A CLUB of Octagenarian women from Chiswick who spent their lives working for Chiswick's famous former boat polish company, Cherryblossoms, held their last reunion meeting on Monday this week.

The club, led by Dorris Sands, has been meeting weekly since 1975 - the year that the mustard firm Reckitt and Coleman bought out Cherryblossoms (which had been renamed Chiswick Products) and moved to Hull, to provide the women with a way of keeping in contact with the friends they been working with for most of their lives.

During its long reign, the boot polish makers had been one of Chiswick's most well-known businesses, and had gained a reputation for looking after their employees.

The firm started in 1904, when two brothers brought up a factory site next to Chiswick Roundabout.

In addition to buying up blocks of houses on Devonshire Road and along Chiswick Prom, the company bought beds in local hospitals (before the national health service existed) for its employees and even a men's club.

Mrs Beech, who attends some of the meetings with her sister, who was unfortunately not feeling up to the task of speaking to local journalists, said: "They had a very caring attitude towards their employees - they never had any unions striking because they cared for their workers so well. That's partly why it's so fondly remembered."

The group began meeting in a church hall before moving onto the Mission Hall in Frasier Street, and held its last meeting in a Frasier Street flat.

"There are 12 of them left and all of them are over 80," Mrs Beech added: "They've met once a week since 1975, and have been friends all their lives. It would be nice for them to be recognised, as they have been a part of Chiswick's history."