Aged to perfection: Diageo honours long-serving staff
Three long-serving members of staff at Diageo’s distilleries on Islay will be recognised for their dedication in a special ceremony later this year after clocking up a combined 105 years’ service with the company.
Billy Stitchell, site operations manager at Caol Ila, William McArthur, distillery operator at Lagavulin and Alasdair Campbell, a technician with the engineering team at Caol Ila, all joined the company in 1974.
The three men will join other long-serving Diageo staff at a special gala dinner at Drummuir Castle in Banffshire on 2 December.
Billy Stitchell is the fourth generation from his family to work in the distillery, following in the footsteps of his father, grandfather and great grandfather before him.
Mr Stitchell started work filling casks in the distillery warehouse in 1974 before moving to the tun room in 1978. In 1990 he was selected for management training and has been in his current role as the site operations manager at Caol Ila for the past ten years.
Speaking about his career, Mr Stitchell said, “I’m immensely proud to have managed one of Diageo’s largest malt distilleries, given my family connection to the site. This job has given me the opportunity to travel the world promoting Caol Ila.
“I still get a buzz when I see bottles of our whiskies on the shelves of bars and retail outlets when I’m travelling around the world. It’s fantastic that that so many people are passionate about Islay’s whiskies and to have been part of that for over 30 years is hugely satisfying.”
Commenting on the men’s achievements, Kevin Sutherland, senior site manager for Diageo’s two distilleries and maltings on Islay, said: “The success of our business here on Islay depends entirely on our staff and their dedication is to be congratulated.
“Their enthusiasm and loyalty is testament to the commitment of so many of our staff working at our sites across Scotland.”
