Frederick Lay (3 Jun 1933 - 30 Dec 2021)

In loving memory of Frederick Arthur Lay who sadly passed away on 30th December 2021.

Frederick (Fred) was born at 2 Rennie Terrace, Redhill on 3rd June 1933, the only son of Cecil and Bertha Lay.
At the time number 2 Rennie Terrace was the home of his Uncle Fred and that was the sole reason behind his name, because he was born there.
From an early age Fred was known by all the family as ‘Boy’ because he was the first male in the family for many years.
Up until 1938 Fred lived at the family home, 4 Tushmore Estate, London Road, Crawley along with his elder surviving sister Barbara who since 1963 has resided in Adelaide South Australia with her husband Ernie and their family.
In 1938 the family moved to Prince Albert Square Earlswood. From the age of 5 to 15 Fred attended Hooley School in Emlyn Road, Earlswood, the same school as his sister and they would often travel the short distance together on the 405 bus.
Weekends and family holidays were often spent in Pevensey bay with their cousins Kathleen, Gladys and Valerie. Fred would often reminisce about those times.
During his early teenage years Fred showed a strong passion for motorbikes, cars and lorries and in August 1948 was offered an apprenticeship at Hall & Co in Salford’s, as a motor vehicle fitter. Following his training in their central road transport engineering centre, Fred spent his two years national service in the army based in Egypt and Tripoli from 1951 to 1953. He would speak regularly about his time in the army and how much he enjoyed it. Fred would often say they should never have done away with national service. Following his 2-year stint he returned to Hall & Co and spent several years in their machine unit, engine and overhaul shops, engaged in the complete overhauls of petrol and diesel engine vehicles, clutches, gearboxes, rear axles, and ancillary units.
In 1968 he was promoted to outside workshops where his specialised knowledge had been of great value in supervising the repairs of vehicles engaged on the day-to-day operation of the building, sand and gravel and ready mixed concrete industry. He had an extensive knowledge of AFC, Bedford, Commer, Foden and Leyland vehicles fitted with tipper, waste container, pressurised bulk cement, and ready mixed concrete equipment. Fred was experienced in the control of stores and workshop stores organisation. In March 1969 Fred was made redundant and spent 6 months at Redlands, before being offered a position within Bristow Helicopters at Redhill Aerodrome, where he continued until retirement in 1996. Throughout his time at Bristow’s, he held several positions ending up as helicopter component inspector. During the early 70’s Fred spent several months working in Aberdeen, returning at weekends to be with the family. he also spent time in Singapore and Malaysia.
In 1957 Fred met the love of his life Chris, at Horley Hayseeds Square Dancing Club where they spent many a happy hour dancing, which included ballroom, modern and old time. Chris and Fred married on Easter Monday 30th March 1959 at St Bartholomew’s Church, Horley and spent their honeymoon in Bournemouth.
As a married couple Fred and Chris first lived in Castle Drive Horley with Chris’s Mum. This enabled them to save for a reasonable deposit for a house and they moved into The Meadway the only family home in August 1962.
On the 14th of February 1960 Steve was born in Dorking Hospital and on the 28th of December 1962 their family was complete with the arrival of their daughter Jackie at the family home in The Meadway Horley.
Fred had several interests and he liked nothing more than being under the bonnet of a car in his earlier years. He liked his garden and took orders from Chris as to how it was to be laid out. Fred loved his DIY and was somewhat a perfectionist. He was exceptionally talented at painting and decorating as well as carpentry and joinery and would spend hours doing what he enjoyed.
As children Steve and Jackie have some wonderful memories of holidays mainly to the west country during the 60’s and early 70’s. During the 1980’s and 90’s Fred enjoyed his coach holidays along with Chris, to name just a few, Austria, Switzerland, Monaco, Italy and at the time Yugoslavia. Fred particularly enjoyed these times, socialising and visiting the places of historic interest.
In March 1990 Fred and Chris welcomed their first grandchild Sarah into their lives. Grandson Matthew soon followed in January 1994 and this certainly kept both Fred and Chris on their toes for many years.
Fred was a loving, caring Grandpa to both Sarah and Matthew, spending an awful lot of time looking after them along with Chris when the Grandchildren were younger. Both Sarah and Matt have very fond memories of the times spent with their Grandparents, especially the days out, playing board games and the many sleepovers they had at The Meadway.
Family had always been incredibly important to Fred. He remained in contact with his sister, Barbara and she was always on at Fred about paying them visit in Australia and even more so when he retired in the summer of 1996. That never materialised but in 2011 Barbara and her husband Ernie returned to the UK for a holiday, the first time after 48 years away. They thoroughly enjoyed the 5 weeks spent together.
Sadly, Chris was diagnosed with Dementia in 2009 and as a loving husband Fred cared for Chris tirelessly in the family home until December 2017, at which time it became too much for him and Chris was admitted to Wykeham House care home in Horley. Fred would visit her every day until sadly she passed away in April 2018.
Fortunately, Fred had very few health issues throughout his life and until 2017 was relatively fit, but in recent years, his mobility deteriorated, probably due to the care and attention shown to Chris over many years. As a family we will always be eternally grateful for everything Fred did for Chris.
Throughout those years when Fred needed a little help, someone to keep an eye out for him and indeed when he was caring for Chris during her ill health, their wonderful neighbours were on hand to support them both and Steve and Jackie would like to thank you all for the kindness and care that you gave to Fred and Chris, when they needed it most.
In December 2019 Fred’s first Great Grandchild Amelia was born. He would always look forward to the days when he could spend time with her and loved her dearly.
Fred was simply a lovely man, both inside and out. We’ll dearly miss the love he has shown us all as a family and everything about him.