Tributes paid to Walney milkman Bert Bell after death

Herbert Stanley Bell, known as Bert, only moved away from Walney for two years to do his National Service. 

He was known for serving communities in south Walney and parts of Barrow Island on his milk rounds from 1961 to 1988. 

His sons John and Richard said: "He enjoyed the people he met on a daily basis. It was a hard job, he had one day a year off."

The day off was for Christmas, and even then, that meant he had to do a double round on Christmas Eve. 

The Mail took this photo of Bert when he was two decades into delivering milk to Walney and Barrow Island (Image: Archive)

Bert was born in October 1937. As a youth, he played rugby league at Walney Central. He also competed in union as he played the latter when he was in the army.

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He enjoyed competitive sports so much that he even turned up and ran against the Walney School seniors on the track at Tummer Hill the year after he left despite being in his work overalls and steel toe-capped boots.  

Before retiring, Bert worked on the customer service desk at ASDA in Barrow (Image: Submitted)

Richard said: “Dad was drafted into the army aged 21 to do his compulsory two years’ service. It was a truly formative experience and one of which he was very proud.”

As part of his training, the beginners would do ‘milling’ which is three rounds of frantic boxing. Bert was confident when he was paired against a smaller man but he turned out to be a National Coal Board boxing champion and he did not land a single punch after ‘three bruising rounds.’

Bert as a young man competed in Walney Central rugby league club (Image: Submitted)

When he initially took on his father’s milk delivery business, Bert was still working at Vickers shipyard making boilers. This meant that for the first year he worked two jobs, getting up at 4.30am. Even doing the milk rounds and collecting money alone would take up much of his day.

Bert played for Walney Central and competed in union when he was in the army (Image: Submitted)

After he left the milk trade, he worked for 15 years in customer service at ASDA in Barrow. He retired in 2003. He had one foreign holiday in Italy that ‘wasn’t really for him,’ preferring to go on coach trips around the country with his wife.     

Bert died on Tuesday, May 14 from complications associated with old age. He was married to his late wife Celia (nee. Gill) for 57 years before her death.