Bert Finch 100th Birthday Celebration
St Albans congratulates and celebrates with Bert Finch on reaching his 100th birthday milestone
Herbert Basil Henroy Finch 16th June 2024
Bert pictured with activities St Albans co-ordinator Natalie Comley; Grandson Andy Finch and serving soldier Dean Millard,
Born in Dudley as the youngest son of a retired first world veteran, Robert Finch and his wife Gladys. His father was a railway worker in Tipton before he was partially blinded and disfigured in the battle of the Somme. On returning from war, Gladys’s parents did not want her to marry a man who she would need to care for, but she did, and they went on to have firstly David Blake Finch, then secondly Herbert.
Herbert followed in his mothers footsteps as he grew up and took a keen interest in the church. He was an alter and choir boy and as he approached adulthood, even consider joining the ministry. Instead he became a skilled machine operator which proved to be vital as World war two broke out. He worked at Alexanders in Dudley making parts for the Spitfires.
A few short months into the war, as thousands of young men signed up to fight, Bert was turned down due to a childhood hearing problem. He did not let this stop his war effort though.
He signed up to the Home Guard and whilst learning to throw live grenades, a fellow arm guard pulled the pin, panicked and dropped it in the bunker where Bert and 5 others were standing. Luckily, his quick acting Sargent picked up the grenade and threw it over the top where it exploded a few feet from them.
Not content with Home guard duties, which included guarding the local ammunition store several nights a week, Bert also volunteered as a Fire warden and an Air Raid Precautions (ARP) warden too. Again spending many nights patrolling the streets of the Black Country.
Whilst working a nightshift at Alexanders the air raid sirens had sounded. Bert led his colleagues to the air raid shelter and the familiar sound of German bombers could be heard flying over the Black country heading for Birmingham and Coventry, this was followed by the boom of the Giant Antiaircraft gun based in Sedley. After a few hours, Bert and his colleagues returned to their machine stations and found a large piece of shrapnel. This was part of the shells that had been fired at passing planes. It had crashed through the factory roof and landed at the machine where Bert would have been working shortly before !
By now Herbert had fallen in love with a local girl- Lily Hemmings who came from a large, poor family. Lily and Bert would regularly give up their holidays from work to volunteer with the land army. They worked alongside Italian Prisoners of war in Evesham to pull in harvests as the farmers were fighting abroad . Four years after the war finished, in 1949, Bert married Lily and moved in with her parents. Lilys father had been the night watchman on a brand-new housing estate that was being built by the council. He had been given first pick of the new houses and chose 29 Hudson road on the new Denbigh estate. Bert moved into this house in 1949 and 75 years later is still living there.
Bert pictured with serving soldier Dean Millard
His first Christmas with his new family came as a surprise as they had never had a Christmas tree. On Christmas eve Bert surprised the family by arriving at the house with a real tree strapped to his bicycle.
Following the war years and with Lily expecting their only son, Bert did extra shifts at the Tower cinema in West Bromwich as an Usher as well as having many other jobs during his lifetime. He became a licensed Fork Lift Driver for one of the biggest, heaviest truck in the midlands and spent many years operating this at The Warrick steel works. After retirement he took on what would be his grandchildrens favourite job – operating the rides at Dudley Zoo.
Bert had always been a bit of an adventurer and ran the local Scouting group for many years. He was never happier than when he was off camping, canoeing, hiking and building fires. A man with many talents, gardening, painting and drawing have always played a big part in his life.
As Bert now approaches his 100th birthday he shows no sign of slowing down and a recent outing to a park to feed the ducks ended up with Bert on the swings, demonstrating you are never too old.
