Les Walter Retires

Les’s Story

Today marks the end of an era as we say farewell to our longest-standing employee at Thorpes. After first joining the company over fifty years ago, Les is finally putting down his tools at Thorpes as he begins his well-earned retirement.

On June 5th, 1972, at just fifteen years old, Les joined Thorpes, hired by Jack Thorpe, the founder and first generation of Thorpes Joinery. Initially attracted by the convenience of living in the same village as the factory, Les decided to pursue his interest in woodworking. His first job involved sanding the pews at Great Glen Church, earning him his first pay packet of £5.

Greatest Achievements

At Thorpes, Les, often referred to as ‘Superman’, is renowned for his ability to find solutions to any problem. Whenever faced with a challenge, no matter the size or complexity, he uses his determination and skill set to solve the problem.

A prime example of this is the unforgettable moment when Les was faced with a design challenge while creating bespoke copper “rope”.

The task involved wrapping copper wire around a 3-meter-long mild steel core. Despite the task sounding fairly simple and straightforward, after several attempts and facing multiple issues, Les took matters into his own hands and was determined to find a solution. After undergoing a substantial amount of research, including taking part in a crash course in rope making, Les revealed his invention, The ‘LWM1RTM’, which as a result, successfully twisted the copper rods into place. This is just one of many instances where Les used his wealth of knowledge to ensure a successful outcome and refused to accept defeat.

Read the full blog post: Novel Problems Require Novel Solutions - Ninety One

When asked about his best memory during his time at Thorpes, Les responded, ‘Most days at work. I look forward to coming to work and enjoy it every day. I just like to have a laugh while getting work done.’ There isn’t a task that Les can’t find a solution for. However, his biggest challenge, in his own words, is ‘getting to the back end of the boiler to clean it.’ Unsurprisingly, he utilized his resources to construct a special tool to overcome this obstacle.

Les says that he’ll miss getting up early and that he yearns for the turning when coming into Harborough every day. He plans to kick off his retirement by decorating six rooms in his house in addition to building a new front porch - You can take the man out of the work place but you can’t take the work out of the man! He also plans to spend more time with his grandchildren and hopes to travel more; this includes his prebooked trip to Australia to spend Christmas with relatives.

Random fact: When Les was a baby, his mother used to walk him around the village in a pushchair. Jenny, Jack Thorpe’s wife, always took a liking to Les and told his mother, ‘He will work here one day.’

It goes without saying that Les will be greatly missed by all of his colleagues. On behalf of Thorpes, we’d like to thank him for all of his hard work and dedication during his long service and wish him all the best for the future.