RAY HAMMOND

[MickD]

Sadly Ray Hammond who some of you may remember as a stalwart of the Page 3 Big Band died on Saturday. I believe he was in his nineties.
The Band made regular appearances at the club in the eighties and used our hall for midweek practice sessions. At 6 foot 7 plus Ray was always an unmissable character and will be remembered throughout North Herts as a quietly spoken gentleman who loved both the big band sound and a decent pint.

[Neil]

Sad to hear, Mick. Ray was a close friend of Neil Moffat, my father-in-law, and was a decent man. In fact, when Gail and I got married (we didn’t tell anyone) the following day we were going to Germany with the Page 3 band and told everyone it was effectively our honeymoon. So, Ray, his wife Angela and their son, Trevor, were all on our honeymoon. We didn’t live in Hitchin at the time, but we got introduced to the town via watching Gail’s dad perform at the QMT and elsewhere and decided to move here in 1987. Always friendly, he was a very noticeable figure around town. RIP.