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Belfast Live
Belfast Live
National
Conor Coyle

Cookstown bakery worker hits 50 years on the buns but has no plans to hang up her apron just yet

Chances are if you’ve had one of the famous caramel squares from the Corner Bakery on Oldtown Street in Cookstown , they’ve been made by long-serving staff member Anne McCollum.

Anne marked 50 years since she started working in the popular Co Tyrone cake shop this week.

The 65-year-old first came through the doors when she was 15 and has been a mainstay ever since, still boiling the caramel every morning for their signature tasty treats.

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“I kind of just fell into it because I actually wanted to be a secretary,” the Coagh woman told MyTyrone.

“But my sister had a job there and there was a job going for me and that’s how I got in there then.

“That’s a long time ago now, but as you go on you just get used to the way of things.

“And before you know it you are there a long time and you can’t think of doing anything else.”

Anne says she has no plan to retire just yet, and says she will continue to work in the bakery as long as she is healthy and still enjoying it.

“I’m still going and I’ll keep going as long as I’m fit enough,” she added.

“We can be on our feet a long time, back in the day we would have been doing 15 hour days but it’s not like that any more now.

“The customers are all very good and they come from all around the local area.

“Back when I worked in the front of the shop you’d have always had a bit of craic with everyone coming in.”

Martin Booth, new owner of the bakery, says the place wouldn’t function the same without Anne.

“She started on 10 April 1972 and she’s still working away,” Martin said.

“There are three generations of them here as well, Anne’s daughter and her granddaughter work here in the bakery as well.

“The good thing about the bakery is that most of the staff have been here for more than 20 years.

“Anne is here the longest and she could tell a story or two about the place," he added.

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