£1m is to be invested into expanding the Gurney Reeve & Co site in Wymondham - Credit: Gurney Reeve & Co

A family-run East Anglian engineering and manufacturing firm is investing £1m into developing and expanding its Wymondham site. 

Dennis Lee & Co Ltd and Gurney Reeve & Co Ltd, which are both owned by the Lee family, are being merged as part of a plan to expand the business. 

Based in Fakenham since 1974, Dennis Lee & Co Ltd will relocate to Wymondham as part of the merger. 

The move will see £1m being spent on building a workshop extension at the south Norfolk site, where Gurney Reeve & Co Ltd has been based since 1954. 

Jeremy Lee, managing director of the firms, said: "For many years, the growth of Dennis Lee has been hampered by the lack of space at Fakenham to grow the business, along with its location making it difficult to secure the skilled staff needed to operate the machine shop.

"It was with a heavy heart that we felt the opportunities in Wymondham and the location of Gurney Reeve just of the A11 at Spooner Row, gave us more opportunities to grow the business and secure the jobs of the workforce we already have."

Dennis Lee & Co specialises in serving the local farming and construction sectors with hydraulic hose and cylinder repairs. 

Gurney Reeves & Co manufactures parts that are used on a range of Suton-branded machinery that is commonly used in the agriculture and construction industries.

Philip Lake celebrated 50 years of working at Gurney Reeve & Co - Credit: Gurney Reeve & Co

A employee at Gurney Reeve & Co Ltd is celebrating 50 consecutive years of working at the company. 

Philip Lake, who lives in Attleborough, said that he started working at the firm in August 1972 when he was 15 years old. 

"I left school, I had a week off and then I started working," he said. 

"How I started here was due to my mother. She knew the managing director at the time and asked him if he had a job for me. 

"He said he would give me a three-month trial - I'm still here."

The married father-of-one revealed that the firm has changed significantly over the last five decades. 

"Lots more people work here now," he said. "We do more manufacturing. It has grown a lot." 

Although recently turning 65, Mr Lake has no plans to retire soon, saying that instead he plans to cut down his hours to three days a week. 

George Thompson, Local Democracy Reporter