Whilst enjoying a drink with Ron in his study overlooking the Dart he told me that living on the Quay at Dittisham for so many years must be one of the greatest delights of living in Devon. He first came here on holiday some 45 years ago and has lived here now, with his wife Dilys, for most of the 42 years of their marriage. He had an idyllic childhood in Sussex, graduated from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art and then embarked on two wonderfully enjoyable and very different careers.
Ronald Travers
After several years of working as an actor in repertory companies all over the country he then, in 1956, joined BBC Television where he produced the innovative and long running Z Cars after which, when BBC2 started, he produced Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and a season of contemporary plays, among them John Mortimer’s A Voyage Around My Father. He also brought productions from the Edinburgh Festival and Stratford to the screen including All’s Well that Ends Well which was the first Shakespeare play to be shown in colour on television. However, it was his production of The Six Wives of Henry Vlll that won him the much coveted International Prix Italia and the British Association of Film and Television Arts Special Award.
Whilst working as a producer at Television Centre, Ron realised that Wormwood Scrubs was just up the road and he recounted how, after a chance meeting with the prison chaplain, he found himself signing on as a Prison Visitor which he continued to do each week, for several years, on the wing for young offenders.
In 1970 Ron changed careers. I asked him why, as he had, by then, received all the accolades of which every producer dreams. He said that after a fairly heavy workload he felt he needed time to think about his future and decided to take a sabbatical. Having moved to the country he and his wife became volunteers at the local home for people with a disability. It was there that Dilys, who knew Leonard Cheshire the great pioneer in residential care, introduced him to Ron. The two men became great friends and before the sabbatical was up Ron had decided to work for Leonard who had asked him to be his Deputy and International Director. For nearly 25 years his work took him to 50 countries throughout the world, where he visited existing Cheshire Homes and set up new Homes. He says his most difficult assignments were in the USA, Japan, China and Russia. Over the years he has chaired many committees to further the cause of those with a disability and gave evidence to the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Bill which was steered through the Houses of Parliament by Alf Morris the world’s first Minister for the Disabled. Ron also chaired the British Committee for Housing during The International Year of the Disabled in 1981. He talks with a passion about those early ground-breaking days but says there is still a long way to go, especially to help the families of those with a disability because, it is true to say, that if one member of the family is disabled then that whole family is disabled.
After his retirement in 1994 Ron was appointed OBE and became Vice President of the Leonard Cheshire Foundation and chaired the Foundation’s Golden Jubilee celebrations. He is a Trustee of King’s College London where, for 12 years, he chaired its Student Welfare Services Committee and was presented with a Lifetime Award in recognition of his work over the years in championing student welfare. He is a Trustee of Dimbleby Cancer Care and a Patron of the Robert Owen Communities for people with a learning disability.
Although leading such a busy life Ron talks with enthusiasm about taking part in many of the village activities in Dittisham. He has produced several pantomimes especially for the Youth Club and says that he finds working with young people fascinating. Many Village Days have seen his production experience come to the fore including village celebrations such as the VE Day Anniversary, The Queen’s Golden Jubilee and the 100th anniversary of the founding of the village school. We talked about his faith, which he says is key to his whole life, and how much it means to be a communicant member of St George’s Church and being licensed to administer the sacrament.
Many people living by the Dart will have enjoyed Ron’s performances of An Evening of Noel Coward at the Flavel which opened the Dart Music Festival in 2007 and has since played to full houses. Ron is also President of The Ditsum Players and his advice and opinions are much sought after and as I left him he was about to have a meeting with Pat Heighway, its Chairman, to plan a production of the next village pantomime, Dick Whittington.
First Published March 2009 By The Dart