A Falmouth man who spent his entire working life working at a Penryn garage has bid a fond farewell to his employers, exactly 50 years after he started.

Graham Calvert, 65, started working at the garage that would later become Ocean BMW on August 31 1966, and retired on August 31 this year.

Graham was just 15 and a month out of school when he started working at the family run Lewis Motors, then a Renault dealership, as a panel beater and sprayer, and continued at the same site when the company was bought out by BMW, before progressing on to supervise the valeting team.

He said: "I started the month after England won the world cup, and I always said I wouldn't retire until they won it again. But that could be a long time.

"I have often said if I knew I was going to stay I would have liked to have written down the names and dates [of everyone who worked at the garage], just as a matter of interest.

"Some people have been here a good few years and some a few months."

He added: "It doesn't seem like 50 years, to be honest. There have been so many comings and goings, and changes, but the scenery has stayed the same. If you look out there," and he pointed in the direction of the Penryn River, "I don't think you can beat it."

He said of his time as a sprayer: "The satisfaction I got when I was spraying was to see a car come in all crumpled up and to see it go out good as new. That was a great satisfaction to me."

As well as his lifetime of service to the garage Graham, who was born and raised in Mylor but now lives in Falmouth, has been a well known character on the local sports scene.

He played football for a variety of local clubs for 17 or 18 seasons, before going on to play cricket for Mylor, and even know he still plays pool for Mawnan Sports.

As a youngster he also played football for Cornwall Schools under-15s, but says his best memory of his sporting career is playing for Mylor in 1973, when the team won the league and cup. He said: "We won about three cups."

He has been married to his wife Karen for 42 years, and between them they have two daughters and three grandchildren, one of whom is following in his footballing footsteps and playing with local teams.

He said: "It was a holiday romance. She came down on holiday, and said she thought she saw Georgie Best playing football, but it was me."

Despite retiring, Graham will be returning to the garage two days a week as a driver, "if they will have me," and he is also planning on becoming a Falmouth Cruise Ambassador, welcoming tourists into the town.

Matthew Wills, service manager at the site, said Graham had always been "welcoming and friendly and supportive to new staff" including Matt himself, and "made you feel part of the team."

Anthony Scrivener, head of business at Ocean BMW, added: "It's a wonderful achievement. I have never known anyone work in the same place for 50 years.

"He has made a lot of friends along the way, not only staff bt customers. It has been a privilege."