Oakwood

Oakwood celebrates Silver

Hard work, determination and public service were the character traits that denoted Stewart Jones. Just when the world comes crashing down after you have worked for 25 years for one company – in this case Pearl Assurance – you dust yourself off and start all over again! The firm had been bought out and the computer centre was axed, and many employees, including Stewart, were made redundant. He was made redundant again two years later from Aegon.

Enough was enough! Stewart decided to take his future into his own hands and set up in business in his own right. Oakwood Financial Services was started originally from home but when it was felt that business and home should be separate then he rented a couple of rooms from Tony Martin who ran an insurance business at 11 High Street. Expansion came by having a number of financial advisers working under his umbrella organisation. Working with insurance broker Yvonne Cox in Stamford, who referred any financial clients to him, Stewart eventually bought the brokerage when she retired. To this was added another Stamford brokerage and they operated out of an office on the corner of Conduit Road. When the shop next door to his offices in High Street became available, Stewart bought them, initially using the upstairs offices as the two shop units were on leases; one to Scallywags dressmakers and the other as a photographic shop and art gallery. When one of the units became vacant in 2008 the brokerage was transferred to Market Deeping. In 2004 son Martin joined the business and saw the opportunity to make the office paperless introducing a cloud-based system for information storage. More than a dozen four-drawer filing systems had to find new homes! Stewart’s daughter-inlaw Agnieszka (Agi) joined the business in 2008, managing

insurance accounts as well as general insurance quotes for car, house, travel etc. Martin has grown the commercial side of the business and now has several large corporate clients. When the opportunity came to take over the premises of the second shop, Stewart opened Oakwood Property Services, and son Matthew and wife Jean joined the company, both having obtained their ARLA property mark qualifications. The family enjoyed a relatively brief time of working together before the untimely death of Stewart in 2016. His sons, showing all the determination of their father, took up the challenge and managed Oakwood between them with Mathew Agbame to cover the clients in financial services. Mathew complements the team perfectly with a wealth of financial knowledge of pensions, investments, family protection, equity release and Stewart Jones mortgages accumulated over the last 20 years. Keen to ensure that the brand was as prominent as possible there was an office upgrade in 2018 and as well as extensive indoor alterations, the windows and doors were upgraded to double-glazed units to retain warmth over winter. During the pandemic there were times when the offices had to be closed and the team worked from home but in spite of challenges the qualities of hard work and determination are still in tact! As to public service, Stewart had worked with both the Lions Club of the Deepings and was a member of Rotary too. As President of the Lions he organised a Gala Fun Day and a concert at Peterborough’s Key Theatre with TV’s Hi de Hi star Ruth Madoc. His strong sense of social responsibility has remained a linchpin of the company who continue to sponsor the Carnival, the Dog Show, Deeping United football teams and the Deepings Literary Festival, as well as stepping in when help is needed in local emergencies. In short, Oakwood are with you in sickness and in health serving the community in good and bad times and now celebrating 25 years in business!