“I suppose it’s new beginnings,” he said.

Mr Churchill was one of 25 redundant workers to sign the lid of the final chest freezer made at the plant yesterday and it had a special significance.

“That was my job - to make the lids,” he said.

“It is going to seem strange walking out today knowing I won’t be coming back here to work,” he said.

“But it will be like starting over - a new chapter in my life,” he said.

Mr Churchill said when news first came of the plant closure he wasn’t sure what he would do as an alternative to working at the plant and it took him several months to decide on a new career path.

“I really thought about it a lot and then I decided to take up the offer of retraining and trained as a security guard,” he said.

Mr Churchill says with the new qualifications under his belt he has used his credentials to apply for a job working as a corrective services officer.

Electrolux general manager Mark O’Kane said Mr Churchill is to be congratulated for putting in a huge effort to retrain.

“He did the training in his own time while he was still working here and I am sure it will stand him in good stead to get another position,” Mr O’Kane said.

- Janice Harris