Details have been passed to me today regarding Rays funeral arrangements, they are:
The funeral is at 1130 on the 28th of October at St Peters Church, St Peters Street Tiverton, motorcycles are invited to attend, riders will be welcomed from 10am at Rays house where tea, coffee and biscuits will be available. The cortege will set off at 11am with Myself, Keith and Dermot ahead of the hearse with Ray behind as was the case when he was riding, Tony Maurice and Brian will follow behind with all the other riders behind them. The route is 5.1 miles and will take up to 20 minutes, we shall go down Chaple street, up Gold St., Bampton St., William St., Barrington St., Station rd., Great Western way, Heathcoat way, Link rd., Bolham rd., Kennedy way, Leat St., Bridge St., and St Peters St to the Church. Keith and I did this route today to try it out and our comments are around keeping together at junctions particularly at the bottom of Chapel St., the ride down the link road will be faster at the families request to give Ray a 'blast' on this his last journey.
At the Church, parking will be difficult and it may be that the motorcycles will have to park on the wide pavement ensuring we don't block anyone's gate. Once parked, I would like the riders to line the path up to the Church please, if anyone does not wish to attend the service, please could they stay to look after the bikes whilst the service is taking place.
The 'wake' will be straight after the service at the Masonic lodge in Castle St. which is very close to the Church., after this the funeral will be a private ceremony at the crematorium.
If anyone needs directions to Rays, please contact myself and I will explain.
If anyone should come to a stop, please pull over so that we can proceed and someone will come back to you later.
