By Monica Jones
Turning 100 is becoming much more com-mon, but it was fascinating recently to meet a recent centenarian who has lived in Shepper-ton the whole of his life and who still lives independently. Talking to Bill Lucas you get a glimpse into another era. He was brought up in a house in Acacia Avenue, which was one of those built by his father (also Bill Lucas). He remembers helping the milkman doing his rounds when he was very young.
He attended Shepperton Green school under Headmaster Mr Muncaster. While he was there he was part of the 1st Shepperton cubs who used to meet at the hall which is now School of Spice on the High Street.
When Bill was 11 he was offered a place at Hampton Grammar.
He remembered vividly the morning he was walking down Sheep Walk, collecting chest-nuts. It was 1939. Bill heard a plane coming over and just caught sight of Swastikas on it, when a bomb was dropped. He threw himself to the ground and when it was safe to stand he saw the lump of shrapnel which was embed-ded in the tree he had been standing next to. He saw this narrow escape as a sign to join up, which he did without further ado. He was eventually called up and joined the Navy. He studied radar. At the time German submarines were a big problem so gaining intelli-gence was of utmost im-portance. Bill’s role took him all over the world with the Navy during the war. He was on HMS Battler, an air-craft carrier. It was a pioneering time for aircraft carriers, with many tail offs and landings re-sulting in the loss of aircraft. Bill saw it all.
His tour ended in Sydney, where he recalls joining a Christmas dinner on Bondi Beach. He made his way back to Europe, through the Panama canal, up to New York. Thinking about his future, he studied applied mathemat-ics under the “college of the sea”, what could be called the first distance learning method. It was aimed at those who worked at sea, providing learning modules and enabling stu-dents to leave assessment work at ports.
When Bill eventually made it back home to Shepperton he got a place to study at Univer-sity College London, got a Masters in applied mathematics which lead to a job with General Electrics research department.
Reluctantly attending a wedding some months later, one of the bridesmaids caught Bill’s eye. It turned out that Valerie too lived in Shepper-ton. Enough said! The couple married and bought a house together in Squire’s Bridge Road before moving eventually to Water-splash Road. They had two children. Bill has lived all his life in Shepperton Green.
Sadly Valerie died three years ago, but Bill lives independently and is bright and well. He keeps his brain active, still loving mathemati-cal puzzles. His daughter arranged a fantastic family get together at The Goat to celebrate his 100th birthday.
Congratulations and many happy returns Bill.