William Gill "Bill" Jackson

If it went on in Thursby, Bill Jackson knew about it. He ran the post office in the village west of Carlisle, he was clerk to the parish council and the local correspondent for The Cumberland News, submitting detailed reports over more than 20 years.
His contributions on the minutiae of village life were well read and made him one of the best local correspondents in a wide area.
A Cumbrian through and through, he had worked as a skilled engineer in electronics and had a distinguished war record – and yet none of this might have been after he suffered a very serious accident as a boy.
Born in Workington, the son of a miner and carter and former Border Regiment soldier, William Gill Jackson was a real show-off. When he was only seven or eight he was hanging upside down from Navvy’s Bridge when he fell on to the rocks below, fracturing his skull. A passing workman, thinking the boy had killed himself, put the body onto his cart and took it to what was known as ‘the Dead House’ where, sometime later, someone saw that the corpse’s arm was moving! And so he was taken to hospital, where he was treated and recovered sufficiently to return to the Central Boys’ School.
There he developed a sustained interest in the English language, having his first poem published in the local newspaper when he was only 12.
He left school at 15 and, although he wanted to become an engineer, took a job as a grocer’s delivery boy, earning 7s 6d (37½p) a week.
Then, after talking to some former school pals, he decided he would like to join the RAF as an electrical apprentice. With this in mind he went back to school to learn the answers to questions he had been told would be included in the air force’s entrance examination.
He learned well, passed the exam and joined the students at the electrical and wireless school run by the RAF at Cranwell, in Lincolnshire.
While there he witnessed the maiden flight of Britain’s first jet-propelled aeroplane, the Gloster/Whittle E28-39, which would have been the world’s first, had the Ministry of Aviation been more alert to the genius of Sir Frank Whittle.
After qualifying in 1941 he was posted to Malta, where the longest siege in British military history was well underway. He became a member of the RAF Air/Sea rescue Unit No 204 at Kalafrana as a wireless operator mechanic and 12 months later was transferred to a newly-created unit in St Paul’s Bay, where he became wildly enthusiastic about a high-speed launch number 107 which had been designed by an aircraftsman called Shaw – otherwise known as ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ – for the British Powerboat Company.
This boat was credited with more than 100 rescues, it was the longest-serving rescue craft in the Mediterranean and, at more than 40mph flat out, one of the fastest.
When he was there, Malta was fighting for its life, with out-dated bi-planes pitted against modern German fighter aircraft and the courage of its defenders was recognised by the award of the George Cross to the entire island community.
Back in Britain after the German blockade had been lifted, Bill was based at Silloth, where he continued to suffer from night blindness and a stomach that was shrunken after many months of near-starvation in Malta.
Once recovered it was back into action, this time in the Far East as a wireless operator mechanic with the RAF’s Transport Command in India, Bengal, Burma, Malaya and Singapore.
He ended the war with several campaign medals: the 1939/45 Star, the Africa Star with clasp and the Burma Star.
Back in civilian life he worked as a television engineer with several companies such as Binn’s, Visionhire and Curry’s. Later he serviced projectors at cinemas in Cumbria and Dumfriesshire for the Westrex Company.
Always keen on technology, he was for some years a laboratory technician at the Caldew School, in Dalston.
His last job before retirement was that of sub-postmaster at Thursby and he ran the office for 10 years from the front room at his home!
He also found the time to lead a field cable team for the Carlisle Civil Defence Unit.
For many years he and his wife, Marjorie, fostered children and later adopted two youngsters to add to their household.
Sometimes Bill deputised for Father Christmas at Thursby School; he ran a youth club in the old church hall and he joined the Thursby Players, working mainly on the lighting and sound effects.
A keen writer, he saw details of his wartime experiences published in The Cumberland News and his experiences during the siege of Malta will be contained in a book which his family hope to see published in the New Year.
He recorded tapes for the Talking Newspaper for the Blind and broadcast a series of articles about his Workington childhood on Radio Carlisle.
He helped to raise money for many charities through a variety of activities and stunts – once pushing a pea all the way up Evening Hill in Thursby, using only a knitting needle held in his mouth.
He always retained tremendous affection for Malta, returning for many a holiday and he and his wife made lasting friendships there.
Bill Jackson was 86 when he died and he was cremated in Carlisle.
His wife died 13 years ago and he leaves three sons and a daughter, 10 grandchildren, two great-grandchildren and his sister.