Last year we welcomed two new members of staff – Des and Lisa Martin – to our despatch and purchasing team respectively. The couple both served in the RAF and bring a wealth of experience in a range of areas, making them valuable people in the JB Springs team.

Des joined the RAF aged 16 and served for 22 years as an aircraft enginee. He worked on a variety of aircraft Chinook helicopters, Tornado, Victor and Typhoon throughout his career and carrying out duties at RAF Marham, Lossiemouth, Leuchars, Coningsby, Cottesmore and Odiham. Working his way up through the ranks, Des became a Sergeant when he eventually left to work in Saudi Arabia with the Royal Saudi Air Force – teaching people how to fix and maintain their fleet of Typhoon aircraft.

Lisa began working for the RAF at age 19 and qualified as an Air Traffic Control assistant. Having worked her way up through the ranks, she was promoted to Sergeant and became a Flight Operations Manager. This involved fulfilling roles in charge of the planning/programming for the RAF Tornado fleet. She then moved to Swanwick National Air Traffic Control Centre. Here, she ensured military and civil aircraft were not utilising the airspace simultaneously.

They met in 1996 whilst serving at RAF Cottesmore and married in 1997, celebrating their 25^th anniversary this year.

We feel lucky to have them on Team JB, as we grow and go from strength to strength. Des acts as our Despatch Manager – coordinating all our incoming and outgoing goods – and Lisa our Purchaser and Expediter.