Keith Smith with a picture of himself as an apprentice at Wellman Smith Owen in 1960..
Mr Smith, best-known as the co-founder of Poundland with his son Steve, has died two days before his 80th birthday. Son Steve, who had been attending Bilston Market with his father from the age of two, followed in the family business, before they sold the business and planned to retire. Sitting round the pool in Spain, Keith recalled a trader on Bilston Market who had a box in which everything cost a shilling.
As Poundland became a staple of the high street, the company needed more storage space. And in an amazing twist of fate, the company opened a new warehouse on the site of the Wellman, Smith and Owen engineering works in Willenhall, where Keith had done his apprenticeship.Keith Smith at the museum in the grounds of Ludstone Hall, Claverley. The museum raised thousands of pounds for charities in the village, including All Saints' Church.