WAR veteran Bill Slade celebrated his 100th birthday at Abingdon’s Conservative Club yesterday surrounded by 30 friends.

Mr Slade, who has lived in the town almost all his life, was part of the Merchant Navy and drafted to the Royal Navy at the outbreak of the Second World War.

During the conflict he took part in the notoriously perilous Arctic Convoys, which saw ships and their crews complete freezing journeys to Russian ports to keep the Soviet Union supplied during the German occupation of Norway.

Mr Slade was presented with an Arctic Star medal in 2016 to recognise his role.

After leaving the Royal Navy, he was a plumber on various estates in Abingdon throughout the 1950s and 1960s, eventually going to work for the NHS at the Churchill Hospital.

By the time he retired he was a quantity surveyor for all the hospitals at the Oxford site.

In his spare time, Mr Slade, who did not have any children, was a regular at The Fitzharry’s Arms, where he went most nights to enjoy a pint of Oxford-made Morrells light ale, and the odd Rum, as well as playing crib for which he won various trophies.

He used to go on holiday to Jersey, with the landlord Jack Millen and his wife, as well as friend Gilbey Betts.

John Billinton, who along with Allan Payne organised the birthday celebration, said: “Bill was delighted to have so many people there. His friends at the Conservative Club have always been his family.”