From left to right: Alexandra Bratu, Stephen Birkenshaw, John Edwards, Karen Parker and George Sherwood
Torr Scientific would like to introduce you to our new members of staff. Karen Parker, Alexandra Bratu, George Sherwood, John Edwards and Stephen Birkenshaw.
Karen was born in Rhodesia and immigrated to UK in 2008 with her 2 children. For the first 6 years she worked in the Healthcare Sector as an HCA/Trainee Nurse at EDGH and various care homes and for a Private Ambulance Service. In 2014 Karen decided to change careers, returned to accounts where she worked for a company in the construction industry for 6 years. Sadly, due to COVID-19 she was made redundant in July 2020. After a tough year and a few unsettling and unhappy temporary positions, Karen found us. She started working at Torr in July 2021 in the accounts department and she said she “could not be happier.”
Alexandra immigrated from Romania to the UK in 2016 when she started studying Aeronautics and Astronautics at the University of Southampton. She has been working at Torr for a little over 4 months. Alex joined the Sales Team alongside Phil and Amy. When she started, she had little to no knowledge about the Vacuum Industry. She says that “interacting with customers on a daily basis and constantly having to aid them with new information, has fast-tracked my learning process and I couldn’t be more satisfied in my role. I couldn’t do it without my team’s support.” Besides aiding the sales team, Alex will also help with Grant Applications for Innovate Projects. We’ve got exciting projects to look forward to she will definitely be extremely busy.
George joined Torr’s Glass Shop almost 3 months ago. George says “and I’ve absolutely loved my time here so far. Working in the glass shop is teaching me such an interesting skill and one I really like learning. The team in the glass shop have been so helpful and have supported me greatly teaching me how to do things such as sealing-in pins, cutting and glazing stems and sealing-in windows”. Before starting at Torr, George was doing an apprenticeship in catering at a care home not too far away from our factory. We admire his courage to take a leap towards such a big career change. He mentioned that “everyone at Torr has been so welcoming and have really helped me settle in nicely and have really made me feel like part of the crew.”
John is originally from the red side of Liverpool (don’t hold it against him!) where he completed an Engineering Apprenticeship before studying a BEng (Hons) in Production Engineering and Production Management at University of Nottingham. John has over 30 years of experience in Operations and Supply Chain roles from different industries including vacuum, pharmaceutical, tobacco, medical, aerospace and nuclear. As a Chartered Engineer with the Institution of Engineering & Technology he also has experience of lean manufacturing techniques and will concentrate on strengthening Torr’s purchasing, warehousing, and logistics capabilities as we continue to grow.
Stephen joined us just a few days before the release of this newsletter. He has just joined Torr as Maintenance Engineer. He said ”they have made me feel so welcome from the moment I arrived – so from a very happy Newbie Hi”. Stephen is from West Yorkshire (Halifax). He attended Leeds University and then worked as a Maintenance Engineer at Crossley Carpets (the biggest Mill Complex in the UK in its day). Then he became a professional musician and moved to Spain in 1988. After 25 years, Stephen decided it was time to return to the UK. Since he’s been back, he’s had several positions in Maintenance, Health and Safety and Fire Safety Departments.
