John Dean talks to a Darlington man celebrating 50 years in business.

FEW businessmen can have seen more changes in their working lives than Darlington builder Bill Stenson. Born in Ovington, North Yorkshire, the son of a stonemason, Mr Stenson has worked for as long as he can remember, recounting childhood memories of part-time jobs as a chimney sweep's assistant and a farmhand.

But it was the stone trade that gave him his first full-time job and which, half a century later, continues to ensure that he is in demand.

As a boy, he went to work at the same stonemasons as his father in the Darlington and Richmond area.

He then went to work for Darlington builder JW Richardson. His venture into business on his own came in 1955 when he bought two old cottages for £35.50 to renovate, followed by contracts to build a village hall and stone shelters for the Rural District in Darlington for £98 each.

Throughout this time, his business continued to grow. During the 1960s, Darlington police asked Mr Stenson if he would carry out emergency repairs on broken windows.

He became a familiar sight for late-night drinkers wending their way home as he repaired smashed town centre windows.

Mr Stenson said: "We got all sorts of jobs, not just windows broken by vandals. People would occasionally walk through glass doors and large windows. One lady even parked her car in the jeweller's shop in Grange Road - said she didn't see the bend. We had to push the car out before we could get her out."

Having originally rented a yard in King William Street, he then bought out Will Hurstwood, the undertaker in Eastbourne Road.

He eventually had the chance to buy out MacKenzie Brothers, in Duke Street, then cleared the Eastbourne Road site and built houses.

Mr Stenson has been based in Duke Street for many years, continuing to combine his work with his politics.

In 1965, he won the Lingfield ward election to Darlington council, standing as a Conservative. He lost in 1971, before being elected West End councillor in 1973, a seat he has retained ever since, including a spell as mayor.

Until recently, his company continued to build houses, often specialising in stonework. The last house they built, at Moulton, North Yorkshire, in the late 1990s, was made of stone, and allowed Mr Stenson to use the skills he first learned as a boy.

This experience ensures that the company continues to win contracts on churches and other buildings where an ability with stonework is invaluable.

While the company is no longer involved in house building, it continues to build extensions, carry out repairs and mend broken windows. The windows have provided Mr Stenson with a ready fund of humorous stories.

"One night, in Darlington, I was repairing a window during a gale when I was blown through a window. I was lucky I was not hurt. I told a white lie and said "They were like lightning - broke it and ran like hell..."

"I also remember boarding up the door of a tailor in Darlington. I needed someone at the other side to hold the plywood. The only person around at the time was the manager. I knocked the nail through the board and straight through his hand. He screamed 'you have nailed my hand to the board'.

"While he wasn't looking, I drove the nail back through. He had to go to the hospital and wasn't very happy.

"And during the Thatcher era, I went to Crook one night around about 2am when one of the Job Centres had been damaged. As I finished, a man walked past and said I should be ashamed of myself for boarding up the Job Centre in the middle of the night.

"He asked how many I had boarded up that night. I told him three and he said 'That bloody Margaret Thatcher has something to answer for'."

With so many years in the building trade behind him, Mr Stenson remains as active as ever, but still remembers the day when the dangers of his business were brought home to him in horrifying style - nearly taking his life.

In the late 1970s, a scaffolder forgot to secure the structure on which Mr Stenson and an apprentice were working at a country house.

"The whole lot collapsed and we fell from about 28ft. I passed the apprentice going down. We were hit by planks of wood and also the steel scaffolding. I broke my neck and was off work for some time. We were very lucky to be alive.

"The apprentice left and joined the Army, saying he would sooner risk getting shot as fall down from that scaffolding again."