Dickon Sandbach, Senior Partner at Peterborough-based accountants, Moore, is retiring after 40 years with the firm.
Dickon joined the firm (then known as Nicolas Hart & Co) in Stamford in 1978. Dickon became a Partner in 1985, Joint Managing Partner in 1997 and Senior Partner in 2009. He has been Partner in Charge of the Moore Peterborough office since it opened in Lynch Wood in 2001.
Today, Moore has ten partners across three offices in the East Midlands, with around 60 additional staff, making it one of the largest accountancy practices in the region.
Said Dickon: “The Peterborough office of Moore has been extremely successful. I am pleased to say that we have enjoyed persistent growth over the last 15 years and this looks set to continue and accelerate over the next few years. One matter that does give me considerable pride is the team which I have been able to build up. This has meant that I am able to leave Moore knowing we have high quality people with a lot of expert and specialist knowledge. They will be able to take the firm further and to a higher level than I ever could.
“Of course, none of this would be possible without the clients. The most enjoyable part of my career has been dealing with clients and talking to them about how they can succeed in achieving their objectives – and sometimes even helping them to work out what it is they want out of life! It has been an enormous privilege to have been able to be their trusted advisor.
“My thanks go also to my colleagues who have supported me over the years – it has been a pleasure to have enjoyed their company.”
Away from the office, Dickon has served as a Governor at Stamford College (Now New College Stamford), a member of the finance committee at the Nene Valley Railway for more than 12 years and a governor at The Peterborough School. He has also been a Freemason since 1978.
Dickon has no plans to slow down in retirement. He and his wife Barbara (who also worked at Moore for more than 35 years), have bought a house in Scotland, just outside Inverness, with grounds of around four acres. They plan to plant an orchard and a coppice, and to produce their own honey. Dickon will also be doing family and masonic research.
Joint Managing Partner, Andy Hancock, who will be heading up the Moore Peterborough office following Dickon’s retirement said: “Dickon has made an enormous contribution to the firm over the past 40 years, particularly as Partner In Charge of the Peterborough office. He will be missed as both a colleague and a friend. I wish him and Barbara the best of luck with their new adventures in Scotland.”
The last word goes to Dickon: “I have tried to prepare for retirement; after all, one of the duties of a Manager is to make sure that no one is indispensable, including himself. If I have got it right, I will fade out of the picture and they won’t notice that I’ve gone!”