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In this latest edition of our Meet The Team series, we’re excited to introduce two key members of our Digital Studio in Welshpool—Andy Sinclair and Mike Pedrini. Andy has been a cornerstone of Newmor for an incredible 48 years, working his way through various roles and making an indelible mark on the company. Mike is relatively new to the team, having joined in 2021, and is learning the ropes of digital printing under Andy’s mentorship.

At Newmor, we value knowledge exchange across generations, and Andy and Mike’s dynamic highlights just that. We spoke with them both to hear about their roles, their life outside of Newmor, and how they are collaborating to ensure the continued success of our Digital Studio.

Name: Andrew Sinclair

What is your role at Newmor, and what does a typical day look like for you?  

I’m the Digital Print Supervisor, working from our digital studio supervising the day to day running of the digital printing machines with my assistant Mike.

Time at Newmor:

I’ve been with Newmor for 48 years, starting when I was just 16, fresh out of school. My first role was in milling, where I loaded raw materials into the mixers—my dad worked there at the time too. After that, I moved on to the milling machine, refining raw PVC paste, and from there I had roles in coating and then the reel-off section.

For the next 30 years, I worked in Gravure printing, and eventually moved into Digital Printing about 10 years ago. This has been my favourite role so far—it’s great being part of a team in the studio, doing something new every day. There’s always a lot of variety in this role, and we’ve built such a good bond here. It’s like working with a little family.

Any family past or present work at Newmor/Morland:  

My father Duncan worked at Newmor, and my sons Josh and Nathan have worked here too.

Can you share a memorable experience or project you’ve worked on during your time here?  

A few years ago, I was picked to go on a marketing photo shoot at a nearby stately home to promote a new range of products. It was a really great experience.

Name: Michael Pedrini

What is your role at Newmor, and what does a typical day look like for you?  I’m a Digital Print Operative, so in I’m responsible for assisting Andy in the digital studio, ensuring the smooth running of all our digital printers.

Time at Newmor:

First day was 31^st August 2021 where I started in Reel off and learned how to use the Goebbels Machine, I moved to the Warehouse in March 23 and then progressed to Digital in April 24.

How do you find working together with your different levels of knowledge and experience?

Andy: I will be retiring in a few years which will amount to 50 years of service to the company, I will hope to leave a legacy of my experience to Mike, and any other team members who will follow in my footsteps.

Mike: It’s great to work with Andy as he has a fantastic knowledge base – you can’t put a price on the years of experience that he has – and he’s been able to pick up some great tricks on the machines that have made the process more manageable for me.

Can you tell us about some of your favourite pastimes, hobbies etc?

Andy

Film: The Lord of the Rings trilogy, a masterpiece of filmmaking history. I first discovered it when my Wife bought me the books – long before the films came out. I bought the film of Tolkiens’ life story and where he got the ideas to write Lord of the Rings – it was all inspired by his experiences of the 1^st world war. I love that lots of the landscapes in Middle Earth are based on the Welsh landscape and that the language invented for the films was based on Welsh Celtic roots – which is close to home being in Welshpool!

Drink: Must be Tea! Especially with some homemade cake which we have plenty of in the office.

Activity: I really enjoy building and repairing computers in my spare time for myself, my family, and friends. I also like to game. I bought my first computer in the 80s, and a local retired electrician took me under his wing and taught me everything about computer building. Since then, I’ve continued to build and repair computers—which has really helped me in my role since so much of what we do is computer-based now!

Mike

Place: Canada was a place I visited a couple of times during my time as a Medic within the British Army. We went out there to practice our skills and drills with the armoured ambulances, as there isn’t anywhere big enough to do it in the UK with other Regiments. One of the places that come to mind is when I took some leave whilst I was over there and visited Calgary. The culture was mesmerising, and the people were so friendly – also the food was amazing!! The sticky ribs were divine!

Book: Lord Of The Rings. There is something special about Tolkien, dare I say magical? I especially love how immersive it is; how the story just seems to absorb you through the writing. Middle Earth is so familiar and comfortable, while the events are shocking, hopeful and fearful. A big part of it was his absolute mastery of language. There’s barely a paragraph or even sentence you couldn’t analyse and write a thesis on. Add to that the magic of his storytelling and world building and his work is quite simply unparalleled.

Hobby: Shooting. I have been shooting since I was Twelve years old, as a cadet. After leaving the Army I joined a shooting range to continue my passion. I have also joined the local village air rifle team. It’s a place I go to forget the everyday struggles we can all face, and for me, to keep on developing a skill I learned all those years ago.

A big thank you to Andy and Mike for chatting with us. Keep an eye out for further instalments of our Meet The Team series!