At the age of 91, oil and lubricant salesman Lewis Osterfield has no thoughts of retiring.

Indeed, the Netherton-born former RAF serviceman is still visiting customers across West Yorkshire – just as he has for the past 60 years or more.

And his vast experience of the fuel industry – working with the likes of Shell, BP and Huddersfield’s Shaws Fuels – meant he was “headhunted” at the age of 87 by newly-formed Hebden Bridge-based fuel distributor Craggs Energy.

“My customers ask me when I plan on retiring, but I love this job and don’t want to stop,” said Lewis. “My idol is Winston Churchill – I have a fighting spirit and I will never give up.”

Before the Second World War, Lewis worked at a Lockwood textile mill where he was learning to become a textile designer.

But when war intervened, he joined the RAF at the age of 17 and spent more than five years with 47 Squadron on operational service – servicing Beaufighters in North Africa and the Mediterranean before transferring to Mosquito fighter bombers in India, Burma and Malaya.

Lewis Osterfield in 1941 when he joined the RAF as a seventeen year old

After the war, Lewis returned home at the age of 23 and worked with his father in the family’s agricultural business for eight yeas before starting his career in the oil industry at Shell – a move suggested by a visiting tractor dealer.

“In 1954, I was persuaded to go into oil marketing,” said Lewis. “That’s what I’ve been doing ever since. They gave me a little van to go to see the farmers and haulage firms all over West Yorkshire. I was a bit reluctant at first, but I was very successful.”

Lewis became a firm favourite with his customers through “an ability to talk to any type of person I came across”.

His philosophy about selling is simple. “It’s all based on trust,” said Lewis. “The customer has to believe in you – and the customer is king. When I was 10, my father told me: ‘It’s please and thank-you – and get a shift on. And try to smile if you can because it helps!’”

Lewis also recalls his stepmother’s advice to go to leave the house each morning looking clean, tidy and smartly-dressed. He doesn’t hold with “dressing down” when it comes to work, saying: “I never go out on business without wearing a tie.”

During his lengthy career, Lewis has always gone above and beyond the call of duty. During the building of Scammonden Dam and the M62 motorway, he was selling oil and lubricants to contractors working on site – often in harsh conditions.

“I had a Ford Escort, which I drove to the bottom of the empty dam where a drilling company was working,” he said. “I would speak to the construction firms who were working out there in some ferocious weather. People at the office would ask how my car had got so mucky. I said: ‘Come out with me and I’ll show you!’

Work on the Scammonden Bridge, 1970
Work on the Scammonden Bridge, 1970

Lewis also supplied lubricants to David Brown Tractors at Meltham and David Brown Gears at Lockwood as well as local farms and hauliers. He’s now dealing with second generation customers at a number of family businesses in his part-time job as oil consultant with Craggs Energy.

And Lewis has brought invaluable experience to the young firm, according to chief executive officer Chris Bingham.

Said Chris: “Lewis is an inspiration. At Craggs, we are keen to incorporate modern technologies and thinking to help improve our service level to customers, but we know at the heart of what we do it’s so important that we maintain the traditional values that Lewis personifies.”

Lewis said: “I think it’s really important that you gain the trust of the customers through delivering quality products alongside a quality service. The customer is key and understanding their needs is paramount!”

Lewis moved from Netherton about 15 years ago to live closer to his daughter Helen in Lilleshall, Shropshire. He also has a daughter, Catherine, living in Keswick and has two grandsons and two great-grandchildren.

Lewis Osterfield at home
Lewis Osterfield at home

But he still covers his “patch” in West Yorkshire, staying overnight with friends in the Huddersfield area.

Lewis said: “I’m a bit of a philosopher and I do a lot of reading. I read about great men in history.” His hero is Winston Churchill – and Lewis shares the great man’s bulldog-like stubbornness. Recalling his younger days, he said: “I used to get leaflets and memos about company policy, but I usually took no notice,” he says. “I’m not Frank Sinatra – but I’ve always done it my way!”

Lewis on life

Sport has always been a big part of Lewis Osterfield’s life.

Lewis, who played football for Netherton as a youngster, recalls his first visit to watch Huddersfield Town – the team he has supported ever since. “I was only a little lad and I went with my father,” he said. “I remember siting in the stand and my dad pointing out Herbert Chapman in the directors’ box.”

He also recalls being at Wembley Stadium for Town’s legendary 1938 FA Cup final encounter with Preston North End and the disappointment of Town losing the match.

A 1938 FA Cup Final programme for Huddersfield Town v Preston
A 1938 FA Cup Final programme for Huddersfield Town v Preston

He said: “I’ve followed Town for many years and they’ve broken my heart a million times! I can’t watch them now because the tension is too much for me. Even waiting for the results on television is difficult!”

Lewis’ own footballing highlight came at the end of the war when he was stationed with his RAF squadron in Singapore.

After two years living under canvas in Burma, servicing Mosquito planes and guarding airstrips against the threat of Japanese attack, Lewis and his pals were finally in permanent barracks and had a proper football pitch to play on.

Lewis said: “In Burma, Air Vice-Marshal Keith Park stood on some oil drums and told us our next move would be to the Japanese island of Okinawa, which the Americans had taken with heavy losses. That never happened because the ‘big bomb’ stopped everything.”

Lewis was also involved in the harrowing work of helping to transport British prisoners of war released from Japanese camps to hospitals, using Wellington bombers converted into troop planes.

In Singapore, a touring team of star footballers arrived to play the RAF. The team included a young Stan Mortensen, who would go on to achieve enduring fame by scoring a hat-trick for Blackpool in the 1953 FA Cup Final.

Stan Mortensen scoring first ever England v Rest of the World goal in October 1953
Stan Mortensen scoring first ever England v Rest of the World goal in October 1953

Lewis, who had already represented the air force in several matches, was to play half-back in the game against the star visitors.

“I was given the job of marking Stan Mortensen,” he said. “Afterwards, he put his arm round my shoulder and told me I was the quickest half-back he’d played against for a long time. That was praise indeed.”

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