FIVE employees at Hampshire engineering group Trant have received 25-year awards in what is regarded as one of the highest staff retention rates of its kind in industry.

They follow in the footsteps of 103 recipients since the awards were first introduced in 1988, with a further 16 having recorded 40 years each.

Trant, which is headquartered in Southampton, employs 700 people and works on a range of infrastructure projects in the UK, Falkland Islands, Channel Islands and the mid-Atlantic Ascension Island.

The award-winning independent was founded in 1958 by the late Phil Trant.

The 25-year awards were presented by company chairman Patrick Trant to John Calnan, Frank Collett, Les Headley, Caroline Upton and Alan Wells.

Poignantly, Alan’s wife Veronica collected his award posthumously, the ex-Army man having died last June following illness.

Attended by more than 100 people, the awards and dinner dance evening was held at the Best Western Chilworth Manor Hotel, Chilworth, near Southampton.