Optical technician retires after 67 years of service

An 82-year-old practice director and optical technician based in Darlington has retired after 67 years of service at Cooper and Leatherbarrow Opticians.

Howard Bainbridge joined the practice in 1953 as an apprentice when he was 15 years old under the tutelage of George Leatherbarrow, the grandfather of the current managing director, Ellis Leatherbarrow.

He spent most of his career in the workshop of the Hakim Group practice where he hand-designed, manufactured and fixed spectacles.

Bainbridge said: ‘I leave the practice happy in the knowledge that Cooper and Leatherbarrow will continue to be the independent and family practice it has always been, with the same standards and beliefs our patients have come to expect over these years.’