An independent press and publishing company where one of the directors is 86, is backing a Welsh Government campaign designed to challenge age stereotypes.

Gomer Press has joined the People Don’t Have a Best Before Date campaign, which equips business owners with the tools they need to build an all-age workforce.

The company, which publishes more than 36 titles a year in Welsh and English, owns the rights to popular Welsh cartoon character Sali Mali and some of its clients include Imperial War Museum, Kew Gardens and several other independent publishers across Wales and the UK.

People Don’t Have a Best Before Date is encouraging SMEs and larger firms to recruit, retain and retrain older workers, as by 2022 one in three people of working age in Wales will be over the age of 50.

Data shows that the number of workers in Wales aged over 50 has risen by almost a quarter – 24.8 per cent – between 2007 and 2017, while the number of younger workers has fallen – 16-24-year-olds by 10.1 per cent, and 25-49-year-olds by three per cent – over the same period.

Gomer Press employs 60 people, around 50 per cent of whom are over 50 at its headquarters and on-site printing press in Llandysul.

Established in 1892, it’s the oldest printing company and publishing house in Wales – Jonathan Lewis, the great grandson of the company’s founder, is managing director aged 57.

His father, and company director, John H Lewis, 86, still takes an active role in the daily running of the business.

Pît Dafis, 60, joined in 1974 as an apprentice and is by now one of the most experienced members of the team after 44 years with the company.

He’s now a senior estimator, calculating costs for printing projects, a job which requires knowledge of every aspect of the business.

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