Past employees of the King Gee clothing factory in Kempsey and their partners are invited to the 20 year reunion of the factory closing its doors in September.
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The factory opened on August 20 1973 and was a boost to the Kempsey community, employing around 40 people.
When King Gee first began production in Kempsey, the factory was on Belgrave St near the pool and only men's shorts were produced. Two years later the factory moved to South Kempsey where PCYC is now and over the years overalls and women's apparel were also produced in Kempsey for the clothing brand.
The company employed a number of families from the area, with generations of the same families working alongside each other over the years.
Many employees at the factory were there from when it opened its doors to its closure in 1999, one of those locals was Judy Diefenbach (nee Rees).
"I was there on the last day the factory opened its doors, there were quite a few other employees that had been there since the beginning as well," Judy said.
At the height of production, 110 local people were employed at King Gee. They were mainly women with only three or so men employed as mechanics or warehouse workmen.
"It was a good job, if it had stayed open I think I would still be there now."
When the factory closed in September of 1999 there were around 70 employees working at King Gee. The closure of the Kempsey factory meant 60 per cent of King Gee products were made overseas.
"The company supported us after it shut down and many workers found other work after being trained and many others retired," Judy said.
This September marks 20 years since King Gee stopped production in Kempsey and all past employees are invited to the reunion.
"I rang Tony Keast who also worked at the factory and we both thought it would be a great idea to have a reunion for all of the employees."
The reunion will be held at the Kempsey Macleay Bowling and Sporting Club on Saturday September 28 at 6pm.
The price is $35 per head for dinner and partners of past employees are very welcome to join.
For more information or to RSVP call Judy on 0417-064-159 or Tony on 0412-143-805.
"There were a lot of social events organised while we worked there, everyone really got to know each other and were friends. We're hoping a lot of people will be looking forward to joining us in September for the reunion," Judy said.
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