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Regional press news - this story published 27 March 2007

Poignant home video marks closure of Trinity Mirror operations office

by holdthefrontpage staff

A poignant video of an operations manager's farewell to the pre-press department he headed up is being broadcast on YouTube.

The home-made movie was shot after 22 members of the North Wales operations team at Trinity Mirror lost their jobs there.

Staff had more than 400 years of experience behind them, making the closure an emotional and unpopular move.

The Llandudno Junction operations department was streamlined with four members of staff transferred to the company's Chester operation and one taking an alternative role at Llandudno Junction.

The video "stars" production manager David Evans, who is seen packing up his belongings into a cardboard box.

There are places I remember

On his way to locking up for the final time at the Llandudno office, he hears echoes of the past and recalls the times gone by.

A montage of pictures of employees at work and at play accompanies the moving Beatles soundtrack.

'I know I'll often stop and think about them'

Comments posted on the YouTube site by viewers include:

"Such a great tribute to the wonderful people I worked with for over 5 years, they can take the people but not the memories."

"My mum has worked at the NWWN for over thirty years before and after I was born. Frightening!! It's going to be a very sad day for mum and all who work at the office."

"What a brilliant video, its a fitting tribute to all that have worked at NWWN, having worked there myself for nearly two years I've many found memories of people there. Wishing you all the lucky in the future and your new jobs."

"Such a fitting tribute for everyone who has worked at NWWN."

"Brilliant video and what a great loss to the company Daffyd and his team will be."

Credited on the site are director, Chris Triggs, cameraman and editor Daniel Evans, and actor, David Evans, for whom a career in films surely beckons.

The operations office was closed as Trinity Mirror's North West Business Unit changed the way it worked from having four centres to having three. The operation had already been altered from having five centres, with the closure of Southport Operations centre and the migration of work to Liverpool and Chester.

Regional operations director Chris Jennings said in a memo at the beginning of January, when the proposal was announced: "These transformation decisions have been made after due and careful consideration and I would like to emphasise that they are not a reflection on work performed at the Llandudno Junction centre.

"The decision to further streamline in this way - with restructured teams, clustered around 3 centres, with the evolving automation of processes - places our business in a strong position to go forward in 2007 and beyond."

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