|
"In the early 1960's in London I met and fell in love with Gwyn, a wonderful girl from South Wales but unfortunately she suffered from ill health all her life, which meant that we could not fly abroad and journeys of any kind were limited. Gwyn sadly passed away almost four years ago, but we had forty fabulous years together and it's a bittersweet situation that I am now able to enjoy life in a different way, such as walking the Pembrokeshire coastal paths and travelling to Italy .
Through my love of walking I have met Vanessa and we have been able to support each other through troubled times and are now looking forward to a future together"
Gordon and Vanessa got engaged in Venice earlier this year and Gordon has already started making the most of his extra time by recently spending his birthday in Paris with his fiancee, Vanessa and then on to London to celebrate with his children.
Originally from Oban in the West Highlands of Scotland, Gordon moved to South Wales when he met his wife Gwyn and they married in 1968. Gordon worked at a computer data services company in Cardiff for many years and was a close colleague of Roger Banks; one of the original directors of UGCS which later became CHSS and then Connaught Compliance Training Services.
In 1995, Gordon took the opportunity of redundancy and joined his co-worker, Roger at UGCS as Manager for the open courses at Cardiff and Warrington.
Although Gordon isn't really leaving, as a well loved and respected member of the company, Gordon's colleague's gathered together to present him with presents, which included a trip to Blenheim Palace with afternoon tea, a 'Borders' voucher and our Administration Officer, Colleen made him a wonderful cake.
Gordon and Vanessa are planning a number of long weekends and holidays during 2009 starting with a trip to the Eternal City of Rome in February. They are also planning their wedding for 2010.
"I'm not ready to retire, I'm full of enthusiasm and drive for life, so reducing my hours and changing my role with the company gives me the perfect opportunity to be able to afford to see the world both in terms of time and money while continuing to work with the fantastic Connaught team." He continued,
"There's a philosophy that has always run through the company of respect and putting other people first, whether that is a customer or a colleague, so when CHSS became part of Connaught last year, I could see the natural synergy and understood clearly the strapline of "Putting you first", because we always do that - it's why I continue to love coming to work." | 
