February 2nd saw the retirement of John Earley from T H White after 41 years. John had his first experience of T H White when he worked as a student at the Devizes branch before returning to Agricultural College in Glasgow to complete his academic course. He joined T H White at the Sherston branch at the age of 23 in 1968 as an agricultural sales representative. John became the most successful salesman in the company and in 1973 he was promoted to Assistant Manager and in 1978 to Manager. 1989 saw the move to Knockdown and the start of the Grasscare business which John was very instrumental in developing with Pat Smith. In 1991 John was appointed to the Holdings Board in recognition for the outstanding contribution he had made to the company since he had joined 23 years earlier. More recently John has also become involved in helping the management team at T H White Installation Ltd.

At a presentation at the Knockdown branch John was thanked for the 41 years of service and for everything that he had achieved. Thanks were also given to Trish, who John married in 1970, for all the support that she had given him and T H White over the years.