EXHIBIT 31.1



                                CERTIFICATION

      I, Donald A. Williams, certify that:

1.    I have reviewed this year end report on Form 10-K of Westfield
      Financial, Inc. (the "Company");

2.    Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue
      statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary
      to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which
      such statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period
      covered by this report;

3.    Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial
      information included in this report, fairly present in all material
      respects the financial condition, results of operations and cash flows
      of the company as of, and for, the periods presented in this report;

4.    The Company's other certifying officer and I are responsible for
      establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as
      defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) and internal
      control over financial reporting (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-
      15(f) and 15d-15(f)) for the Company and have:

      (a)   Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such
            disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our
            supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the
            Company, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known
            to us by others within those entities, particularly during the
            period in which this report is being prepared;

      (b)   Designed such internal control over financial reporting, or
            caused such internal control over financial reporting to be
            designed under our supervision, to provide reasonable assurance
            regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the
            preparation of financial statements for external purposes in
            accordance with generally accepted accounting principles;

      (c)   Evaluated the effectiveness of the Company's disclosure controls
            and procedures and presented in this report our conclusions about
            the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures, as
            of the end of the period covered by this report based on such
            evaluation; and

      (d)   Disclosed in this report any change in the Company's internal
            control over financial reporting that occurred during the
            Company's most recent fiscal quarter that has materially
            affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the
            Company's internal control over financial reporting; and

5.    The Company's other certifying officer and I have disclosed, based on
      our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial
      reporting, to the Company's auditors and the audit committee of the
      Company's board of directors (or persons performing the equivalent
      functions):

      (a)   All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the
            design or operation of internal control over financial reporting
            which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the Company's
            ability to record, process, summarize and report financial
            information; and

      (b)   Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or
            other employees who have a significant role in the Company's
            internal control over financial reporting.


Date:  March 15, 2006                     /s/ Donald A. Williams
                                          ----------------------
                                          Donald A. Williams
                                          Chairman of the Board of Directors
                                          and Chief Executive Officer