I first met Ray in 1977 when I was going out with his sister Cath
who is now my wife of some 23 years.As you will imagine I have thousands
of stories to tell about Ray.But the one that sticks in my mind the
most is the time in 1979 and Ray had been assigned to a "Bomb
Job" in North Wales where an old WW2 UXB had been discovered
on Bardsey Island just off the coast at Aberdaron.Coming up from Plymouth
with the bomb wagon he makes a short 50 mile detour to his mums house
in Liverpool.He rolls up at about 8.30 Sunday evening complete with
his crew of 4 or 5 men a huge Landrover with an even huger Gemini
on top."Allright Mam, me and the lads are stayin ere tnight like"So
in they come,makeshift beds are made up and we all go to the nearest
pub.Then Ray had a thought.Christ the Gemini is still on top of the
Landrover,so we legged back to the house and off loaded the Gemini
into Rays mums front room.What a struggle that was.
Well after a couple of pints Ray asks " Eh arr kid do you fancy
comin on a bomb run with us?At this time I was unemployed and explained
to Ray that I was skint and only had 40p left after standing a round
in the pub.Dont worry arr kid you wont need any money as we will bring
you back tomorrow night and you will be eating with us in our digs.
So I jumped at the chance and we left early next morning after another
battle getting the Gemini back on the Landrover.
We arrived at our destination only to find out we had missed the neap
tide?(meant nothing to me)so Ray had to phone his boss to explain
and was told to wait for tommorrows neap tide.So now we have to stay
over night,so we book into the local pub with a B&B only to discover
the owner is an ex matelot and the problem was I had a moustache.So
I had to pretend I was a Royal Marine attached to the Bomb Team.I
was praying the ex matelot would`nt ask me any questions,luckily he
never.
Well we go out on the next neap tide and find the bomb which was a
500lb one which they used to drop on the island for target practice.Anyway
Ray and the boys wrestle with the bomb and try to defuse it but the
fuse was too corroded so Ray then had to ask permission from his boss
to blow it up were it lay.Off we go back to the pub to phone Plymouth
and get the ok.Only thing is the tide has tuned and we have to wait
till Wednesdays neap tide, by the way I still have my 40p and I have
been well fed and watered.
Ray gets the ok and we go out on the neap tide and the boys set the
plastic explosive and Ray asks me If I would like the honour of lighting
it.Would I? I replied and Ray showed me what to do.I think he put
a two minute fuse on it and told me to strike it up. We then attempted
to start the Gemini which just kept spluttering when Ray told us all
to start paddling the gemini for all we were worth,after we were some
bit away from the bomb he told us all to lie flat on our bellies in
the Gemini and keep our heads covered.The next thing was this almighty
explosion that echoed all around the welsh mountainsides and all I
remember was being showered with what I thought was shingle from the
beach but turned out to be pieces of seagull and puffins.When the
dust had settled we went back and reclaimed the bomb which only had
a small hole ripped out of one side of it.We took this back with us
and there was a fair sized crowd on the beach as we made landfall
including the Pub landlord.He made a bee line for Ray and was telling
him what a great souvenir the bomb would make sat by the fireplace
in the pub.He told ray that he was going into town that afternoon
and we could look after the pub.So I think a deal was done,Ray phoned
Plymouth again and we spent another night there.While we were in the
pub that evening one of the locals was chatting to us and was telling
Ray about a huge piece of granite that was in his garden that he was
having trouble removing to make way for some buildings and did Ray
think he could try some plastic explosive on it as every other attempt
had failed.So Ray agreed.
The next morning we went to this chaps house and saw this piece of
granite which I am sure was the peak of Snowden sticking out the ground,Ray
took a deep breath told the bloke to cover all his windows with mattresses
or similar and he would have a go.To cut a long story short Ray set
the explosive which made an even louder bang than the day before but
did nothing to the granite but did smash all the windows in the visinity.As
you can imagine we made a hasty retreat and I went home with £10.40
and a lifetime of stories to tell.What a character, he is deeply missed.You
are always in my thoughts "ARR KID"
