Expats celebrate the New Year in Somerset

A GROUP of islanders toasted in the New Year in Somerset with some local brew.

Pam and John Farmer, Dennis Waters and Mike Newman worked together in Guernsey for 50 years.

Pam and John spent several years working at the Pollet Le Riches store, with Pam on the tobacco counter and John in the wine and spirit department.

'It was a dance evening at the Hermitage Hotel that brought them together,' said Mike.

'We were celebrating the 21st birthday of a well-known local lad, Brian Bonner. It culminated in a Guernsey wedding, where I was privileged to be best man.'

Dennis and Mike met when Mike moved to Guernsey in 1959 to work at Randalls Brewery in St Julian's Avenue.

'Life in Guernsey in the late fifties was quite hard graft,' said Mike.

'The beer crates, with two dozen pint bottles, weighed about 90 pounds. Even though Dennis and I both weighed under 10 stone, we could stack them all day.'

In the summer Mike worked from 7am until 7.30pm at Randalls, before going down to work on the tomato packing lines until midnight.

Mike went on to become a civil servant, while Dennis became a print manager.

Their friend John became well known as the bass guitarist with Denver Spur for 40 years. Despite leaving Guernsey, the friends have always stayed in contact.