Rev. Ray Morrison

Summary of a Pershore Wychavon Probus Talk. 2007

This is a brief summary of a talk called My Father with Digressions to Myself by Rev. Ray Morrison. His talk was very much about his father, with the regular comment that they were not alike. We finished up disagreeing with him and so here is a freely translated summary of what Ray said.

I’m Nothing Like My Father.                           Rev. Ray Morrison.  

My father, Walter John Morrison, lived to the age of 99 and most of that in Putney. Truth is I had conversations with him, but he was sixty when I was born and almost stone deaf. However, in the years immediately before WW2, my father was a great parent and Putney was a great place to live, particularly with a kid who loved sport. We walked the embankment and across the commons, endlessly throwing a ball to each other. Well, the day came when I was playing cricket at Eastbourne College and I was in a deep reverie, when a shout of “Ray” galvanised me to gallop around the boundary and by shear chance I put a hand out and it stuck! I was a hero as I’d just got their best batsman out! A gift of a bat signed by Jack Hobbs and a Dad who had played for Surrey Colts added to the impact. The reality of it was that this was me, having the experience of a lifetime, batting against Alec Bedser twins in the nets. Even so I always felt that rugby was my first love.

Father also organised cycle tours and cycle races at the local velodrome; started two rowing clubs for girls; and introduced me to rowing and watermen, who had won the Doggett Coat and Badge. He was secretary of soccer and cricket clubs and the town regatta. He even climbed Mont Blanc in boots with nails he’d hammered in himself and tried to help me to overcome my fear of heights, but failed. How could I ever think I was like my father!

After producing a large business as a builder, he decided to cut back and become a local builder for the Putney area. With the War, he was left with only one man and their main job at 70 was to assess bomb damage in the area. Having learnt more about my father from the press, I felt I should find out some family history and I discovered that my grandfather had been a market gardener, who supplied Covent Garden with roses, mushrooms and spinach, using a pony cart, which took a couple of hours to get there. I remember my father telling me about the poverty among the Irish community at the time and how he had to change his clothes after a visit to them to get rid of fleas. I’m reminded of the time I was Rector of Ludlow. I had a letter from the school nurse saying, “Your daughter has one or two head lice, but is otherwise clean.” I liked the “otherwise” bit!

There was a great deal of unemployment after the First World War and so Father started a wood chopping business to give men work. The rule was that workmen would star at 10 a.m. to give them a chance to find better jobs. He reminded me that when he was young he ran a boys club and this we had in common as I did the same think many years later in East London. For years he was a churchwarden in Putney and at the age of 13 I wanted to become a clergyman , but I hesitated to tell him about it, but went I did he was overjoyed. Well I did become one, but I fear I’m nothing like my father.