Haywards Heath rector set to retire after 24 years

Clergyman Father Ray Smith is to retire this week after 24 years as rector of St Wilfrid’s Parish, Haywards Heath.
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

The Church of England parish includes St Wilfrid’s Church in Church Road and the Church of the Presentation, New England Road, and is part of the Cuckfield Deanery.

The Rector will celebrate Eucharist at St Wilfrid’s Church for the last time at 9.30am on Sunday (October 18) before he retires to Reading, where he spent his early life.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Last Sunday – appropriately enough St Wilfrid’s Day - town mayor Alastair McPherson stepped up to join Father Ray at the front of the church to pay tribute on behalf of the town council to the many ways in which he has served the town.

Rev Ray Smith SUS-201013-144828001Rev Ray Smith SUS-201013-144828001
Rev Ray Smith SUS-201013-144828001

Councillor McPherson also presented Father Ray with a town council plaque bearing the civic coat of arms and a silver photo frame.

The mayor reminded the congregation how well loved and respected Father Ray has been in and around Haywards Heath and district - and not only by worshippers in his churches.

Father Ray’s other public roles have included leading the town’s Sunday morning Remembrance services on Muster Green and regular assemblies at St Wilfrid’s CE Primary School, Eastern Road, where he is a long-serving governor.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Father Ray is equally well known by many young families who have come to his family services at St Wilfrid’s or to ‘Messy Church’ in the Centenary Hall, and for welcoming the mayor and town councillors to the annual Civic Service in St Wilfrid’s.

His other public roles have included many years as ambulance and police chaplain in Sussex and chairing the ecumenical Churches Together in Haywards Heath and district.

Father Ray was ordained deacon in June 1980 and ordained priest in 1981. He trained for the ministry at King’s College London and at The College of the Resurrection at Mirfield in West Yorkshire.

In the late 1970s he worked for 16 months as an auxiliary nurse on a surgical ward at St George’s Hospital at Hyde Park Corner. He served two curacies in Oxford Diocese at Iffley and at Wallingford and then served for just over 10 years as vicar of St Mary Magdalen’s Church Tilehurst in Reading, where he also lectured on ethics and doctrine on the Berkshire Christian Training Scheme course.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

He moved to Haywards Heath as team rector in the summer of 1996. Ray has served as a Foundation Governor at St Wilfrid CE School to date and as chairman of Churches Together in Haywards Heath.

During his time in Sussex, and alongside his parish ministry, Father Ray has worked as chaplain to the South East Coast Ambulance Service until 2014 and chaplain to Sussex Police until 2013, serving as senior chaplain to the Sussex Police Service and South East area representative on the committee of the National Association of Chaplains to the Police from 2003.

The Rev Michael Maine, rural dean of Cuckfield, said: “Ray has given a very distinguished ministry to St Wilfrid’s Parish and he has contributed hugely to Cuckfield Deanery and the town.

“We shall miss his wry sense of humour and the thoughtful and relevant theology that he has brought to his ministry.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

In his retirement in Berkshire, Father Ray intends to continue to pursue his lifelong interest in public transport – collecting memorabilia, photographing buses and using these to illustrate his several publications about the history of bus services in Britain.

He said: “I have lived in Haywards Heath for nearly a quarter of a century, longer than anywhere else in my life. Nearly 25 years through changing and challenging times in Haywards Heath has been fulfilling and eventful.

“It has been a privilege and a pleasure to share in the lives of the people of Haywards Heath both at moments of crisis and of celebration.

“I will miss the Church, the town and its people.”