Tony Alford had five stints as a Kyabram Cannery worker, the first of those designed as a savings device to enable him to afford a ring for then girlfriend — now wife — Rina.
In total, Mr Alford worked at the cannery for 30 years.
He started as a 19-year-old, on the fruit line, while he was working full-time as an apprentice electrician with Lindsay Dillon from Ky Electricians.
“I took on the cannery work as a second job in order to save enough money to buy an engagement ring,” he said.
The engagement ring represented about four weeks of wages (about $500 back then).
After marrying Mr Alford spent two seasons on night shift, as well as working during the day.
He then started as an electrician with the cannery in 1971, for a four-year stint and after departing returned another four years later, for another four years.
“I left to work for myself and then in 1989 I went back to the cannery and did an 18-year stint as an electrician,” he said.
When Mr Alford retired from his cannery work, in 2006, he and his wife spent 10 years travelling around Australia.
His son Bryant worked at the cannery as a work experience student, but turned down seasonal work to start a full-time job.
Interestingly, Bryant now works with tomato processing giant Kagome.
Mr Alford proudly posed with his 10-month-old grandson Xavier, along with Alex Handley, 9, Lucas Alford, 7, Evelyn, 4, and Amelia Handley, 4, to promote this weekend’s centenary celebration.
They stood in front of part of the exhibition which is currently being prepared for the launch at 2pm on Saturday, December 3, at the Kyabram Town Hall.
Mr Alford’s grandfather Robert Breen was a founding director of the cannery, while his father and mother, Ron and Joan, also worked at cannery.
“Dad was permanent and mum was seasonal. Dad was a supervisor on a production line,” he said.
Mr Alford’s wife, Rina, worked at the cannery for four years and raised the couple’s four children in between stints at the cannery.
Their daughter, Lee-Ann Coleman, also wroked at the cannery. She is in Queensland now and worked for two seasons in the “family business’’.
The other two Alford children, Craig and Crystal, never worked there.