Bill and I first met at school, we were both in the same year at Stratton and shared contacts including, I think, a trip to Northumberland, staying in Hexham and visiting Chillingham Wild Cattle on a tour led by Graham Hucklesby the Agriculture master.

After school I joined Lloyds Bank, and Bill joined Mantles Garage (a Rover garage group, based in Biggleswade)

We met up again a few years later with Bill a self employed mobile tuning operator, this was only his daytime job! In the morning before hitting the road with his tuning van he would be out using his trade plates to move vehicles, in the evenings and weekends he would do car servicing and repairs in the garage at the bottom of his garden in Tempsford .... He never stopped.

I bought a few cars off of Bill over the years from a Mk 111 Cortina to an Austin Allegro and eventually an early two door Range Rover, all great cars!

After his sortie into poultry keeping, with his free range egg partnership I heard about his Baschurch purchase, and how he viewed it one day, slept over and went to see the Bank Manager the next! I soon visited, the first of many many enjoyable visits over the years.

Bill... you were a great guy to know and a great friend, you will be missed by family and friends, Rest in Peace - You deserve it!!

John Carr (Biggleswade, Buckingham, Leighton Buzzard and Murrow (Cambridgeshire)