M&S in Culverhouse Cross is wishing five fabulous female employees a very happy anniversary as they celebrate more than a century in combined years working for the retailer.

For Rachel Harrington (celebrating 25 years), Kim Green (celebrating 28 years), Tracey Mooney (celebrating 23 years), Alison Azzopardi (celebrating 40 Years) and Sue Ball (celebrating 23 years) M&S has been a part of their life for a collective 139 years and has seen them build solid careers across a variety of stores and departments.

Alison joined the M&S Cardiff store as a part time Christmas temp in Oct 1982 at the age of 19. Following the festive season, she was offered a full time position working in the womenswear before moving over to menswear. In 1986, love blossomed in the store when Alison met her now husband, Simon, who worked in the operations department. They have been married since 1989 and both moved to the Culverhouse store in 1998 as it was closer to home.

Rachel also started her career at the Cardiff store. She joined in 1998 and spent 16 years there before moving across to the Culverhouse store nine years ago. She has enjoyed a variety of roles including coaching, food manager and her current job of customer assistant where she helps ensure M&S lovely customers have the best instore experience

Embarking on her journey in 1992, Kim Green converted her Christmas temp position into a permanent job in the old cash office before moving to the admin department. She was then able to utilise skills gained from being a police officer when she joined the security team before taking on her current position in womenswear at the Culverhouse Cross store.

As for Tracey, her M&S career began in 1999 on the customer service team as a Christmas temp. She was then given the opportunity to join the team in a permanent role within the ladieswear department and has remained there since. Within the department, Tracey has been involved with coaching and managing across the team and is known to many as the Denim Queen. Finally, Sue became part of the M&S family in 2002 when she took on the role as an Elf for the Christmas season before moving to a permanent role in the coffee shop where she worked for 17 years. Since then, she has worked in foods and trained to become a flower specialist, which is one of her favourite parts of the job.

Allison Jenkins, Regional ManagerM&S Culverhouse commented: “M&S has been very good to me and has given me the chance to develop a career I love.”

“I’ve seen the store go through a lot of changes such as the recent renewal which now includes fantastic features like digital wine tasting! It’s such a brilliant atmosphere to work in. The team really is like one big family, which makes it a great place to work. The number of people celebrating lengthy careers with the company is a true testament to the opportunities and working environment M&S creates.”

Simon Newman, Store Manager for M&S, Culverhouse Cross commented: “Rachel, Kim, Alison, Sue & Tracey are all vital parts of the team here at Culverhouse. I can’t imagine the store without them. They all always come to work withsmiles on their faces and a passion to ensure our M&S store operates on another level. I can’t wait to see what the future holds at M&S for all of them, hopefully more anniversaries.”

“The pace and progression combined with the good nature you’d expect from people who work at M&S is what makes us such a special place to work.”