by pobthespazz 202 Replies latest jw experiences
Core:You could be right about his wife having relatives in Stoke (daggum, I've forgotten her name, but I can picture her - bonnie lassie with dark hair). I wouldn't put that past Ron Drage. He was the guy who kicked my dad out of Bethel...
...I had the perverse satisfaction of being introduced to him a couple of months before I DAed. You should have seen the look on his face when the penny dropped as to who I was related to
Ahh, Little Toe - you mention Ron Drage.
I've never met him personally, but heard of him. I believe he was a Bethel heavy.
I knew someone who knew him fairly well, but in a positive light.
Did any of you guys have the DO David Carter assigned to your congo?
I can't remember which CO it was, but there was always trouble in the Southampton congregations.
Have you noticed that instead of giving 2 or 3 mini talks featuring different subjects, the CO simply begins one very long talk on Tue. evening before finally finishing the third installment after the condensed WT on Sunday?
They used to involve the children more etc, not any more.
I always looked forward to the cong. statistics too, low attendance, number of inactive etc. Don't seem to hear that much now.
Also David Craig, who came off due to depression or somesuch.
Perhaps he heard his own music?
I can remember a few.Albert broad i think has been mentioned?Really old Bloke,must be dead now i would think.Had a lovely old Wife.Proper grandma type.He was good to us Kids too.Definitely enjoyed his beer.!
I remember Ron Drage..but only as a Speaker at the DC,s.I seem to remember one year he did ,what seemed like,every talk going!!
Peter Chipperfield.Was ok..again ,nice to the Young uns and got us involved.
John Stanbridge.Richard Jessop.david Elgar.Mike Read ..he was Do i think.Scottish..very funny Man as i recall.
Jim Clearly. David Mannion.
Theres more but im struggling to recall them.Amazing how we practically did obeisence to these Men isnt it.
I knew DO David Carter both when he served in England and Scotland. The same with CO John Black. He was a CO in East Anglia when I did Quick Builds there, and was CO in my Circuit when I returned to Scotland.
Did any of you guys have the DO David Carter assigned to your congo?
David Carter DO assigned Manchester Assembly Hall Duistrict then assigned North London District . His wife Pauline died about 7 years ago, he remarried and then he died about 2 years ago
Paul Pressland was another DO I remember- an absolute little prick
Alastair Campbell
Glen McFarlane
Ian Shanks
Bob Auldrey
Isn't little Andy Schofield now on Circuit?
Tij
It's all been kept fresh in your memory - despite having most of them stay with us I have a hard time remembering their names never mind heir misdeeds. I seem to recall Terry Armstrong being singularly unpopular in the West - didn't he make sisters sit in the back of the car if they were unchaperoned? (Now there's a word that's lain unsused since I left!)
yes I remember the Presslands who were a big JW family and P Pressland thought his shit did not stink, also Peter Ellis (probably dead now ) used to give a lot of talks at the Twickenham D/A fine speaker..
I used to live in Crewe Cheshire and some names come to mind - suprised I cannot remember more as they always stayed with us! Torture at times!!!
Stan Woodburn - awesome chap (we had lived in South Africa and knew him from there) - seemed very easy going and love his wine (I think it was wine but he loved a lot of it!!!
Ed Kerr - seemed kind of stern but friendly for an circuit "officer" (oops overseer)
Patient, Michigan USA
core:
his astonishment at his posting to a Scottish Circuit when he had specifically asked (and visited Bethel to do so) to be near family (Stoke) - he was of the opinion that "someone" ((methinks Ron Drage but who knows)) decided that he should be shown who decided where COs went and not to ask again
By that time, Ron Drage had moved from Service Desk to Factory Overseer.
Peter Ellis would have been the culprit (a malicious little weasel of a 'man'). If he'd chosen a career in politics, he was so conniving he'd have made it to the top. Joyce, his wife, was such a dear, as well -- no idea how she put up with him.
Having said that, to be fair to Peter, when David Craig visited Bethel to plead his case to be assigned near his family, Peter would have told him straight it was not possible. I was told by another couple who went through the identical exercise that Peter quoted Brooklyn regulations chapter and verse to substantiate his position.
Ron Drage was one of the most ruthless, and nakedly ambitious, guys I knew in the UK organisation. (There were guys in Brooklyn who left him standing!) He felt, apparently with some justification, that his 'career' had been 'blocked' by Brooklyn and he was one mightily frustrated man. For years he'd been stuck out in the travelling work (from a Bethel viewpoint, the equivalent of a spiritual hobo) when he craved a return to the centre of action in London Bethel.
One evening, after a couple of pints, he told me the story. His wife, Barbara, was Canadian and while at Gilead met, and secretly got engaged to, Don Adams. (The rules at the time said Gilead 'graduates' couldn't get engaged for a couple of years.) She was assigned to India (from memory) and once, on her way back to the States, passed through London where she met the young Ron in Bethel. They fell in love and she broke off her engagement to Don who never forgave Ron and who then did all he could to stunt Ron's 'career.' That was how Ron told, it, anyway!
The last time I spoke to Ron, a couple of years ago, both he and Barbara were in poor health.
LT:
He was the guy who kicked my dad out of Bethel...
Sounds an interesting story: care to share?
David Algar came over as very affable yet was devious as a snake. When he was in London Bethel, he became a great pal of Jack and Mildred Barr and decided to 'cultivate' them when they were invited to Brooklyn. Having been on the Britain branch committee himself, Jack knew he couldn't trust the reports they sent to Brooklyn. David wrote weekly letters to Jack of what was going on in Britain, and especially what went on in Bethel, and Jack was glad to get David's feedback. I never learned what 'spin,' if any, David put on his reports.
