Tell us how you came to work at TH March ? I had worked for a major insurer for five years and was looking for a new challenge and then , one fateful Friday night , I played cricket against THM . It was a revelation , their opening bat , the company secretary at the time , walked to the crease , bat in one hand and pint and cigarette in the other . From that moment I knew that was where I would work .

Why are you choosing to retire now ? Two reasons , I have been in insurance for 41 years , and with THM for 35 and everybody has a sell-by date . I feel I have reached mine , insurance is changing rapidly and I felt it was a good time to step aside and let new blood steer us through the next challenges . Equally importantly , I have worked long hours over the years and felt early retirement would enable me to spend more time with my long suffering wife and family , especially our first granddaughter .

What have been your most memorable moments at TH March ? Difficult one , most of the best memories are of the “ what happens on tour stays on tour ” variety so best to stay quiet !

What memories would you rather forget ? After a week in the job , meeting my straight-laced elderly chairman for the first time and when asked “ What do you do ?”, replying

JOHN WATSON

“ As little as possible !” and then to make things worse when a flustered chairman asked me : “ How many people work in this office ?” I replied , “ About half of them ”. Looking back I think I could have been more diplomatic .

What have you learned working there ? I was lucky to have Jim Pittman as my long time boss and he taught me the value of teamwork , and always treating everybody the same no matter if they were the MD or the cleaner . Humility goes a long way , and let ’ s face it I have much to be humble about !

Has it given you any life lessons ? Work hard , play hard was always the THM mantra and still is . Work for all of us is harder due to increased regulation and economic pressures so it is important we all try to get the work life balance right and blow off a bit of steam now and then .

Would you say it ’ s a challenging role ? Looking after the personal insurances side of the business has

always been a challenging role as you never know what is around the corner . The department has changed and grown over the years I have been here and employs five times more staff than when I arrived . This presents its own set of challenges as when we were smaller , I knew everything that was going on , now to keep the department running smoothly we have a team of managers and team leaders to keep us on track .

I also speak to people from all walks of life all the time discussing products and schemes . As an example , last weekend , as a result of a conversation over dinner , I am now looking into product specific insurance for a UK wide chain of outlets ( not jewellers ) so you never know what will crop up .

What is your favourite thing about working at TH March ? It is probably working on Dartmoor surrounded by beautiful countryside . I can remember a few years ago after a very stressful day stopping on the way home beside the river , taking off my shoes and socks , rolling up my trousers and sitting on a rock with my feet in the river and feeling the stress slowly disappear . Not recommended in the winter though , even if you can break the ice .

What are you most proud of ? The first thing that springs to mind is that we survey everybody who makes a personal jewellery claim with us and we have a 98.5 % satisfaction rate which

I was lucky to have Jim Pittman as my long time boss and he taught me the value of teamwork , and always treating everybody the same no matter if they were the MD or the cleaner