Family join Bill to toast to 100 healthy and happy years

Some 20 family members have travelled to the Royal Leamington Spa Care Home to be with Bill Williamson, who was born a year before the First World War broke out, to mark the milestone.

Born in Fife in Scotland on February 22 1913, Mr Williamson moved to Birmingham when he secured a job there when in his early 20s.

He did clerical work at various organisations throughout his career, including at the Ministry of Pensions and at Benfords engineering firm in Warwick.

During the Second World War, Mr Williamson worked on radio systems and was stationed near Stranraer in Scotland and in parts of Africa, working on wireless communication - a job his daughter Ailsa Craft said he enjoyed.

He and his wife Rosalie moved to Leamington during the mid-1950s and they spent most of their time in the town living at their home in St Margaret’s Road.

They have been able to watch their family grow from two children, Ailsa and Rodger, to four grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

During her last years, Rosalie was living with Alzheimer’s and had to move into a nursing home. She died in 2003.

But Mr Williamson continued to live independently, first at his house in St Margaret’s Road and later on in a sheltered housing complex - only having moved to the Leamington care home at the age of 97.

For many years, he enjoyed taking and developing his own photographs - particularly of wildlife.

Mrs Craft said: “He managed living on his own very well and he is still doing fine.

“For a 100-year-old, he is doing extremely well.

“He enjoys chatting to people - he’s a sociable sort and has a good sense of humour.”