Island Life Magazine Ltd April / May 2016 | Page 19

INTERVIEW
Committee. When it came to subsequent
national elections for the committee,
Terence was voted in for three further
terms of three years, and retired,
according to the rules, after a total of ten
years’ service. Upon retirement from the
committee, he was especially presented
with an engraved clock from the Lord
Chancellor’s Council, in recognition of his
considerable contribution.
“They were certainly very interesting
times” he says. “For a little lad from the
Isle of Wight to be sitting round the table
with people like the Council of Mortgage
Lenders was a great coup!”

Leap of faith

“Without her, I wouldn’t have achieved
anything in life”.
By 1994 the business was doing
well enough for Terence to invest in a
commercial property in Ryde that was in
receivership: it was a rush to complete
the transaction in 28 days, but it was a
huge boost to the business.
With a growing turnover Terence
then bought out the Union Street, Ryde
business of old friend Malcolm Daniells,
who was retiring. This trade name is still
used at the Cross Street branch.
Then in 2004 there was the launch
of another office in the heart of the
village of Bembridge –and thereafter he
studied and qualified further securing
a Probate Licence specialising in Wills,
Trusts Probate, Powers of Attorney and
management of affairs of the Elderly.
Nowadays, the business has 16 staff at
the three offices, and Terence’s younger
solicitor son Mark, 33, is a Director of the
family Practice.

The next big milestone was making
the bold decision to go into business on
his own account, having qualified to do
so, with much resistance from solicitors
nationwide.
He doesn’t mind
admitting that he was
‘petrified’ about taking
the plunge. There was
a lot at stake, because
by that time, he and
Alison had three young
children - Paul, Mark
and Lisa, then aged
just nine, five and three
years old.
“I borrowed from
the Bank to make
sure we could pay
the mortgage for six
months and to hire
a secretary and an
accountant” he says.
“It took a month to
get the first client, so
Terry and Alison’s children Mark, Pau
l and Lisa
it was very precarious
and there were
obviously times when
I doubted what I’d
“You could say it’s a success
done”.
story,” he says.
Happily, he had sterling back-up from
“I had one Bank Manager who told me
his father, who by that time had retired
during the last recession that if I didn’t
and settled on the Island.
close one of the offices we would go
Despite being in his 70s by that time
under – happily I have managed to prove
– and already having spent a number
him wrong!”
of years running the buffet bar at Ryde
Pier with his wife Connie – Eric worked
tirelessly on the reception desk at
A step back
Terence’s new office, rarely going home
before his son did.
Terence was delighted when son Mark
Terence pays tribute both to his late
joined him in the business after leaving
father and to his wife of 45 years.
behind a career as a criminal defence
“Alison has been fantastic,” he says.
solicitor in London.

“It took a month
to get the first
client, so it was very
precarious and there
were obviously times
when I doubted what
I’d done.”
Apart from anything else, it means
that, at 70, Terence can do shorter hours
and take time off for his beloved hobby
of travel. He now is asked regularly to
contribute to BBC Radio Solent as an
expert on Property, Wills and Probate
and participates on a Breakfast Show
where listeners are invited to phone
in questions. He’s
conscious of the need
to live fully – particularly
after the trauma of
surviving bowel cancer
eight years ago.
After the removal of
a 10 cm tumour, his
long-term survival was
not certain and staff and
family stepped up to
run the business in his
absence.
He endured months
of chemotherapy and
radiotherapy and says
that had son Mark not
decided to move back to
the Island just before the
crisis, he would probably
have sold the business at
that point.
“Nowadays I do what I
want to do in the business – I’ve pulled out
of structured hours and act mainly as a
consultant”.
That has freed up time for him and
Alison to indulge their mutual love of
travelling. To date they have visited 40
countries, and Terence shares the pleasure
by writing about their destinations in
travel pieces for Island Life.
He says Thailand has been the most
fascinating Country from his point of
view – if not exactly Alison’s cup of tea.
As he points out “You are never quite
www.visitilife.com

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