The Master

Mr Ray Ballard

Master 2010 – 2011

Ray was sworn into the Gild on Shrove Tuesday, 1992, a few years before so called 'retirement' from a distinguished career in butchery.

He hails from Long Eaton in Nottinghamshire and left school at fourteen to join the trade. He studied butchery at Clarendon College in Nottingham.

Ray served his National Service in bomb disposal with the Royal Engineers at Farnborough and was later called back at the time of the Suez crisis, his skills keeping him at the cutting block as camp butcher.

He worked in Nottingham with the first Halal butchery in the Midlands. He joined Burtons supermarkets, overseeing the opening of over three hundred meat departments for them and for Associated British Foods.

In 1963 he purchased the old established butchers of Johnson's of Thirsk, subsequently adding on a bakery and a delicatessen. His other interest then developed with an antique business. The two concerns now employ twenty four full and part time staff. Valuation keeps Ray busy some ten years after formal retirement.

Ray's service to butchery is exemplary. He has been a member of the National Association for over forty years and twice the chair of the Northallerton and District Butchers' Association. He was Chairman of the Butchers Advisory Committee to the Board of Governors of Thomas Danby College and is a Fellow of the Institute of Meat. He is also a Past President of Thirsk Rotary Club.

Ray is particularly pleased to be Master during Waggon Plays' year. He has been an avid supporter of the Gild movement to manage the plays and has joined in set construction in previous productions with alacrrity

Ray and Eileen were married in 1962. They have two daughters, Sarah-Jane, who runs the butchery business with her husband, Andrew, (both in the Gild), and Clarissa who works in IT.

Past Masters

The immediate past Master is Mr R.J. Ballard.

1 1943 – 1944 WrightF.
2 1944 – 1945 Wright W.
3 1945 – 1946 Spence J.J.
4 1946 – 1947 Wood J.A.
5 1947 – 1948 Bowman J.W.
6 1948 – 1949 CrombieG.N.P.
7 1949 – 1950 Sowery H.J.
8 1950 – 1951 PhillipsJ.V.
9 1951 – 1952 Foster H.
10 1952 – 1953 JeffreyJ.
11 1953 – 1954 ThompsonH.
12 1954 – 1955 Nicholson J.J.
13 1955 – 1956 Bowman R.E.
14 1956 – 1957 ClaytonC.J.
15 1957 – 1958 MoorJ.J.
16 1958 – 1959 WoodheadF.
17 1959 – 1960 Hudson J.W.
18 1960 – 1961 Wright D.
19 1961 – 1962 Wright N. L.
20 1962 – 1963 Rank T.L.
21 1963 – 1964 Linfoot W.J.
22 1964 – 1965 Scott G.
23 1965 – 1966 Clayton B.R.
24 1966 – 1967 Hawkswell L.
25 1967 – 1968 Wood A.D.
26 1968 – 1969 Foster A.E.
27 1969 – 1970 Curry S.
28 1970 – 1971 Ellerker C.J.
29 1971 – 1972 Harrison W.R.
30 1972 – 1973 Gillies J.S.
31 1973 – 1974 Bell A.M.
32 1974 – 1975 Green V.E.
33 1975 – 1976 Simpson J.
34 1976 – 1977 Pearce E.B.
35 1977 – 1978 Snaith J.W.B.
36 1978 – 1979 Gibson J.B.
37 1979 – 1980 Jackson C.R.
38 1980 – 1981 Hampshire K.L.
39 1981 – 1982 Reader J. F.
40 1982 – 1983 Hudson R.
41 1983 – 1984 Nicholson A.G.
42 1984 – 1985 Imison P.C.F.
43 1985 – 1986 Bird G.G.
44 1986 – 1987 Gates J.
45 1987 – 1988 Walker E.N.
46 1988 – 1989 Kemp E.
47 1989 – 1990 Squires A.
48 1990 – 1991 Seatory M.
49 1991 – 1992 Gillam J.
50 1992 – 1993 Wright A. N.
51 1993 – 1994 Stobart K.
52 1994 – 1995 Nattrass J.
53 1995 – 1996 Nicholson J.B.
54 1996 – 1997 Keenan J.P.
55 1997 – 1998 Yeomans J. F.
56 1998 – 1999 Wheatley B.
57 1999 – 2000 Morris C.
58 2000 – 2001 Stonehouse G.
59 2001 – 2002 Stephenson J.
60 2002 – 2003 Cockburn J. L.
61 2003 – 2004 Brown D.
62 2004 – 2005 Barker S.
63 2005 – 2006 Pearce R.
64 2006 – 2007 Megson P.
65 2007 – 2008 Stobart P.
66 2008 – 2009 Stobart N.
67 2009 – 2010 Hampshire R.J.
68 2010 – 2011 Ballard S.R.

New Items & Updates

April 26th 2010
Get ready for The York Mystery Plays, 11 and 18 July 2010

February 5th 2008
Shrove Tuesday launch
for Gild's new website