Bob Rayner
December 2020
I grew up in Cammeray and attended Neutral Bay Primary School. While most of the NSBHS class of 1961 spent their 5 years of High School together, a few of us didn’t arrive until 4th year, having completed our High School Intermediate Certificate elsewhere, in my case at Mosman Boys High School. Having had great grades at Mosman, I struggled to keep up at NSBHS, but did succeed in passing my Leaving Certificate. As a consequence of only being at NSBHS for 2 years, I did not build the same enduring NSBHS friendships that many who were together for the 5 years have enjoyed. Nevertheless, I do remember a number of the members of the class of ‘61. While I have spent my life in Canada, as outlined below, I did attend the Class of ’61 NSBHS 50 Year Reunion in Cammeray and at The Oaks in 2011.
After High School, I obtained my Accountant Designation from the Australian Society of Accountants, now CPA Australia, while working full time in an accounting position with the now defunct company, Dickson Primer. Like many Australian youth at the time, in early 1967, I left Sydney, on my own, on the P&O Orient Liner, Oriana, on asea voyage bound for England, with a desire to explore the world. The Oriana visited Sri Lanka (then Ceylon), Aden (Yemen), travelled through the Suez Canal shortly before it was closed by the Israel-Egypt 6 Day War (the whole Egyptian countryside was dominated by army tanks in a build up to the war), Naples (Italy), Gibraltar and on to Southampton.
With some fellow shipmates, we rented a house in Chiswick, London, worked for a few months and then set off for Europe in July 1967. With 3 of us in an old London Taxi,which blew its motor in Germany after a week so we abandoned it, and then in a VW Beetle,we travelled for 3 months throughout the countries of Western and Central Europe (Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Netherlands, Denmark, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria, Italy, Monaco, Spain, France)visiting their many magnificent old cities and interesting historical sites and buildings, either camping or using youth hostels. This was quite the adventure for a 23 year old out of Sydney who had never travelled before.
During the 1967/68 winter I became a London milkman, delivering milk door to door from a battery driven electric waggon (yes, battery driven way back then). The spring of 1968 brought 3 more trips. First to ski in Lillehammer, Norway, followed by a train journey across Norway and into the Fjords. Next, by bus from London with agroup of young people (in their 20’s), 43 of us so quite the party bus, I travelled behind the Iron Curtain to East Berlin and East Germany, Poland and Russia for May Day in Moscow and then out through Scandinavia and back to London. Finally, I travelled extensively by car around England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland.
In July 1968 I emigrated to Canada (thanks to my accounting credentials) with the intention of working and travelling throughout North America before returning to Australia for the rest of my life. Some 52 years later I am still in Canada, living in Toronto where, along with my Canadian wife of 46 years, Lorraine, we raised 2 children (boy and girl). I now have 4 Grandchildren (3 boys and 1 girl) who are a real joy. I had a successful business career at IBM Canada where I worked for 37 years as an Accountant, then Finance Manager, then Human Resources Manager. This was followed by 4 years of consulting before retired at 65.
I have been a committed runner for 46 years and have run over 47,000 km, which is equivalent to more than once around the world, but I only ran one Marathon, at age 65.I still start most days with a morning run and various other exercises. All of this has kept me generally fit and healthy over the years. Needless to say, I am not totally ailment free since I have a bad back and some osteoarthritis, neither of which I let stop me from running and some psoriasis and an enlarged prostate. I pride myself that, at 76, I take no prescription pills to keep me alive and I hope to stay that way for many years to come.
I have participated in the annual Canadian ‘Terry Fox Run’ for Cancer Research for the past 37 years and have raised $143,000 to date. I also organized IBM Canada’s participation in this charity Run for 20 years. I have been a blood donor since my late teens in Australia and have donated 160 times to date and will continue.
As I write this in December 2020, the world is in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic which has hit Canada much harder than Australia. To date, Canada has had 460,000 cases and 13,500 deaths versus Australia’s 28,000 cases and 908 deaths (with not too dissimilar populations) so Australia has been extremely lucky. We are all mask wearing and substantially locked down at the moment, but today Canada gave it’s first COVID-19 vaccination so there is light at the end of the tunnel.
These days I spend as much time as I can enjoying my grandchildren and their activities. I have a lakefront cottage north of Toronto which currently occupies much of my time and enjoyment, both summer and winter. We make frequent wine buying trips to Niagara-on-the-Lake in the Niagara Falls region south of Toronto. We travel on Ocean and River Cruises and Land excursions each year (except this COVID year) as we continue to explore the world. I also travel to Australia periodically to visit my 2 brothers and their families. I endure the cold of the Canadian winters without too much hardship, but of course always look forward to the warmth and liberation of the Canadian spring and summer.
Overall, having worked hard throughout my life, I now enjoy life’s pleasantries and I’m grateful to be able to live and travel comfortably. I do have lots to be thankful for.