Bill Bradley

Bill’s early life

Born William Ogden Bradley on 10th November 1933 in Barrowford Lancs, Bill (or Will as he was in his younger days) and grew up in Hest Bank near the shores of Morecambe.
In his 20’s he owned the Calypso Coffee Bar where all the Morecambe in crowd met to socialise. The bar was carefully guarded by his big friendly Alsatian Timba.

He was a great goalkeeper for Morecambe FC in the 50’s and was delighted when he was guest of honour at the Globe Arena for his 80th birthday.

Work took him and his family to London as marketing manager for 3M in the 60’s and he was lucky enough to see England win the World Cup in 1966. As he keeps saying, I was there!

From there he moved to British Vita in Middleton, Manchester and set up home in Delph Saddleworth where he still lives. Whilst employed as Marketing Manager he designed the Vita V which is still seen on their factories and vehicles worldwide.

In his spare time he juggled playing badminton with Joyce, watching his son Steve playing football (also a goalkeeper, but not as good as him so he keeps telling Steve), and his daughter Jo playing badminton to County level (probably not as good as him either!). His passion for jazz music led him to buy a drumkit in the early 70’s and he was a member of many a brilliant jazz band touring the local pub scene weekly for many years

In the 70’s he set up Bradley Marketing Ltd, supplying fast moving consumer goods to supermarkets nationwide. It was then he discovered a gap in the market for short run instant print and copying, and out of this the iconic Kwikprint was formed in 1978. Kwikprint grew from a print and copy shop to the largest office supplies, art materials and print company in the Greater Manchester area. The store was renowned local for its massive range of stationery products and in particular art and graphic supplies.

He was always an innovator and realised the benefit of investing in technology from the late 80’s, buying the first Apple Mac in the area, and also installing one of the first colour copiers in Greater Manchester.

How the painting came about

Bill Retired in from Kwikprint in 1994, leaving his son and daughter to run the ship, and went to Oldham College for a Foundation Course in art, then to Bolton Institute where he gained a 2.1 in Art & Art History.

His love of painting landscapes then really took off, with his particular favourite being the canal at Hest Bank where he grew up as a child.

Bill has now painted over 40 landscape views in both oil and watercolour based on some beautiful places in the UK that he and Joyce have visited over the last 20 years

Family life

Bill has been married to Joyce for over 60 years and they have two grown up children, Steve & Jo, who have continued the family tradition of printing and office supplies, working together since 1982.
He also has 4 grandchildren and 4 great grand children who love his daft sense of humour.