Bill wants home for treasured memories

Bill Archer has been mayor, seen seven Prime Ministers come to power and witnessed the creation of the Sandwell borough.

With a career spanning 36 years he has seen good and bad times — and recorded it by saving thousands of Express & Star cuttings.

His scrap ooks filled with cuttings go back to 1974 and now, before he retires, he is looking for a home for his collection. The long-serving councillor also has letters from every Prime Minster since Harold Wilson took over the job in 1974.

Bill, aged 82, of Churchfield Road, Wednesbury, grew up in the town's Portway Road and was in the marines from 1945 for three years.

He went on to be a long distance lorry driver for Rubery Owen and then ran a clothes shop in Wednesbury's Union Street for 17 years. He became councillor, for what was Market Ward and later became Wednesbury North, in 1974.

He said: "When I was first elected I wanted to get make sure people knew who I was and one of the best ways to do that was through the local Press — the Express & Star. Being in opposition meant you could say what you wanted to say, within reason, and get away with it.

"I love looking back through the years to 1974 and seeing the changes that have taken place. "There have been a lot of ups and downs. However, I'm getting very close to retirement now and I've run out of space to store all my Express & Star cuttings. I want them to go to a good home and then someone can see what it has been like being a councillor from the start of Sandwell."

In 1996 the number of Tory councillors in the borough was cut from 22 down to two.

"It was councillor Ray Partridge and myself and the other members used to tease us that we would soon be able to have our meetings in a phone box," he said. "The proof of this is in the Express & Star with a photo of me, Ray and the bright red phone box."

He says there was a time when councillors said there would never be a Conservative mayor in Sandwell. "Bill Thomas was the leader of the council at the time and he got the other members to change their minds, as I had been the longest serving councillor at that time," said Bill. "It was a delightful year and one I will never forget.

"I also won't forget the night we had the proms at the West Bromwich Town Hall and I sang Land of Hope and Glory on the stage - people couldn't believe the mayor was actually singing."

Bill says he owes a lot to his wife Freda who has been very supportive. "Freda has been long-suffering and what she has had to put up with has been unbelievable - but she has stood by me throughout my career," he said.

"The hardest part was nine years ago when we sadly lost our eldest daughter Linda to cancer.

"It was a dreadful time and until you lose a child you will never know the heartbreak it can cause. Now our son John, 62, has the start of Parkinson's, which is another evil illness."

Bill says it is his passion for his country and for the Black Country which has kept him going through the tough times.

"I've always been very forthright and recently I had the chance to meet David Cameron so I wore my cloth cap," he said.

"I wanted him to meet a real down-to-earth cloth-capped Conservative and tell him a few facts of life. I'm sure if he listens to us real working class people then he will win the election."

Bill, who had four children, says he told the Conservative leader that he was passionate about marriage and family life. "I believe people are better off working than being idle and also that crime should be properly punishable," he said.

"My end of term comes when I'm 85 and because of age and health it will be then that I have to call it a day. I think it is unique for someone to take the time and trouble to file away all these cuttings. "There are more than 30 years of memories in those clippings and I can tell you it has been a wonderful career."

* Anyone interested in Bill Archer's cuttings can contact him on 0121 5563564.