It’s always a sad day when we have to say goodbye to one of our team and today is no exception.

Mark Dench has worked with us for the last four years, but I’ve known him for far longer as he worked alongside me at a previous company. At that time, he worked on the Peabody Housing contract and became very adept at dealing with domestic customers. This meant when Mark contacted me about a possible job opportunity, I knew he would be the perfect fit as LNPS specialises in domestic work.

Mark is a kind and friendly family man. He’s always been extremely helpful to management, offering to do overtime and extra jobs as required.

During the pandemic, he was our key sanitisation technician. This required him to change his work patterns as many of the jobs needed to be carried out at night. This he always did with a smile and a positive attitude.

His positive attitude was another reason I jumped at the chance to employ him when he called. I found the attitude of his previous employer to be very strange. Mark is by nature a very loyal man but even he was pushed to make a change when they gave him an unreasonable ultimatum to shave his magnificent beard and moustache. Knowing the kind of man Mark is, I jumped at the chance and quickly found a solution – a different type of respirator!

As I say, it’s a sad day when we have to say goodbye to one of our team and this is especially true when that decision is being made because of ill health. In this case, it is because ill health has profoundly impacted his eyesight. Thankfully, Mark is now reporting some improvements, but it has meant he needs to take early retirement.

What will I miss about not having Mark at work? Apart from his work ethic, his chats. He’s a great one for a good gossip but, while I will miss working with him, I won’t miss him because I know I’ll still be in regular contact.

See you soon, Mark!