An IWA stalwart with over half a century of service
A VICTIM of Covid-19, Ray Carter, 80, was one of the most loyal and dedicated supporters the Inland Waterways Association ever had the good fortune to benefit from.
He joined the association in June 1962 and had been active in its committee work since the early 1970s right up until his death, including spending 30 years as a trustee and serving as national treasurer and as a deputy national chairman.
Ray had a lifelong interest in boats and waterways. Although brought up in Bournemouth, Ray’s interest started with the River Thames by rowing and swimming in it as a teenager following a move to the London suburbs.
This led to motor cruising on the Thames in the late 1950s, and then to venturing on to canals in the early 1960s. He subsequently visited most of the connected network from hired and family boats.
Ray’s employer from 1959 to 1986 was Racal Decca; he was involved initially with marine navigation equipment, including working on boats in the North Sea, and piloting the company’s demonstration launch (formerly used by River Police) on the Thames tideway.
He later looked after the purchase and maintenance of Racal Decca’s small fleet of ocean-going survey ships worldwide.
Ray first active involvement with IWA came in the late 1960s, which was to operate the sales and publicity stand, along with his young family, for the then London & Home Counties Branch.
In 1972, impressed with this, IWA’s general secretary of the time, John Dodwell, persuaded Ray to assist him in organising the association’s presence at the London Boat Show, held at Earls Court, which Ray then looked after every year until the show’s demise in 2018.
Ray also masterminded IWA’s appearance at nearly every other inland waterway show around the country for a period of nearly 50 years.
In October 1974, Ray was asked by the association’s council to join the board of the newly formed subsidiary company IWA Sales Ltd based on his experience as IWA’s most successful sales and publicity officer of that time.
He also became a member of the association’s publicity committee, and two years later, in 1976, he became chairman of the sales company and was asked to attend IWA’s meetings of trustees as an observer. By 1977 Ray had become vice-chairman of the newly formed IWA South East Region.
During 1976-77 Ray was secretary, administrator and trade show organiser for IWA’s 1977 National Rally, held at Reading. He stayed on as trade show organiser for the following year’s event, and on the back of this wrote the first edition of IWA Rally Organisers Guide.
During this time, he was also, in consultation with the then national chairman and general secretary, responsible for the introduction of a new manual book-keeping system for both IWA and the sales company, and was instrumental in forming IWA Rallies Ltd as a second new subsidiary company through which the national rallies were then run.
At the 1983 AGM, Ray was elected as a trustee in his own right, and served as a trustee until September 2001.
In December 1990, after 14 years, he relinquished chairmanship of the sales company to take on the role of national treasurer, and continued in post until 2001, during which period he saw a radical overhaul of the association’s head office and introduction of computerised book-keeping systems, along with the move out of London to Rickmansworth.
After leaving Racal Decca, Ray worked for the Swedish stationery and office furniture company Esselte, as the office manager at its London HQ.
When the firm moved offices out of central London in 1998, Ray arranged for IWA to acquire the company’s office fittings and furniture and to entirely refurbish IWA’s then new office at Rickmansworth, and nearly all that furniture moved to IWA’s current premises in Chesham in 2008 and some is still in use today.
Following a further reorganisation at Esselte, Ray’s post was made redundant in 2000.
After retiring as a trustee and as national treasurer, Ray took on the part-time paid post as finance manager at the IWA’s head office and stayed on until full retirement in January 2006. He again stood as a trustee at the 2008 AGM, being elected and serving until the 2020 AGM, and took on another term as national treasurer from November 2018 to October 2020.
Throughout this time, Ray had benefited from the strong support of his wife Lorrae, initially accompanying Ray with the whole family on the local sales stands and in later years running IWA’s Club 500 and looking after much of the association’s insurance arrangements for many years.
In total, Ray Carter served at a senior level on various IWA committees continuously for nearly 47 years, 30 years of which as a trustee, 14 years as chairman of the then sales company and nearly 13 years as national treasurer.
He also organised publicity and sales stands at a local and national level for more than 50 years – a feat unequalled in the association’s history and probably most unlikely ever to be equalled in the future. National chairmen, trustees and senior staff regularly relied on his wise counselling and good advice.
But above all, Ray was always cheerful, positive, supportive and pragmatic – a great administrator and organiser – and he just got a lot of things done without fuss.