Celebrating 25 Years at Rullion as a couple

In today’s fast-paced work environment, finding a partner to share your journey is a rare gift. Meet Chris and Tracy Chapman, a couple who have spent 25 years building both a life and a career together at Rullion. We had the pleasure of learning about their enduring relationship and insights on balancing personal and professional lives.

Q: You’ve both been with the company for 25 years - what brought you to Rullion, and did you ever imagine you’d still be here working together after all this time?

Chris: Believe it or not it was actually my Mum that got me to Rullion as she was sick of me dossing about the house.?I was rushed to Hospital as my appendix had burst and I could of died due to Sepsis. Luckily, I was fine and came out a week later.?Four hours after being out, I got a phone call from a lady called Lisa who was inviting me to an interview. I had to explain I had no idea who she was or who the company were as I had been in hospital, and hadn’t applied for any jobs. She explained she had received a letter, and turned out that my mum had sent the letter off. The rest is history really, as I manged to get the job and 25 years later I'm still here.

Tracy: I came to Rullion to do work experience at 15 years old, my dad had a conversation with a lady called Sally-Ann Griffiths in the pub, and the next thing I knew I had a 2 week placement doing work experience. Once work experience was over, I used to come and help out in the school holidays and then after taking my GCSE’s I got offered a permanent role on the Sales Support Team along side doing a GNVQ in Business Administration. I would never ever have thought I would still be here 25 years later!

Q: What’s a memorable moment or a funny story from your time at work together that you’ll never forget?

Chris: A couple really... We had a team event/Day out and it was based on the old TV show 'Its A knockout'.?We were split in teams and each captain had to be in fancy dress.?Due to a late drop out, I got asked to be the captain and had to be dressed as the Pirate Blackbeard. Competing against Tracy and beating her each time was just an added bonus. It turned out to be a great day and a great laugh. Secondly, going back to how I started at Rullion, my interview was in the Packet Pub over a pint, I got the job there and then. To be honest, to get a job with questions like 'Who do you Support, Utd or City?' and 'What do you do at weekends?'... (Different times and definitely doesn't happen now).

Tracy: There was a brief time I had to work with Chris as my manager, we both realised that this was never going to work as he likes a quiet life and I like to give the orders. So, I actually handed my notice in to him, but luckily another manager (Diane Ravenscroft) transferred me over to her team where I worked for the majority of my time at Rullion.

There was a brief time I had to work with Chris as my manager, we both realised that this was never going to work as he likes a quiet life and I like to give the orders. So, I actually handed my notice in to him...

Q: What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned from each other, both as partners in life and colleagues at work?

Chris: I would say don’t talk about work to each other. As were both in the same company and for most of the time on different teams, we would have different opinions most of the time and probably just ended up arguing about that and then moving on to something I hadn’t done at home.?Also I tend not to listen when she starts going off on one which doesn’t help. Basically I would say the biggest lesson is to keep both work and home sperate.

Tracy: The biggest lesson is to keep work and private life separate, not everyone at Rullion would realise we're married even when we were working in the same office every day, we would travel separately and not really cross paths until we got home. Chris likes to always remain calm which I admire as I sometimes can take things too personally and fly off the handle, Chris keeps me grounded. He has also learnt that I am right most of the time so we don’t have many disagreements.

Chris likes to always remain calm which I admire as I sometimes can take things too personally and fly off the handle, Chris keeps me grounded.

Chris and Tracy’s journey at Rullion exemplifies the power of partnership in both love and work. By keeping their personal and professional lives distinct, they’ve built a strong relationship and offer valuable insights for balancing career and personal commitments. Congratulations to Chris and Tracy on 25 years at Rullion; their contributions have been vital to our company’s success.

To wrap up our interview, we thought it would be entertaining to see how well Chris and Tracy know each other through a quick "Mr & Mrs" quiz. We asked them three light-hearted questions and, unbeknownst to them, their answers reveal just how in sync they truly are.