Willie with the Hamilton Brothers team celebrating his retirement
Recently we celebrated the retirement of our longest serving member of staff, Willie Bilsland, after over 63 years with the business – a truly incredible milestone!
Willie Bilsland started with Hamilton Brothers on the 21st of November 1960 aged 15 and was on the tools right up until his last day with us, showing his incredible work ethic over the past six plus decades. He has been part of the business through all three generations, providing a wealth of knowledge on the company’s history with many stories from across the years.
When Willie started his career at Hamilton Brothers in 1960, he joined as an Agricultural Engineer Apprentice, based at the original depot on Glasgow Road. Having grown up on a farm, Willie developed a passion for all things agricultural at an early age. Willie even completed his apprenticeship in just two years – something that would usually take four years back then!
Willie was promoted to Field Service Engineer when Hamilton Brothers moved to the Abercorn Street Workshop, which allowed him to work on farms in Renfrewshire, Dunbartonshire and Argyll and the islands. Succeeding this, Willie took on the role of Service Manager in the 1980’s, during which time he won Merit Awards! Willie’s awards included the ‘Master of Service Award’ from Massey Ferguson in 1985-1986 and Kubota Tractors ‘UK Service Manager of the year’ in 1991.
Willie with the old Hamilton Bros Ltd. van
In 2001, Willie moved back to the workshop servicing and repairing machinery and has worked in the workshop until his recent well-earned retirement. Also, Willie is an avid vintage tractor collector and a ‘well-kent face’ on the show circuit when he is not hard at work at Hamilton Brothers! In 2016 alone he won 5 rosettes for his prestigious collection which includes a 1955 diesel Ferguson TE20, a grey and gold Ferguson 35 (one of the last produced prior to the merger of Massey and Ferguson), and a 1966 MF 135.
We don’t think we will ever see someone emulate this length of service again, and we are hugely indebted to Willie for everything he has contributed to the company over the years, people like Willie are what makes businesses succeed and we owe him so much for his hard work and joyful attitude that he brought to work every single day!
From everyone at the Hamilton Ross Group, we would like to say thank you to Willie once again and wish him all the best for a long and happy retirement with his vintage tractors & family!