BILL CATHCART
Bill Cathcart was born on August 12, 1923 at Rires Farm up the hill from Colinsburgh. His grandfather was a farmer while his father was a builder. When he was around 8 years old, he moved to St Monans. He was the eldest of 7 children.
Aged 16, he was in the Auxiliary Army at the start of the Second World War, helping his father build small secret bunkers as part of the coastal defence. He was called up at 18 and joined the Royal Scots Fusiliers as a radio operator and dispatch rider responsible for communications between the officers and the front-line soldiers. He went to North Africa, Italy, the middle East, France, Belgium and Germany as part of the war and he had multiple dangerous encounters, including an incident at Anzio where a mortar bomb exploded near him and shrapnel went through his helmet and into his head.
After the war, he and his brother followed their father and became builders, joining the family company R.E. Cathcart and Sons, founded by his father in 1932. As part of the company, he helped renovate a large number of the houses in the East Neuk.
In 1949, Bill married Lizzie and moved to Cellardyke. Bill was part of the Kirk Session from 1972 and also helped to build Cellardyke Church Hall in his spare time.
He played golf at Crail twice a week until his last round when he was 95. He was a keen curler and a member of the bowling club. He also enjoyed gardening in his spare time and refurbishing his house.
Bill died on March 6, 2021 aged 97.
Research by Sophie Palmer
