Mr Crouch joined Hamworthy in 1990 as area sales manager, before becoming sales agent for East Anglia in 2000. 

He said: “It has been great working with the Hamworthy team for such a long time. There are still lots of people at Hamworthy who started with me or even before I joined the company.

“I’m looking forward to my retirement – preferably somewhere warm, although I’m also sad to say goodbye to the Hamworthy family. I would like to thank my customers for staying with me; they will be in very capable hands with Dave taking over my role, given his vast experience working on Hamworthy boilers on a daily basis.”

Mr Ward said: “I’m looking forward to a career change after almost 20 years as service engineer. I’ve been out visiting customers with Mike for the last few weeks and I will be taking the Hamworthy Stainless Family van on tour of East Anglia in May. 

Stuart Turner, national sales manager, added: “I’ve known Mike since he joined the company two years after I did. It’s been great working with him. We’re wishing him all the best for his retirement.

“I’m also pleased to welcome Dave to our sales team. He’s been looking after our customers’ plant rooms for a long time and makes an excellent addition to the sales team.”