MORE former employees of Ben Johnson printing company have shared memories of their time at the firm.

Tony Geesing was 17 when he won an apprenticeship in 1972. He was offered jobs with the police and Ben Johnson on the same day, but the latter offered more money.

It was a fantastic place to work, he said, more so because he met his wife, Stephanie, there in 1976.

"It was brilliant, it really was a cracking place to work, especially because of all the characters there," he said.

Some workers used to bring in suitcases filled with books, clothes and coffee machines and sell them cheaply to their colleagues, he said.

Another memory involves the printing of men's magazine Penthouse.

"You weren't supposed to work on it until you were 18, but we were all lads together," he said.

"One of the things we used to get up to was when we printed the Japanese edition, they had little black squares over all the naughty bits and we would swap them over so the Japanese guys got the good bits. We were just a bunch of lads."

Tony left Ben Johnson in 1986, but went back to work at the Yellow Pages plant. He now works in a printing firm in Sheffield and has fond memories of his time at Ben Johnson.

"It was absolutely brilliant," he said. "Everybody used to go out together on a Friday night, and I mean everybody. It was a real good laugh. It's easy to look back on most things with rose-tinted specs, but it really was a smashing spot."

Meanwhile, Peter Boulton emailed to share his memories as a printer's assistant at Ben Johnson, between 1967 and 1969.

His father, Victor, who became Lord Mayor of York, worked there until 1972, while Peter's mother, Evelyn, was a secretary/shorthand typist to a director called Henry Lee.

"Bernard Johnson's generosity to my father was marvellous in that he paid his salary for the year he was being Lord Mayor, as well as ensuring no wages were lost by absence from work due to attendance at day-time council commitments, which he considered a great honour for the company as well as the individual," wrote Mr Boulton.

"It was very much a family firm, where your chance of employment was always better if you had relations or family working there, and indeed there were entire families that worked there.

"They did all the prestige work of the time there; all high quality namely mail order catalogues, Dinky Toys, Procter & Gambles, Whiskers cat food labels, Black Magic and virtually all the work for Rowntree as it was then, football coupons and many more.

"It was a wonderful company to work at, being the finest printers in Europe, if not the world, and a person being trained at Ben Johnson could obtain work anywhere in the world, so highly respected it was in the printing world."

There was an active social side to the firm too, he said, with a social league of local firms playing darts and dominoes against each other every week.

They played cricket in the summer and there was an annual outing for the workers, which was partially financed by contributions paid to the federated chapel.

"It was always as I remember a very happy place to work indeed with a relaxed air about it," he said.

"I have always thought it a great shame that no permanent record or tribute to a fine company exists in print. Many people spent lifetimes employed there and, sadly, many fine printers are no longer with us, but their memory always remains with me."

  • Would you like to share your memories of Ben Johnson? Contact Charlotte Percival on 01904 653051 X337, write to I Remember That, The Press, Features, 76 to 86 Walmgate, York, YO1 9YN, or email charlotte.percival@ycp.co.uk