An employee at Heighley Gate Nursery & Garden Centre is celebrating this month after clocking up 40 years of service.
Maintenance supervisor Ivan Rowley is the longest serving member of the team at the Garden Centre Group-owned store, and was recognised for his commitment to the company at a special presentation ceremony on April 1, exactly 40 years to the day that he started.

General manager Roger Wale said: "We are extremely grateful for the dedication shown during the past 40 years by Ivan. I would like to thank him for the years of service he has given Heighley Gate Nursery & Garden Centre and we look forward to many more years ahead. He helped build this wonderful garden centre, is well-known by our customers and is an integral part or our team."

Mr Wale and previous owners of the centre David and Sheila Lishman presented Mr Rowley with a long service medal from the Royal Horticultural Society, a framed certificate signed by RHP president Giles Coode-Adams, a 40-year commemorative badge from the Garden Centre Group, a watch and £100 of high street vouchers.

The father-of-three started working at the garden centre in 1970, aged 15.