An insurance expert from north Powys has hung up his hat after a 50-year career in the industry.

Account executive Colin Peate retired last week after more than half a century of service to the insurance industry, most of which was spent in Shropshire and Mid Wales.

Colin, 69, from Rhos Common, Llandrinio, signed off by donating a £250 retirement gift from work colleagues at Rees Astley, Independent Financial Advisers and insurance brokers, to Marie Curie which cares for people with a terminal illness and their families. Rees Astley has agreed to match the donation to the charity.

“I knew that Rees Astley director Alun Hughes’ wife, Llinos, is involved in Marie Curie and it seemed a very suitable charity to receive the donation,” he said.

Colin began his insurance career in 1966 when joining General Accident in Shrewsbury and worked in Perth for a couple of years before moving to Clifford Challinor Ltd in Pontesbury in 1986.

Clifford Challinor Ltd was then acquired by Rees Astley in 2008 and the company now has offices in Newtown, Aberystwyth and Shrewsbury, where Colin was based.

Originally from Pool Quay, near Welshpool, Colin is married to Ruth and they have two children, Joanne Davies, and Jonathan, who is following in his father’s footsteps as an account executive with Rees Astley. The couple have three grandchildren.