With 40 years of experience at City West Country between them, Sheryl and Nigel Pawley are a stellar example of how work can change your life.
Both Sheryl and Nigel started working at City West Country exactly one month apart in 2005. After three months of working together, they began a relationship. Now, 20 years later, both received their 20 Year Long Service Award in the form of £500 TUI vouchers each, which they have put together to book a holiday to Cyprus this year to celebrate their professional and personal anniversaries.
Since joining the business back in 2005, Nigel and Sheryl have kept a detailed folder of all their memorable moments with the company, allowing them to see their growth over the past two decades.
Reminiscing on their journey, Nigel said: “I joined the company on May 3rd 2005, and Sheryl one month later.
We met each other for the very first time at Sheryl’s interview; we clicked from the moment we spoke to each other, with so many similar interests and lifestyles.
It became apparent after I had to travel to Germany just a couple of months into my career that I was missing Sheryl for reasons out of my normal feelings, and it wasn’t until I came back that I found out Sheryl had the exact same feelings. From that moment on we continued to flourish, growing quickly into a wonderful relationship that led onto a marriage that is now 15 years young!
During this time, we had our son Charlie. At 6”2 and aged just 13, we are extremely pleased to say that he represents Plymouth Argyle Academy as a goalkeeper. This fills most of our leisure time, travelling to training four times a week and the games added to that, playing at higher age levels. As you can imagine, it’s become our passion to watch our son as goalkeeper.
During our time with City West Country, we have been so lucky to witness its growth, as well as meeting new people and great customers alike.
We have always had a great working relationship that has never affected our personal relationship and vice versa. We take our professionalism seriously, to the point that we have never even kissed in work! I believe only a handful of customers are aware we were/are an item – we stand proud in our commitment to our professionalism at the company.
We have always had, and always will have, a great understanding of each other, especially within our job roles. I began collating files of complimentary letters from customers with regards to their service they had received over many years (many of which include Sheryl’s name due to the service she’s given to the same customer!), and Sheryl had her own folders of memoirs.
We spent many years competing against each other on targeted figures, only for myself to find out I was the best at certain things and Sheryl others, which is why we work so well together. Our passion for the company shines through in all of this.
We’re lucky to be able to say that in our joint 40 years at the company, we’ve not had to take any sick leave apart from on three instances Sheryl had, including an almost burst appendix, pregnancy, and a stroke – for which I can’t and won’t compete against!
We have given City West Country our all and will continue to do so. We like to think that our managers and directors are fully aware of this; we will always be indebted to them for allowing us to grow.
To this day we’re lucky to say we still do really get on like many could or couldn’t understand. Many people say they could never work with their partner, but when that partner is your soul mate, your best friend, and your co-pilot, it really is quite simple.
Finally, we’re so thankful that we do get to work alongside each other, and like Richard Syree (Head of Human Resources) stated when he came to see us, we have a combined 40 years’ experience with the company for which we are so proud to be part of.
Thank you to Mr Wickins, Managing Director, and all that continue to steer the reigns.”
