RON CRUXON 1922 TO 2023

By Chairman Andrew Hamilton

We are sorry to have to have to report that our centenarian  Ron Cruxon died peacefully at 3 am on 31st August in hospital.

He had been in hospital for a few days and during that time he was visited by, or spoke to members of his family, some of whom were with him at the end. 

Ron had been a member of WHaCS since its inception over 50 years ago. He regularly attended our public meetings until the onset of Covid. He was an invaluable source of local information having lived his whole life (apart from World War II) in the Village and had, to the end an amazing memory of people and events. I encouraged him to write his memories down and during Lockdown he did and I was delighted to put these together in "The Life and Times of a Wollaton Man"  which was published by the Society and has recently been republished. It will remain his lasting legacy, being now the first in our new series "Your Wollaton" and will undoubtedly be reprinted many more times as the series continues to grow. I need hardly say that without his support and the £4,000 from the sales of his book, we would never have been able to raise the necessary funds to restore the Cucumber House so quickly.

Ron took great pleasure in meeting people and was delighted when people asked him to autograph his book. He loved visiting the Walled Garden and seeing the massive amount of work done by the volunteers and marveled at the reconstruction of the Cucumber House. He was delighted to present in June when he and the Sheriff performed the formal opening. 

Ron was called up in 1940 and served in the Royal Artillery, landing in Normandy some days after D-Day and was subsequently involved in the liberation of France and Belgium and was with one of the first regiments to cross the Rhine into Hitler's Germany in March 1944 (a topic I discussed with him only a week ago his memory still being excellent).  In 2018, in recognition of his service in the liberation of France, he was made a member of the Legion d'Honneur presented to him by the French Consul at an event at Wollaton Hall.

Ron's wife died many years ago and he subsequently lived alone but was supported by his extended family and friends. He will be greatly missed.

Andrew