40 years and still going strong

Four decades working with wood has prepared Rotorua's Fala Filipo well for an idyllic retirement one day.

Mr Filipo has just celebrated 40 years at Lockwood where is one of several long-serving employees - this year two more celebrate their 40th anniversaries, three hit 30 years and another reaches 20.

But the 64-year-old Tokelauan, who works in the factory, is in no rush to retire just yet.

"I will keep going for a while yet," he said. "I love working. I like to make wood houses, it's natural to me, I grew up in the islands where all houses were wood."

When he does eventually retire there will be one more house to build - although it might be a bit more basic than today's Lockwoods.

"I have a small island of my own in Tokelau ... I am going to make a hut to live in on the island."

That would be the completion of a round trip which saw Mr Filipo leave Tokelau as a boy to take up a scholarship to a Presbyterian high school in Samoa.

"I was training to be a minister."

Finances meant he wasn't able to go on to theological college but the building skills he learned at school - deemed crucial for future missionaries - were to stand him in good stead when he travelled to New Zealand in search of adventure.

After working in production for the NZ Herald in Auckland, Mr Filipo met a woman in Rotorua. He married her and they stayed.

"My uncle was working here [Lockwood] ... he said come and have a talk," he said. "I had an interview and got it."

And he's been there ever since, in a variety of jobs. In the old days he would often be out on building sites but now he's mostly inside on the wood production line with his mates, who have become like family.

"We like each other and help each other out," he said.

Mr Filipo said he had no regrets about not becoming a minister but is still a committed member of St John's Church.

Lockwood production manager Johnson Rewi, himself approaching 40 years' service, said staff stuck around so long because they loved the company's product and working environment.

"It's a family company and we all feel part of it."

Mr Rewi said Mr Filipo was a key member of staff.

"He's always been loyal and committed and you couldn't ask for more in a person."