THERE aren’t many in the world who can say they are about to celebrate 60 years of working in the same job.

But for 76-year-old June Williams, that’s very much the case as on Saturday, September 7 she will be inviting customers to celebrate her six decades working for RJ Christian in Bailey Street.

She started life at the jewellers in 1964, a straight-out-of-school 16-year-old girl who made coffees, cleaned the toilets and then rose up through the ranks to be made a director.

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And she says that she has seen so much in her 60 years though admitted so much has stayed the same too.

“There was a lot to learn and we still see things now that we haven’t seen before like jewels dating back before the war,” she said.

“One of the biggest changes is decimalisation but we still use systems that existed well before my day such as the way we do repairs and we find they still work.

“I think that comfort is one of the reasons why we’ve stayed in this job – there is a good community that comes around this job.

“You might see a customer two or three times a month and then not see them for 12 months, or for two years.

“But they are repeat customers – I will tell people here that I know a customer’s granny!

Brian Morris and June Williams at RJ Christian Jewellers in Bailey Street. Brian Morris and June Williams at RJ Christian Jewellers in Bailey Street. (Image: Newsquest.)

“We’ve seen a change in the fashion of jewellery we see here – we sell a lot of silver now but that could be because the price of gold has gone through the roof.

“These days you can pay £350 for a gentleman’s signet ring but we used to sell them for £7.

“I’m very proud in an awful lot of ways to have stayed in this job as I have known four generation of this family who own it.

“I think, to a certain degree, it makes me a part of the family and a few years ago they made me a director of the firm.”

June added that retirement is on the horizon but not quite yet.

“I work three days a week and I’m on that slow-down period anyway,” she said.

“I am proud – it’s hard to put my feelings into words.

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“I do a lot of admin now but thankfully I don’t do what I was doing when I started at 16.

“I serve customers quite a lot too and it’s incredible to think that when (owner) Brian Morris goes to the Jewellery Quarter in Birmingham, the people who do our repairs now, their grandads used to do them.

“I’ve seen a generational change.”