Ray joined Job's Dairy as a milkman in 1977. He was married to Thelma, who worked as a clerk in Hanworth and Hampton.

Some may remember his appearance on the Cilla Black show 'Surprise! Surprise!' which had been arranged by his grateful customers (who joined him on a walk through the streets, singing along with Cilla) and again on a BBC programme shortly before he retired from Job's in 1988.

At that time he and Thelma were living in one of the Job's houses in Feltham and he went to work at the Total garage. In 2000 they moved to Louisa Court and Ray finally retired from full time work, aged 77.

He then set about putting his experiences during World War II down on paper and had actually finished the project before he died suddenly just prior to Christmas 2006. His regiment is going to proceed with the publication of the book.

Ray's fellow residents at Louisa Court miss him as he was always cheerful and ready for a chat.