RAY `WILLPOWER` WILLIAMS
Ray Williams started this whole
project by lending me the photograph of Maud Fox and Miss Philips at the top of
Woodview Lane. Ray grew up with his
parents and brothers, Bill and Tom, at World`s End Cottages. Their father, and then
Ray, worked for Jim Slater, at the Broadlands Farm between Ruyton and
Baschurch. In due course Ray went to work for John Gittins, Hall Farm, Ruyton
XI Towns.
Ray seems to have been an unusual
young man, and rather than spend his time playing football and drinking in
Ruyton`s three pubs, he trained his body to perform formidable feats of
strength which he demonstrated to his workmates on the farm.
Then, he started to perform in
the local pubs and at village fetes to raise money for charity. In 1971 he aimed to beat the world record
for eating cheese, supplied by Ruyton dairy, but had to give up after 14
ounces! One evening he put away 8
portions of fish and chips, supplied by Roy Penton`s fish and chip van. At this time Ray`s chosen charity was for
the blind, both his brothers lost their sight.
In 1974 Ray entered a talent
contest in Chirk and from then on, he just kept on inventing new stunts, such
as pulling a bus with a rope held in his teeth, and pulling a Land Rover the
same way - for 26 miles! One of his more
dangerous `tricks` was balancing two sledgehammers on his teeth and he would
ask a big strong man to swing a sledge at his stomach to show the strength of
his muscles. Perhaps his strangest stunt
was to push a pea with his nose round and round Pride Hill Centre.
Unfortunately, Ray was somewhat
lacking in charisma and never had a manager who could organise the publicity he
deserved. In 1980 he joined the circus
and toured Cornwall for the summer.
He obviously had
very happy memories of his childhood at World`s End, perhaps he was a
particular favourite of childless Jim and Maud Fox. When Jim and Maud left Rose Cottage and
moved to a bungalow at Birch Grove, Ray would visit them and that is when he
met their niece, Edna, who was already suffering from Multiple Sclerosis and in
a wheelchair. Ray and Edna, were by then
in their 40s but they fell in love and were married in 1984.
Edna was the making of Ray, at
last he had found someone who needed him, someone with whom he could share his
life. Although Edna`s illness got progressively worse, for 23 years, Ray, Edna
and the wheelchair got dressed up for their annual performance in the annual
Shifnal Carnival.
Ray walked 1000 miles in 30 days
round the roads of Shifnal pushing Edna in her wheelchair and in 2002 he ran
the London Marathon in his wellies. He
took 12 hours to complete a tri-marathon when he ran, cycled and walked 26
miles. Ray was often seen speed walking round Ruyton, walking faster than some
of the modern joggers!
Every year as Edna got more and
more frail, Ray attended to her every need and of course, he was able to lift
her wherever she needed to be. He
really never recovered after he lost her, when he became ill himself he used to
say he could cope with his prostate cancer but not with the sciatica, perhaps
induced by the stresses he put on his body over so many years.
Ray Williams,
Ruyton`s `Willpower` Strongman, went to join Edna on 26 July 1015 - Ruyton`s
only celebrity.
`The Man with the Iron Jaw` pulling a bus along Southport Promenade.
