The Slaugham Archive
Handcross over the Years by Roger RayIn 1992 Roger Ray's final book "Handcross over the Years" was published, and followed his earlier book "Around Old Slaugham" which was published in 1987.
Picture added on 21 March 2013 at 20:12
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His serene behaviour was broken when he was told that the Post Office had replaced the Slaugham village post-box with a modern metal post-box on a stick. He immediately went to Crawley Post Office and refused to move until they found the box. So, it was from the back of their garage to the back of Roger’s Ford Capri and Slaugham. The original box was Edward VII, rare, he having only a 9½-year reign. Not a lot of people know that, but thanks to Roger, we do now.
Roger’s wife, Nora, told me that Roger, while in the RAF, was given the task of guiding taxiing aircraft to positions with coloured torch lights. When things were going wrong, he was found to be colour-blind!
Nora was always exuding excitement with her laughter and banter. She convinced me that I was capable of papering their living-room ceiling; something that I had never done. I made a passable attempt though, on my own.
Nora’s dad, Jim Longhurst, was impressed with all the work that I was doing on our house when Valerie and I moved to Slaugham. He told Valerie to have me stuffed and stood in a glass case in the corner when I die. He warned me what to expect from a wife. Once his wife, May, was “having a go at him” when he came home from a hard day’s work, he told her to “write it all down and he would read it in the morning”.