A COMPANY renowned for its cream and cottage cheese is celebrating 60 years – with a tribute to its long-serving employees.
When brothers Edgar and Joseph Dickinson founded Longley Farm on the hills above Holmfirth, they could never have imagined how big their dairy would grow.
The brothers began with a herd of just 10 Jersey cows.
Sixty years on – with more Jerseys and milk from an additional 45 other regional farmers – Longley Farm processes 40m litres of milk a year.
The company is renowned for its traditional Jersey cream, yoghurts, soft cheeses, curd cheese, cottage cheese, fromage frais, crème fraîche and butter.
As the company gears up to celebrate its diamond jubilee, no fewer than 18 members of staff will be presented with long service awards after working there for 25 years or more.
Jimmy Dickinson, son of Joseph, said: “This is a family business in every sense. It is not unusual for people to come and work here, then stay for 20 years or more. It’s their knowledge and expertise which make our products so unique, and loved by customers at home and abroad.”
There are whole dynasties at Longley. For instance, the Heppenstalls. Winnie Heppenstall joined 36 years ago to be followed by husband Roy, sister Hilda, daughter Dianne and several other relatives.
Dianne works there to this day, and is now in charge of health and safety.
Then there’s Yorkshire’s “cottage cheese king” himself – George Ashton. In 34 years at Longley Farm, he’s made more than 340m pots of cottage cheese.
Chief engineer Barry Haigh has overseen the smooth running of the cottage cheese production line for 44 years, having travelled to the USA to source the finest equipment available.
It was on a visit to the USA in 1964 that Joseph Dickinson saw how the Americans were turning cottage cheese into a widespread best-seller.
Returning to Yorkshire he was determined to do the same, experimenting by making early batches in a tin bath.
Soon a small vat was used, with the cheese stirred using hay rakes.
Longley became the first dairy in Europe to make cottage cheese on a commercial scale in 1973.
Today, state-of-the-art dairy equipment is used. But Jimmy says that’s no substitute for know-how.
“You still need years of experience to make proper cottage cheese.”
The quality’s so good that the French can’t get enough of it.
“We were told that no British cheese was good enough for France, and that without a French name it wouldn’t stand a chance,” said Jimmy.
“But we didn’t hold with that nonsense and launched our cottage cheese in Paris 25 years ago. Today it’s on sale across France – a true Yorkshire success story.”
Longley Farm’s history
Longley Farm began making cream as soon as rationing ended in 1954
Vast quantities of Longley Farm natural yoghurt are sold to Yorkshire’s Indian restaurants for use in curries
It had the first commercial wind turbine in the country
Every week letters arrive from people – often Yorkshire ex-pats – desperate to know where they can buy their favourite Longley Farm products
