Granda Fred

Raymond Clark was born in a small mining village in the North East of England in 1948 and was one of eight children. In 1963, much to everyone's shock, as he hated sports and anything physical, he joined the army and enlisted in Newcastle upon Tyne into the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers, later becoming Royal Regiment of Fusiliers. In 1966, he was sent, along with the regiment, to Aden (now Yemen), where he served for 9 months and where the regiment lost 9 men because of civil unrest. He saw service in Aden, Northern Ireland (several times), West Berlin, West Germany, Ethiopia, Kenya, Gibraltar, Morocco and Cyprus (UN and UK forces). One of his most memorable moments was going to Ethiopia with The Regimental Band, meeting Emperor Hailie Selassie and having champagne and caviar with him and his wives at the palace - for a boy from the back streets of County Durham, it was a memory to retain. He retired from the army in 1988 and worked in the retail, insurance, advertising and charity sectors. In 2015, he was awarded a British Empire Medal in Her Majesty's birthday honours list for charity work. His wife, Cynthia, died in Northern Ireland in 2000; his daughter, Jillian, and her husband, Andy, still reside there. Raymond now resides in Canada. He is currently the author of three books, two of which are self-published.