50-year career milestone for Northern Ireland menswear employee who started on her 16th birthday

As Carrickfergus-based menswear brand Douglas & Grahame commemorates its 100th anniversary, l ong-serving employee Christine McMurran reflects on her remarkable 50-year journey with the company where both her career and a lifelong romance began.

Christine’s career at Douglas & Grahame began in 1974 on her 16th birthday and involved meeting her future husband – recently celebrating their 44th wedding anniversary.

She explained: “I was finishing school and my career teacher helped me secure an interview at the company. I was offered the job as accounts clerk at the interview and I was delighted. I didn’t think then that 50 years later I would still be working at the same company!”

Christine worked in her role as an accounts clerk until 1993 when she was promoted to credit controller, a role she has held ever since.

Although she has worked in the same role, Christine explained that is has changed considerably over the years: “As a 100-year-old business we’ve experienced so much change. Technology is right up there as one of the biggest. When I joined the business, everything was done by hand.

"We had to change how our day-to-day jobs were done, with the move from handwriting, physical invoices, and cheques to everything being done on a computer. Email, digital invoicing, it can be easily taken for granted in today’s age, but it was a big change for ourselves and the customers but I built that trust with our customers to go through that transition with us.”

It was only four years into her job at Douglas & Grahame when Christine would meet Raymond who worked in the warehouse. The pair worked at the company together for around six months, but that short period would become the seedling from which a lifelong love story would blossom.

Although they each worked in different departments – Christine in the office block and Raymond in the warehouse – the duo would meet over lunch.

“He delivered apples to my desk many lunchtimes, although I did wish it was chocolate bars,” Christine jokes.

They eventually married in 1980 and have two daughters, Julie and Karen.

Christine began working part time in 1986 after the birth of her first daughter, which, she says was uncommon at the time: “Douglas & Grahame went above and beyond to ensure I could come back to work in a way that suited me. It wasn’t common to be working part time but it allowed me to have a working life as well as a home life which I was so appreciative of.”

Reflecting on her career at Douglas & Grahame, Christine emphasised that one of the highlights of her career has been the relationships she has built.

She continued: “One of the best things about my time at Douglas & Grahame has been the friends I have made along the way. Myself and Raymond are still friends with many colleagues we met here. Being there for the past 50 years means that many colleagues have come and gone and a highlight has been meeting and working with so many different people.

“As well as with my colleagues, I have developed brilliant relationships with our customers, it’s amazing the connections I have built just over the phone, hearing about their families and holiday plans, those relationships with customers are important to our business but also have been so significant to me personally.

“Staying with one company for five decades speaks volumes.”

Marking its centenary this year, Douglas & Grahame recently notched up two historic wins from leading fashion industry title, Drapers. A lifetime achievement award was bestowed on chairman Donald Finlay for his contribution to the menswear sector while the company’s flagship brand Remus Uomo secured menswear brand of the year at the Drapers Independent Awards in London last month. The third-generation family-owned and -managed business is led by Donald’s sons, managing director Adam Finlay and brand director Michael Finlay.