A FRIENDLY and familiar face is always comforting, and there is no face more familiar than Jeff Waldron’s at Nigretta of Hamilton.

His face is synonymous with the disability support service, having started in 1977 at the Hamilton Sheltered Workshop in the TARAX building on Brown Street.

Jeff is profoundly deaf and communication does not come easy, but his big smile and brilliant woodworking skills speak for themself.

His wonderful, joking personality shines through to all and he is a constant friendly fixture at the Hamilton Speedway and Coleraine Football Netball Club where he helps carry the team behind the scenes.

This week will be his last working at Nigretta of Hamilton, deciding that after 44 years of service, he is ready to retire, hitch up his caravan and go fishing.

“It’s been a long time and I’m tired,” he told The Spectator.

According to Nigretta’s James Lynas, Jeff was “always involved and up to his elbows in it”.

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