Thought was time to post it on here

Ray has not been very well and unfortunately when he went for a scan to further investigate suspected gall stones in December he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer which had spread to other organs

He has spent a few months at home putting a very brave face on whenever I came to visit

Unfortunately this week things got worse and he has been admitted to a hospital for paliative care
I went to see him and he's being looked after very well but the doctors have suggested weeks rather than months

I will pass on regards/best wishes to Ray and his wife Yvonne

Will keep you all updated

Regards
Rob

I have no suitable words

Please pass on best wishes to Chippy and his wife. There is nothing any of us can say to make the situation better, but I am sure that knowing we are thinking of them both will be comforting.

I've met Chippy at a few events and car shows around here - always welcoming and up for a chat.

Please pass best wishes and positive thoughts when you see him.

Chris

Very sad news.
Cheers,
Bob

Really sorry to hear this. I met Ray last year when buyign a Diff off him and was great to chat to such a nice bloke.
Please send all the best to his family and thanks for letting us all know.

Very sad news indeed, please send best our best wishes to Ray and his wife and family.

Very sad news - one of the stalwarts and one of those Locostbuilders who you just expected to see passing on their knowledge gained through actual experience.

My best wishes to all who know him well.

[Edited on 5/4/13 by TimC]

not a lot to say really

Pass my regards too please.

Nige

Please add my thoughts and best wishes to Ray and his family, not much you can say at these times ,but reassure them that they are in our thoughts.

And well done yourself Robo for keeping up the visiting and support, that can be hard going.

so sad! someone very close to me is in the same position but with lung cancer which has spread everywhere
really not nice,but our thoughts are with them.

Please wish Chippy and his family all the very best.

Really sad news. Known for a while from an off LB mutual friend of Ray's and been very sad about it.

Let us know if anything we can do!

Cheers,
James

He always came across as one of the genuine guys.

My regards to Ray and his family.

Very sad, and no words spring to mind, that would ease the problem

Steve

Sad news, never met him but he's always come across as a genuinely lovely person.

Really Sad news. Ray is a top bloke and a top rate builder. Met him several times at the shows and his advice was invaluable in my build. Please tell him that he's in our thoughts this end.

So sorry to hear this. Spent several evenings in the pub with Chippy at new forest meets. Very nice guy indeed.

Please pass on my best wishes Rob.

Sorry to hear the illness has progressed further so quickly, now feeling sad myself for not making the effort to get down to see Ray and Yvonne before.

Thankyou Rob for posting this up, i would have trouble finding the right words as Ray is definitely one of top guys in our little group and a clever and talented one to boot.

My thoughts are with Ray Yvonne and the family.

Sorry to hear this

I don't know Ray but i hope he is reading this thread and knows we are all thinking of him and his family at this awful time.


I work in the NHS and see too much of this bloody disease

Bad news, my best wishes to him and his family

Top bloke, I just hope he knows how much he is in all our thoughts. Best wishes to Yvonne, family and friends.
He will need good people to stay with him and I am sure he will not want for friends at this time!

Best regards
Jon.

Thats terrible news, ive never met Ray but i remember him replying to a post a while back basically saying he built every part of his car himself pretty much apart from the sierra donor bits, even moulding the fibreglass body panels.
What a talented guy & an inspiration to anyone building a car.
Our thoughts are with him, his family & friends.


:-(

Sorry to hear about this and hope he is not suffering too much. Best wishes to him and my sympathies to his family and hope they stay strong for him.

Damn....

i think the amount of replies to this thread speak volumes about how people feel about him! seems like he is one of the good guys and am sure if he reads this thread he will know the whole l/b community are there for him and his family!
should wwe try to arrange some kind of charity event through locostbuilders?

You may be onto something Daniel..


What I would say is this.

Everyone who has a road legal car,get it out today for a blat.
Everyone who hasn't been in their shed for a while, go out today and do something.

I'm sure this would please Ray more than all these frowns.

One life, live it.

Well i will be having a little run to Newlands Corner in the morning, Ray liked it there and i will be thinking of him.

I know some other members in our group will be at the Goodwood Breakfast club in the morning with Ray being local he did make the odd trip there.

It's with great sadness that I am posting that Ray passed away last night

I have not yet spoken with Yvonne personally and she has her familly with her

His funeral is on the 19th April at 4:15pm at Chichester crematorium

Regards
Rob

sad news. RIP

I still can not add any sensible words,

Bye mate!

Very sad, condolences to his family.
I'm glad I took my car a thrash on Sunday and he was in my thoughts.

Lost for words

RIP Ray

Very sad to hear this


Please don't shoot me down, but might it be a Nice idea to get a few 7's at the funeral to show some respect and support ?
Obviously with the ok of Rays family.

Just a thought

What do you think chaps ?

Sad news.

once agian our thoughts are with his family. sad sad day!

My thoughts are with his wife, I know what she is about to go through, God bless her.

RIP Ray. Sad news.

Very sad news

RIP Ray

Rest in peace.

Very sad news. Rest in peace.

All of us, especially us WLM-ers will miss Ray immensely.
He was a guy with a heart of gold and an equally wicked sense of humour
Ray will be sorely missed by all who knew him.

Now free of pain, Rest in Peace dear friend.

I started to post something the other day having read Robs orig post, but couldn't make it sound right. I'd never met Ray, though as everyone who has met him and from reading his posts on here, he's always come across as someone you'd want to be a part of your life.

Unfortunately now, I won't be able to say what I wanted to say, but if those that did know him can pass on my condolences to his family and let them know there is a whole community thinking about them, I'd be most grateful.

Rest in peace Ray.

Simon

I am so sorry to hear this, although I never met Ray, I followed his words of wisdom on here closely. My sincerest condolences to his family.

RIP Ray glad to have met you thoughts with family...
Dan

RIP Ray
Thoughts with family and friends for the time ahead

My Ex-wife recently lost her father to the same thing, scary how quick they go downhill !!

Condolences to all the family and friends.

R.I.P.

R.I.P Ray

My condolences to family & friends.

Chris

Very sad day, it was a pleasure to have met you and your car, a true Locoster - thoughts to the family of course

My condolences go to his family, he did not suffer too long which is the only consolation.

Such sad news. Farewell Chippy.

My deepest sympathy for his family at this most testing of times

RIP Ray. May you always be able to locate the parts and tools you need for your next build!

Sad loss of a great engineer and a thoroughly nice guy.

Mind you, he's probably 'upstairs' ordering the steel for his next project as we speak......

quote:

---

Originally posted by GeoffT
Sad loss of a great engineer and a thoroughly nice guy.

Mind you, he's probably 'upstairs' ordering the steel for his next project as we speak......

---

So sad to hear this I met Ray down at Newlands, a proper character

My thoughts with his family and friends

Sad news

RIP Ray.

My condolences to family and friends.

My heartfelt condolences go to his family..

Very sad news but as said before no more suffering.

I will certainly miss the Ray stories, and the banter we had at our meetings.

I've seen this car so many times at Stoneleigh but never the man himself.
You've left a nice mark behind there buddy. Now lay back and take it easy. As has been said, may you always find your tools first time and your drill bits never blunt. R.I.P.

Very sad news.

Rest in peace.

Absolutely terrible news. I enjoyed his posts and helpful comments. These pages speak of his character.

Just to let everyone know

I attended Rays funeral today and went to the house afterwards

I printed off this thread and gave it to Rays Son (Steve) to read at some point and to pass it round when the time was right
He seemed genuinely thankful that so many people had sent their condolences and best wishes

Steve also mentioned about meeting up at the Ace Cafe at some point
(he also has petrol running through his veins - hardly surprising given he's Rays son!)

The Ace Cafe is/was a massive part of Rays life and its a place I have never been

I will update as and when this is organised if anyone else would like to meet up

Regards
Rob

Had a text from Steve (Rays son) today
He asked to thank everyone for the nice comments and said it was nice to see he was appreciated in that way

He also reminded me that we should do the Ace Cafe

He attached this fab picture of Ray with his first "posh car" in Germany circa 1958 ish

Chippy

Regards
Rob

My thoughts and condolences are with the family. I know exactly what they are going through and how they are feeling. I lost my Mother to the exact same illness over exactly the same time scale. They must count themselves lucky in that they WILL ALWAYS have their memories of RAY, those can NEVER be taken away.

Ace Cafe nailed on then, Rob just throw us a date and apart from holidays i'm in.

my idea would be a proper 'chippy run' sometime (possibly yearly) where all the lcb can get together!
i think it would be a great idea. possibly at a sprint event or something where the lcb can turn out in force

Give us plenty of notice then all the peeps who's cars (like mine) are in bits can get them ready in time!

Cheers,
James

R.I.P. Matey

Dan.

Very sad. Nice to have met such a friendly and knowledgeable chap.

I hope Ray's family can find peace through their memories of him.

Im sorry to hear of rays passing. He was a good lad and we had many good technical conversations and laughs. RIP

Never had the pleasure of meeting Chippy but saw his car a few times a can remember thinking it was a proper "engineers" build. Im sure his passing will be a loss to many people.

RIP

Apologies for the reply I just posted after this one, it was meant for another thread.

[Edited on 31/10/13 by prawnabie]