January 24 will be the last chance to buy fuel from Andy’s Mobil Service Station, with the business closing the doors due to family reasons.
After 21 years, the family business, owned by Andrew and Glenda Morris, will no longer be serving petrol but the family won’t be completely lost to the region or even the Camdale site.
“We are going straight from this to the business out the back, which has been wound back somewhat,” site manager Scott Desmond said.
“People shouldn’t think it is a dead site now and think there is no reason to call in because we are starting up the wheels business again.
“A lot of rims get damaged these days and there is nothing you can do but buy a whole new set or get them fixed.
“We will still be on site, working from the back workshop under the name Morris Wheels.”
After 21 years of servicing the community, Mr Desmond said he had mixed feelings about finishing up.
“There’s almost a tear in my eye,” he said.
“I feel like sometimes it’s been hard but other times it’s been a privilege to serve all the people in our community.
“I had a boy, probably aged six or seven, say to me one day ‘wow you must have the best job in the world filling people’s car’s up and sending them out to do stuff’.
“I have always sort of thought about it from the perspective that even though it is just pumping gas, it’s part of people’s lives, everyone needs it and I’m helping out just like anyone else who helps out in society and in the community.”
Mr Desmond recalled some of his fondest memories of working at the service station.
“There’s lots of things we used to do here over the years,” he said.
“We used to sell Christmas trees for the scouts, we also have a Santa Claus here every year waving to all the kids usually on Christmas Eve and that has been an ongoing thing for the last 15 or 16 years.
“That’s one of the more special things that goes on here but we have lots of people drop in and have a cuppa.”
Mr Desmond listed some of the things he will miss or won’t miss about the job.
“I’ll miss all the gossip, that’s for sure,” he said.
“You do see a lot of things go past and hear a lot of stories from people and I’ll miss some of the characters.
“But I won’t miss the winter mornings because it’s freezing cold here and this is a job you didn’t get leave so you were nearly always here.
“I’ll look forward to having a little extra spare time here and there.”