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MARKET TIMES • JUNE 2019 13 Ian and Wendy clock up 90
years in Knutsford Market
  ENGLAND’s football team were two years away from winning the World Cup when Wendy McKay, or Edwards as she then was, helped out for the first time on her parents’ stall on the newly-opened Knutsford Market in Cheshire.
Fifty-five years on she is still a smiling face behind the counter alongside friend and colleague Ian Emmess, the owner of the butchers business, who has clocked up a mere 35 years in the market.
Their long years of service were recognised at a celebration at the market attended by Coun Geraldine Carter, president of NABMA, and town mayor Coun Peter Coan.
Wendy’s grandparents started the ball rolling when they began selling produce from their farm at the farm gate and subsequently at farmers- style markets.
When Wendy’s mother, Joan Edwards, heard that a brand-new market was to open in Knutsford following the demolition of the old cinema, she decided to take the plunge and open a produce stall.
Wendy’s father was a qualified butcher, although at the time he was working delivering meat. Soon the family butchers business was up and running and Wendy helped out as a 12-year- old Saturday girl when the market first opened in 1964.
Ian, who hails from Warrington, was friendly with the family, and in the mid-1980s while his job was delivering pork and bacon he asked if he could join the business with a view to taking it over.
Ambassador Rose Dyson
opens her new HQ
WITH more awards than you can shake a stick at, Rose Dyson, owner of Pura Cosmetics and ambassador for the NMTF’s Young Traders Markets programme, is taking the business world by storm.
At the age of 15, in response to the I Know I Can Barnsley Big Challenge, Rose began researching and developing her vegan, cruelty- free, affordable lip balms and scrubs that went on to scoop four awards, including Barnsley’s Best Young Business.
It was just the first of many competitions and accolades she would go on to win.
Fast forward four years to 6pm on April 29 this year when Rose officially opened Pura Cosmetics HQ. The unit is situated in Barnsley and will act as her new manufacturing base and local pick-up point.
The opening event was a huge success and just one more milestone in what is sure to be a long and fruitful career.
Pictured are Coun Peter Coan, Ian Emmess, Wendy McKay and Coun Geraldine Carter. Picture courtesy Knutsford Guardian
“I worked for him for 18 months to two years and got trained up, then I took over the business on April 1st 1986,” Ian said.
“He worked for me for 10 years, and Wendy has just kept on working all these years. She has only had holidays and taken time off for illness around three times in those 55 years,” Ian said.
Edwards Butchers has also been in Altrincham Market since 1975 and Ian is a familiar figure there too.
“The markets have been good for me,” Ian said. “The customers become your friends and
the friendships and support you have with other traders make it special.”
Wendy said: “I have seen many changes in the market hall since the sixties, but one thing remains constant. The relationship between traders and customers — we really are a little family, and long may it continue.”
Coun Coan said: “Market halls are at the heart of the community and Knutsford market hall is no exception. We have some exceptional hard- working traders here who offer a service you cannot buy online.”
  










































































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