After serving JCB for almost half a century, Tony Boot has called it a day and joined the long list of his relatives to have retired from the company after giving many years of loyal service.

Tony, who works in the Loadall telescopic handler business unit at the JCB World Headquarters in Rocester, is among 14 members of the Boot family on the books at JCB. That number will now drop to 13 as Tony joins the list of eight of his relatives to have already retired from the firm. 

In total, the family has contributed more than 400 years of service. 

Read the full story in the Express & Star. 

After serving JCB for almost half a century, Tony Boot has called it a day and joined the long list of his relatives to have retired from the company after giving many years of loyal service.

Tony, who works in the Loadall telescopic handler business unit at the JCB World Headquarters in Rocester, is among 14 members of the Boot family on the books at JCB. That number will now drop to 13 as Tony joins the list of eight of his relatives to have already retired from the firm. 

In total, the family has contributed more than 400 years of service.

The family originally comes from Denstone and most of the family continue to live there or in Rocester. Tony’s father, the late Bill Boot, was among the first people to join JCB after it was founded in 1945. He went on to serve for about 40 years. Bill’s wife and Tony’s mother, Lucy, also served for 10 years in the staff canteen. 

Tony’s brothers, Derek (40 years), Ken (20 years), Bob (42 years), Bill (30 years), Dennis (15 years) and Les (20 years) have served the company and retired. Another brother, Ron, remains on the books with 46 years service so far, as does Tony’s sister-in-law and Ken’s wife, Joy, who has served for almost 43 years. 

The Boot family dynasty looks set to continue through another generation. Tony’s sons, Colin and Alan, are employed in JCB’s yydraulic business unit, Colin’s wife Nicola is a production planner in the sales supply department and Tony’s son-in-law Gary Holgate works in the Loadall business unit. 

Tony’s nephews Mark, Gary, Andrew, and Steve also work for the company, as do his great nephews, Shaun and Lee, and Tina, the wife of another of Tony’s nephews. 

Tony, 62, of Rocester, joined JCB in 1959 and, apart from a four-month break in 1967, had been at the company ever since. 

For his retirement he has booked a Carribbean cruise with his wife Jean, 60, and four friends for later this year, and he also plans to spend more time with his grandchildren, Jack, 11, Amy, four, and 20-month-old Nathan.