The chief executive of one of the North East’s leading independent builders and plumbers’ merchants has been honoured in the New Year’s Honours list.
Thompson Building Centres’ Anne Ganley is to receive an OBE in recognition of her services to employment, industry, her local community and for her decades of charity work.
The company has grown from a humble scrap metal business stated 60 years ago to encompassing three successful companies with hundreds of employees – the builders’ merchants, a waste management operation and TAPS plumbers’ merchants.
“It was a huge surprise to hear the news of this honour,” said Ms Ganley. “I feel incredibly unworthy but immensely delighted at the same time.
“It is very humbling to have been recognised in this way and this is not just an honour for me but for my staff and my family, without whom I couldn’t have achieved these successes.”
Thompson Building Centres is widely known in the North East and beyond for its tireless support of the local community and supports a wide range of charities and initiatives.
They include 30 years of supporting the Salvation Army in the North East and more recently, bein one of the driving forces behind the Brothers In Arms campaign which led to the building of a new war memorial for Wearside’s fallen heroes since World War II, which was finally unveiled in November.
