphew is hoping to work until he's 95 after clocking up a staggering 71 years with the same company.Mr Morphew, 86, started his career at Bildeston-based CK Squirrell and Sons at the tender age of 15 back in 1936.

FORGET working nine 'til five - Bill Morphew is hoping to work until he's 95 after clocking up a staggering 71 years with the same company.

Mr Morphew, 86, started his career at Bildeston-based CK Squirrell and Sons at the tender age of 15 back in 1936.

Amazingly he has never quit his job and is still working for Muntons in Stowmarket which acquired Squirrells in 1991.

However the sprightly pensioner has no plans to stop just yet.

Mr Morphew, who lives in Little Clacton, Essex, said: "I have to keep active.

“I can't settle and I have no thoughts of retiring."

His first task when he joined Squirells was to light the fire and sweep the floor for his boss and very soon he felt that he was part of the family.

He said: “I started at the bottom and worked my way up.

“I was only doing things like cleaning the floor and lighting the fires but I enjoyed it and I still enjoy my work here.”

Mr Morphew gradually learned the ins and outs of the grain trade but his employment was interrupted for four years from 1941 to 1945 due to the Second World War.

He enlisted and was shipped out to fight in West Africa, before moving to Iran, Iraq and finally Italy prior to coming back to the UK.

It was on his return that he started working on lorries - hand loading sacks weighing up to 20 stones.

From here he moved into the granary before switching again to grain trading - a job he is still doing part time for Muntons as a retained agent.

He said: “I have a good few customers that I go and see and it keeps me busy.

“I have good contacts with farmers and their families and it is good to go and see them and chat to them.

“They are not just customers but good friends.”

n> Have you worked at the same company for as long as Bill? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk

What was happening when Bill first started work in 1936:

n> Nazi Germany reoccupied the Rhineland

n> The Spanish civil war begins

n> London's Crystal Palace is destroyed by fire

n> Actor Burt Reynolds is born

n> Jesse Owens wins four gold medals at the Olympic Games in Berlin