Bill McNally obituary

My uncle, Bill McNally, who has died aged 89, was an industrial chemist whose leadership and work in pipeline protection helped gain two Queen’s Awards for Export and Technology (now known as the King’s Awards for Enterprise) for Metrotect Industries, the company in Bootle, Merseyside, where he worked for nearly 40 years. Bill was also a devoted husband, a proud father figure, and a quietly remarkable man. Born in Bootle, to Owen McNally, a Liverpool docker, and Eva (nee Rimmer), Bill was raised with a strong work ethic and a sharp mind. He attended Bootle grammar school for boys and the Liverpool Institute for Boys, before joining the local tar works in Bootle (which later became part of Lanstar Coatings Ltd) as a lab technician. He began studying for further qualifications while working full-time – an early sign of the determination that would define his life – and eventually gained a licentiate in chemistry. Bill moved into sales at Lanstar, which was later absorbed by Metrotect Industries Ltd, a company specialising in protective materials for pipelines in the gas, oil and water industries. As a sales director, he travelled extensively across the Arab states during the 1970s, dividing his time between Dubai and the north-west of England. His leadership helped secure Metrotect’s international reputation. The first of his Queen’s Awards, in 1976, was for technological achievement for a pipeline coating that Bill created. The second came in 1990, and Bill retired five years later. Bill was a lifelong Everton supporter and a gifted ballroom dancer. He was a regular at the Floral Hall in Southport and the Blackpool Tower Ballroom, and it was through dancing that he met June Manton, whom he married in Hawaii in 1990. They built a joyful life together, settling on the north-west coast, and embracing travel – especially to Bermuda, Bill’s favourite destination – and family. Bill cared for June’s daughters, Debbie and Rosalind, as his own. June died in 2018. Bill is survived by his sister, Eve, my brother, Ian, and me, and Debbie and Rosalind.