Rtn Ray Hare Speaker meeting 22-Apr-10 T
on the 22nd April was our very own Ray Hare, who performed like a „stand up‟ comic as he regaled us with the story of his early childhood and his working life.
he speaker
B I
orn in Ardleigh Green in 1936 Ray lived with a large family in rather
modest accommodation. His 3 sisters shared one bedroom and the brothers shared a „cupboard‟!
n 1939 at the outbreak of WWII all his sisters and one brother, with the
exception of Danny (too old) and Ray himself too young) were shipped off to Australia not to return for another six years. We had the pleasure of meeting one of his brothers, John who actually returned Down Under in 1948 and still lives there, when he visited our club a couple of years ago and spoke to us about his life in Australia. Ray‟s father worked as a railway signalman. Ray mentioned his humble start to life because, as he pointed out later in his story, he felt somewhat uncomfortable mixing with some of his colleagues who had a very different life style.
H
e left school in1952 with the rather fanciful ambition of being a sports
reporter (he is still waiting for the phone calls from the Agency that promised to let him know if there was a vacancy!)
There being no phone call after 6 weeks he took a job with Prior and Williams at Drapers Gardens for the princely sum of £2-5s per week plus bonuses.
I
n 1954 Ray was called up for Na- tional Service and joined the RAF
serving at Hednesford and Netheravon. He did apply for a job working with Police dogs but was unsuccessful as there were more applicants than dogs. With hindsight he was quite pleased with the way things worked out and returned to civvy street in 1954 returning to Prior and Williams as a Jobber. Ray explained that there was a difference between Jobbers and Brokers. There was now a staff of 20 with 4 partners and overtime had leapt to 5shillings.
I
n 1961 Ray joined Cazenove & Co. in Tokenhouse Yard and he showed
us a very fine painting of said place. This was a company with many fine connections including the Royal family. The great history of the company, which was founded in 1823, was written up in 1991
To celebrate the bi-centenary of the company! Despite the fact that there was a still a way to go before 2023 the book was still published.
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