The guest speaker at this week's Rotary Club of Tenby dinner meeting was one of their own members, Rotarian Alan Jones.
Following the unfortunate and late withdrawal of the arranged speaker, Rotarian Alan, who has recently retired following over 20 years service with the Co-operative Store group, kindly stepped in, and spoke with great interest on his long and varied working life, recalling many humorous anecdotes.
Alan, who was born in Pontypool, fondly recalled his early working days in the Newport and then Gwent Constabulary, as a borough constable and detective constable, before deciding to switch to retailing.
He initially worked with Tesco stores, and was manager of a number of stores in the Cardiff area, before being asked by the company to move to Scotland.
Alan and his family spent many happy years north of the border, where Alan worked on the team responsible for new store openings, before eventually being headhunted by the Co-op to manage their new 80,000-square metre flagship store in Glasgow.
In the mid-80s, the family moved back to Wales, and settled in Pembrokeshire, where Alan, a former chairman of Tenby RFC, can now look forward to spending more time on his great interests, of fishing, shooting and rugby, during his well-earned retirement!
Fellow Rotarian Paul Criddle gave a sincere vote of thanks.