Famous shop keeper becomes a centenarian
He learned his trade in workshops during the Burma Campaign, repairing everything from guns tanks and other vehicles before returning home and running an electrical repair shop and then a bike shop.
Affectionately known around the area as ‘Bill from the bike shop’ Hednesford-born Private Bill Winfindale has now clocked up 100 years.
Friends described him as a jack of all trades who would ‘do anything to help anybody’ as they joined him to mark the occasion at The Willows Nursing Home in Darlaston.
Among those attending was Mayor of Walsall, Marco Longhi, who said: “Bill is the sort of person who has helped make the country that we live in what it is today.”
Private Winfindale briefly worked at an engineering company in Great Bridge before being called up to the South Staffordshire Regiment in 1939.
He served in Northern Ireland, South Africa, India and then Burma where he joined the second division of the 14th Army.
He was mainly based in a workshop, making repairs to kit, weaponry and vehicles during the Burma Campaign, from 1943-44. Burma, which was renamed Myanmar in 1989, saw a series of battles while the British, Chinese and Americans faced off against the Japanese.
The harsh climate and rough terrain in the Southeast Asian nation meant the Burma Campaign was notorious for being a difficult and deadly conflict during the war.
Returning to Hednesford in 1946, he opened an electrical goods shop in 1948 and his soon-to-be wife Gwendoline Broome, known as ‘Gwen’, moved in to help him run the store in 1950. The couple also sold bikes and parts from the shop.
But the council deemed the building on Catherine’s Cross as unsafe and it was demolished, leaving the couple to trade from a makeshift base until a new shop could be built.
They then set up W. T. Winfindale’s, a bicycle shop, just a stone’s throw away from the old shop.
The couple tied the knot on August 3 in 1953 at St Lawrence’s Church. And they ran the shop up until 2002 when Pvt Windfindale was 86. Gwen died aged 94 in 2017 after 64 years of marriage.
Pvt Windfindale moved into The Willows in January. At the party last Friday, he said: “I wasn’t expecting this, I’m really surprised actually. It’s amazing that the Mayor came here specifically to see me – I’ve had a great day.” Councillor Longhi said: “I’m very grateful to Bill and all of those who paid the ultimate sacrifice, so I owe bill and a lot of his friends a huge amount of gratitude. He reminds me very much of my old grandfather who would have been 101 and he too went to war in the same place that Bill went, so there’s a lot of memories here for me.
“He’s said to me half a dozen times that he’s so grateful that I’m here but for me it’s me saying thank you to Bill and it’s an honour for me.”
Family friend Jason Robins, 42, who has known Bill since he was 10, said: “He’s been a great friend and an inspiration for me. I’ve seen him a lot since his wife died and the man is just a legend.
“I’ve always looked up to him and to be 100-years-old and the way he is, he’s chirpy and witty and it’s amazing.
“He’s a great laugh and a nice genuine bloke and I just love him. Today is massive, he always wanted to get here and we’ve spoken about it. In his mind he was worried he wouldn’t make it but I always knew he would. I hope I’m like him when I’m his age"
Pvt Winfindale was presented with gifts and his favourite whiskey.
His brother-in-law, Bill Broome, added: “He’s had a lovely time today and has done since he came here and we hope he can continue to thrive.
“They’re very good to him here.
“We’re so pleased to be able to celebrate this for him and all his friends have turned up today.”
