I first met Ray in 1976 on a Longley building site in Bognor Regis, so many years ago.  He was an electrician for a subcontractor and I was a student doing Industrial training. We first became friends later in 1981, when Ray agreed to carry out the electrical installation on our house in Fleet.  After the first visit we said to him „Bring your wife with you next time“, from then on all four of us became firm friends – we had many enjoyable evenings together with good food, beer, wine and lots of laughs!  The friendship even managed to flourish after our move to Germany in 1992, with visits and holidays with one another. At a time when it seemed as if we wouldn’t be able to have children, Ray and Heather asked me to be Godfather to Ashley, an honour that I did not expect.
Yes, he was an exceptional person, very loving and caring, a wonderful family man and a very good friend. We never saw him lose his temper, no matter how bad things seemed to be. It is a shame that we did not see more of one another, but the demand of everyday life and the distance between us did not really allow it. Unfortunately it is now too late.