arena
ABOVE: Ray and Iris in 1990.
RIGHT: A recent pic of Ray, Iris and granddaughter, Caitlin.
months later when Ray was only 20. In 1964 Ray and Iris got married
and moved out of Fulham, going to live in the farmhouse in Hullbridge, which had been empty for a few years since the death of his grandparents. Suddenly those skills and practices which he had been taught over the years became very useful! At work he was promoted and moved offices to the Ministry of Aviation in Whitehall. He still remembers driving daily from Hullbridge to Westminster, where he had the luxury of an allocated parking space! Having moved to Essex, the family has remained there ever since, having bought their first house in Rayleigh for £4,000 and ending up in Rettendon, where he currently lives. Iris and he have two sons, Andrew [Initiated by Ray, PM twice and currently DC of the Brixton Ramblers Lodge, of which more later] and Matthew, who both have their own local servicing and repairs garages in Wickford. He has four grandchildren, Caitlin, Felix, Louie and Hugo and loves to spoil them all, including Caitlin, (pictured), a talented student of drama and dancing. He added that although his grandsons are all under 6 years of age, he believes one of them will go on to be Prime Minister given the way they pose questions to
WINTER 2014
their grandfather! By his mid thirties, he was, in his
spare time, the Group Scout Chairman of the 1st Rayleigh Cub and Scout Group friends with W. Bro Ron McMillan, PAGDC, who was his immediate boss as Group Scout Leader [their sons were cubs and scouts in this group]. Having got to know Ron over a number of years through socialising as well as at work, he was inclined to believe him, when Ron suggested in 1981 that he should become a Freemason as he thought Ray would enjoy it. He was right to, for that prediction was entirely correct. He was thus initiated at the Brixton Ramblers Lodge No. 3347 in 1982 at the Café Royal. The Lodge had in fact been founded in 1909 by the Brixton Ramblers, a well-known cycling club, based in South London. Not quite football, but appropriate enough perhaps, for a sportsman! LoI became a weekly focus and a great help in understanding and performing the ritual. His career in the Ministry of
Defence involved important work on major weapons systems such as Phantom, Buccaneer and early
versions of surveillance drones. He speaks proudly of being part of the ‘selection’ team from which the Red Arrows BAE Hawk T1 aircraft emerged in the late 70’s where he used his slide rule to calculate various aspects of the competing submissions – no computers in those days! Ray climbed the corporate ladder in the Civil service, working with the Cabinet Office in the 80's when Baroness Thatcher, then Mrs T, was Prime Minister. His job meant lots of travel and as a senior civil servant working with the MoD, the need to be circumspect. Not really an issue for a Freemason, one might imagine! He remembers this as a period when Masonry was never discussed in the office and is glad that this is changing. In fact he would be pleased for even further openness and for the public to see who we are and the good we do. He ended his career in Whitehall as Grade 7 Principal in 1996, under early retirement arrangements. He served in Whitehall for 35 years
and at the youngish age of 56 years then became the global sales director of a military software company
29
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44