At 96, the founder of a sawmill has clocked up almost 82 years of work - and has no plans to give it up anytime soon.
Bill Parton, founder of Hales Sawmill in Market Drayton, turned 96 on Wednesday.
The company was established in 1982 but Bill's working life began long before, having taken up work as a plumber's apprentice back in Easter 1942 at just 14 years old.
Almost 82 years later, he still turns up for work five days a week - having only dropped his sixth day a year ago.
Bill Parton, founder of Hales Sawmill in Market Drayton, turned 96 on Wednesday.
The company was established in 1982 but Bill's working life began long before, having taken up work as a plumber's apprentice back in Easter 1942 at just 14 years old.
Almost 82 years later, he still turns up for work five days a week - having only dropped his sixth day a year ago.
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NewsTranscript
00:00 So I'm with Bill here, the owner of Hales sawmills in Markingdrayton. How long
00:06 you've been with the owner now? July 1982. Wow, superb. And today is your 96th
00:17 birthday? It is, yes. Superb. What's the secret of... Keep working.
00:24 That's the only thing I can think of. Really? That's amazing.
00:30 Keep at it. Keep this working and the rest of you will.
00:36 Fantastic. Tell me about the history of Hales and how you got here today.
00:41 Well, I was working at Chippenham Sawmill and doing quite well. I boosted that up from
00:51 nothing to a massive... They went away, bought an estate down in Chippenham, in Woodson.
00:59 I bought the house off them and went to live there because they wanted me to be there and
01:04 I wouldn't go in a tied coffin. And then they said I could have the business, buy the business
01:12 later on. But so I decided to leave and set up... And I knew that Hales Estate wanted
01:20 somebody to take over the sawmill. Colonel Congreve was running it but he wanted to retire.
01:28 And there was two lads in the sawmill and they said if I would take them on at the same
01:33 rates they were on at the estate, I could have it. And buy the machinery and that. So
01:40 that's what I did. I left Chippenham Sawmill and went to Hales. And we started there and
01:48 Richard asked me to go across to the office and he said I want to ask you to join the
01:58 gang of people on the estate and what work have you got. And I said nothing. I haven't
02:07 got any work. But I said by the end of the week I will. And he threw the pad at me and
02:14 a pen and said write this down. He'd give me a week's worth. And it all started from
02:19 that. Went buying machinery and driving the lorry. Yeah, it's just gone from that. One
02:31 last step at a time. And then the grandson wanted to come in and I said well we'd spent
02:39 enough money at Hales with buildings, tarmac, concrete. We'd do it for ourselves next time
02:45 because you can't roll it up and take it with you. It's not like a bloody carpet. And so
02:52 we found this 8 acre and we came here and everybody said you're an idiot buying that.
02:59 It's a swamp. And we got MacPhillip is there. And they got a firm in that does front ways
03:08 on it. And they took the top soil off and then a metre of sub soil and put concrete,
03:16 cemented and lined and rolled it and then put it back. And it's here currently. So it's
03:24 moved rubbish ground. The top quality ones people saw we'd done and you could run on
03:31 it with an Arctic. And then we did phase 2 which is this really now. And then phase 3
03:41 was Vanguard Wayshoes. I stand back now with A1. I'm running a passenger. But I get pleasure
03:51 out of seeing it. Enjoy your 96th birthday. Well done. Thank you.
03:55 [BLANK_AUDIO]