Old hands bow out

9:46am Thursday 7th August 2008

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GERALD Bundy has been with Salisbury law firm Trethowans for 42 years and, during that time, has helped hundreds of clients and worked with dozens of colleagues.

He has worked in three different offices - in Bridge Street, New Street and at the firm's new headquarters at London Road Business Park.

He said: "I have made some great friends here and I will miss them. I pride myself on one thing: I have got on with everybody and I am a great believer in helping everyone."

Mr Bundy spent the first six years of his working life with General Accident Insurance Company in Salisbury and Shaftesbury before taking a job at Trethowans in August 1966 running its insurance department.

He said: "I got bored and the senior partner, John Trethowan, said would you like to do some law'? and I said yes'."

Mr Bundy, a legal executive, became involved in wills and probate work and said he owed a lot to former senior partner, David Morris, who was his mentor.

"In those days when you passed your exams, you had to serve eight years in qualifying employment," he said. "That has all changed."

He said he had thoroughly enjoyed his work because "it has been all about helping people".

"Losing a loved one is stressful and I hope I have been able to help people deal with grief and do a good job for them. Each case is different because each family is different, and in some cases I have dealt with two or three generations of the same family," he said.

Mr Bundy, who is succeeded by Michael Westbrook, lives in Coombe Bissett with his wife, Jenny.

The couple has two children and two grandchildren and are planning a number of holidays including a train ride through the Rocky Mountains.

Mr Bundy, who plays golf at Salisbury & South Wilts Golf Club, was parish council clerk for ten years, took part in amateur dramatics, helped re-form the Coombe Bissett and Homington Cricket Club and was involved with the Young People's Music Festival for more than 20 years, six as chairman.

"People say to me you cannot give up work', but no one is indispensable," he said.

Miles Brown, managing partner, said: "Gerald has been an integral part of Team Trethowans' for 42 years and in this time he's seen a huge amount of change, not least of which is our very recent move from New Street to London Road.

"More significantly is the contribution that Gerald has made to the firm. He epitomises the Trethowans culture - hard-working and professional with a great sense of humour.

"He will be missed by not just staff, but also by clients, many of whom have become firm friends of Gerald's over the years. We all wish Gerald the very best for a long, happy and healthy retirement."

• TREVOR Shepherd began training as a surveyor in 1957 when the job was rather more strenuous than it is today.

"My very first job was at Hungerford in Berkshire where I spent three weeks mapping out an estate," he said.

"We had to pull chains across fields to measure them and produce a plan like an Ordnance Survey plan. Nowadays it's done by satellites."

Born in Wilton, Mr Shepherd was educated at Chafyn Grove School in Salisbury and at Dauntsey's, near Devizes.

"My mother's brother was a farmer at Dinton and I spent much of my childhood on the farm, so I had a link to agriculture," he said.

"My parents paid for me to train with Rawlence & Squarey, which became Humberts, and I did a correspondence course with the College of Estate Management in London while working in Salisbury for three years."

He moved to a practice at Chippenham, which handled valuations and sales of houses, farms and land, and was there for two years before joining Harry White at HW White (now Whites) in Salisbury's Chipper Lane.

The firm moved to Castle Street in 1964 and Mr Shepherd became involved in sales, lettings, surveys, house buyers' reports and valuations.

He has been the Allied Surveyor for the area, which involves valuing properties in a 20-mile radius of Salisbury for banks proposing to lend money against those properties.

This has made up about half of his workload, the other half being surveys and probate valuations for private clients.

"I have thoroughly enjoyed it all," he said.

"It is a different job every day, you meet so many different people and sell, survey or let so many different properties.

"I will miss it."

Mr Shepherd intends to play more golf in retirement, at High Post Golf Club, between Salisbury and Amesbury, and in Devon.

He is the organiser of the Wessex branch of the Chartered Surveyors' Golfing Society, is on the national committee of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors' Golfing Society, is president of Salisbury Hockey Club, treasurer of Woodford Valley Gardening Club, is on the Woodford Valley Parochial Church Council, and is a member of the MCC and Country Gentlemen's Association.

He and his wife, Sheila, who have six children and 11 grandchildren with a 12th on the way, also plan to do more travelling.