My Mr Fix-It built our home at the age of 81
AT THE age of 81, my husband started to build us a new house. Yes, he employed other people to do it — but they weren’t always up to his standards. So he was soon up the scaffolding to oversee the work on the roof.
I think he considered it his swansong, because, mid-way through the build, he was told he had incurable cancer. Bill’s response was typical. ‘God put me on this earth to do a lot of things and I’ve not quite finished yet,’ he said. I know I’m biased but my Bill really was extraordinary. Born and raised in Shropshire, he did his first day’s work aged 12, helping his father who was a painter and decorator.
At 13, he was a paperboy and delivered groceries. And although official lollipop men didn’t appear until the Fifties, young Bill was doing it long before that — shepherding children across the road and into the cinema on Saturday mornings in Burslem.
For his efforts he was allowed into the cinema free, but he always missed the end of the film as he had to be back on crossing duties.
Bill left school at 15 for an apprenticeship as a carpenter. By 1960, he had his own building firm. He could make or mend anything — never mind Bob The Builder, we had the real thing — Bill The Builder.
He was as popular as he was practical, his goal always to put a smile on someone’s face.
He loved amateur dramatics and I’ll never forget him appearing on stage in drag. He had his back to the audience when the lights went up — in a dress, high heels, wig.
Then he turned round — with a full beard. The audience laughed and whooped so much that he forgot the words to his song, and I had to shout them to him.
We met at a dance in 1956 and were married for 60 years. We had two daughters, two grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. Bill doted on them, working so hard to make a lovely life for us all.
The only thing he couldn’t fix was his own health. He was diagnosed with cancer of the salivary gland in 2016. I think finishing the house kept him going. He only got to live in our beautiful new home for two months before he died.
I think I had a laugh every single day of my life while he was in it.
William (Bill) Tilsley, born June 15, 1934, died January 21, 2018, aged 83.