WORKERS from the former Great Harwood Oxo factory -- who helped make the famous gravy cubes until the plant closed -- are holding a reunion.

The plant ran for about 50 years in Great Harwood until owners Unilever relocated to a larger site, in Nottinghamshire, to expand.

In its heyday, the factory is said to have employed about 500 people, and when plans for the closure were announced the local council attempted to find a new location within the area to save the jobs.

But, in 1992, the plant shut its doors for the last time.

Now former employee, retired Anne Kinsella, who worked at the plant for 25 years, has organised a reunion.

She said: "Once you started working at Oxo nobody left.

"A lot of families worked there -- husbands and wives, sons and daughters, and you were always up for get-togethers.

"I think most people enjoyed working there. A lot of people, had it not closed down, would still be working there. It had a really good atmosphere.

"There was a lot of controversy about it moving away because it made it a bit of a ghost town when it, and a shoe factory, moved away.

"We knew it was inevitable and we couldn't fight it."

Workers at the the factory, off Windsor Road, were machine operators, helping to keep the equipment running smoothly while it churned out Oxo cubes.

Mrs Kinsella was one of the workers who moved to Nottinghamshire with the plant, until her retirement in 2000, when she moved home to Rishton.

Now she is hoping former workers who are unaware of the reunion will get in touch, or turn up on the door at the Park View Working Men's Club, in Bailey Street, Clayton-le-Moors, from 8pm tomorrow.

She said: "I am hoping quite a few people will turn up. Some people have come for tickets, and they're spreading details around as well!"

For more information call Anne on 01254 888062.