A DOZEN dedicated bakers have been rewarded for a combined record of more than 270 years of service.

The Jones Village Bakery held a special ceremony to thank them for their loyalty and presented each of them with a voucher for £250.

One of them, Leisa Reeves, goes back a very long way with the Jones family who run the award-winning bakery.

Purchase ledger supervisor Leisa, 50, who lives in Coedpoeth, was in nursery school in nearby Minera with Christien Jones, the firm's project director.

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Leisa started at the Village Bakery 20 years ago and says she thoroughly enjoys what she does.

She said: "I know all the Jones boys and I was in nursery school with Christien.

"I love the people that I work with and the company has grown and developed a lot since I joined.

"We only had the one bakery in Minera when I started and I'm now based in the new bakery down on the industrial estate in Wrexham.

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"I am very proud of everything the company has achieved. I'm happy to work here."

Nancy Shuttleworth, 63, who's been there for nearly 26 years, makes hand-raised products like Eccles cakes and pork pies.

She said: "I am very proud of what we do and I must admit the products we make are very, very good.

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"The company was nowhere near this big when I started and it's great to part of that success. The secret is that we make fantastic products which people want to buy."

Her colleague, Maxine Davies, 52, has been employed there for 21 years and works on the line that makes the company's signature sausage rolls and slices.

She said: "It's local for me and I work with a good bunch of people - I can walk here if it's snowing, which I have done in the past from Southsea where I live.

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"It was lovely to receive the voucher - it's always nice to be appreciated and valued."

It was a sentiment echoed by driver Paul Davies, 60, who has been with the bakery for more than 25 years, having previously worked in retail.

He said: "It's a family-run concern and I enjoy working here. There are not many places where you can call the directors by their first name. You're not just a number - they know everybody by their first name."

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The bakery will be celebrating its 90th anniversary next year.

The Jones family bought the company from the Edwards Brothers in 1964, exactly 40 years after it was established.

In those days it was based in Park Road in Coedpoeth and employed just five members of staff.

The company now has six bakeries in Minera and on Wrexham Industrial Estate, where it employs a total more than 800 people.

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Managing director Robin Jones said: "The long service awards and the vouchers we have presented today are our way of showing our appreciation and now much we value them individually.

"They are a fantastic bunch of people and we are super proud of what they have done for the business.

"The growth we've seen has been amazing and these special people have been an integral part of our success.

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"They all work in different parts of the company and it was nice to get them together and they've all done a great job.

"The have been doing this for such a long time that they are now part of the furniture, so to speak.

"What their long service provides is continuity and an incredible understanding of the ethos of the Village Bakery.

"Christien and myself, and our dad, Alan, are very proud of what they've done - they are the Village People."