Town turns out in numbers to honour community stalwart

A proud Glaswegian, Billy contributed to many aspects of life in his adopted town over two decades. As well as enjoying considerable success on the bowling green, he was a committed charity cyclist and also had the honour of carrying the Standard when the Freedom of the Borough was conferred on the Northern Ireland Fire Service.

Born on 9 October 1962, Billy McMenamin was brought up in the Pollock area of Glasgow and educated at Craigbank School before joining the Scots Guards as a 16-year-old. After training he completed operational tours of Hong Kong and a very turbulent tour of Northern Ireland in the early 80s. He also carried out ceremonial duties in Australia.

Billy left the Army after six years service and had spells at various occupations including as an hotel night porter and a taxi driver in his native city.

He met his future wife Lynne while on holiday in the Isle of Man in 1987 (circa). They were married on 26 April 1990 and settled in Whitehead to bring up their three children, Neal, Gemma and Iain.

Billy was a stalwart of the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service in Whitehead and in April of this year qualified for his 20 years service medal. Meticulous both in work ethic and in his appearance, his colleagues in the station would frequently acknowledged “Billy put us all to shame”. He was very proud that he represented the Fire Service during Remembrance services and was delighted when he was chosen from many to carry the Standard during the Freedom of the Borough parade in August 2006.

A modest individual, Billy never really got the recognition he deserved when he rescued a lady from a burning house a few years back - one of his proudest moments as a retained fire fighter - not to mention the thousand of pounds he raised for charities over the years through the Fire Service.

Employed at Tesco, Billy started off in the warehouse before moving onto a driving job which he enjoyed so much. Again his cab was immaculate and never a thing out of place, he enjoyed the craic and was most of the time the instigator of the latest joke or funny story constantly sending text messages to all his pals of which he had many.

A dedicated sports enthusiast, he was an avid supporter of Glasgow Rangers. He played bowls to a high standard and was a long standing member of Whitehead Bowling Club; he also represented the Fire Service annually in the Home Internationals winning the pairs and triples competitions on a number of occasions. He was a very keen cyclist and was doing about 7,000 miles per year on his bike, parts of his bike riding would have been for charity. Billy was also a great fan of Ulster rugby and he and his son Iain would travel to Ravenhill on a regular basis,

Billy was very much a family man and nothing was ever a problem to him. He worked hard and when he come home he worked some more making sure everything was to his very high standards. A true gentleman to the very end.

The high esteem in which Billy was held was evident from the large number of colleagues and friends from the area and further afield who joined his family at Whitehead Methodist Church for his funeral service.