In Memory

All of us at Brooklands Radio were saddened by the death on 19th October 2012 of Lance England, our Technical Director and a talented presenter.

Lance was born in Woking, grew up in Addlestone and went to St Paul's Secondary School (now Jubilee High). His keen interest in radio led to him joining local station Hospital Radio Wey at age 11, after his mother wrote in. He stayed for 19 years and was chairman from 1987 to 1990.

His first job from school was with Safir Engineering, on the Brooklands Industrial Estate, as a race car mechanic and building chassis for Panther and AC cars. The metalwork and welding skills he learned were hugely useful later at Brooklands Radio as he adapted and added to our technical equipment.

At 19 Lance joined the BBC as an Assistant Film Recordist, working on programmes including Bergerac, Nationwide and Panorama and becoming a Senior Audio Supervisor. He left after 10 years to set up a post-production sound-recording business, Gemini Audio, mixing TV soundtracks for the BBC, ITV, and most major broadcasters and working on programmes that included Ground Force, Horizon, Equinox, Dispatches, The South Bank Show and children's cartoon series Chuggington, and with many leading actors including Sir John Gielgud and Robert Powell.

With his unwavering and infectious enthusiasm Lance was a key driving force behind Brooklands Radio from the planning stage in 2005. Always keen that we should put service to the community first, in 2011 he broadcast for 24 hours non-stop to raise money for Woking and Sam Beare Weybridge Hospices.

He remained a motorsport enthusiast, kept a 1974 Ferrari 308 running and with his wife Liz rebuilt an MGB. His other interests included electronics, music and, in recent years, growing his own vegetables.

Lance was first diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in his early forties when, after treatment, it went into remission. The illness was found to have returned early in 2012 and Lance endured intensive, gruelling treatment while remaining always cheerful and positive about the future. In his final months he put in many extra hours of work at the Brooklands Radio studios to improve efficiency and reliability.

Lance is survived by his wife Liz, whom he married in 1988, and their children Emily and Matthew.

All at Brooklands Radio were very saddened to learn that Ray Rainbow passed away in hospital on 2nd December 2011 after a prolonged illness. Ray loved doing radio and was a brilliant broadcaster. He was with us from the start of BrooklandsFM with our annual 4-week stints on FM and put much preparation into his very entertaining and fun shows, first in an evening slot and later developing through our ongoing internet service a very successful Sunday Brunch show full of fun, amusing stories, competitions, guests and great music and jingles which proved ideal entertainment for a Sunday morning.

He was very generous helping many new recruits to Brooklands Radio passing on his skills with advice on preparing and presenting on radio and many went on to present their own shows with us. Ray was successful in getting a show on Radio Jackie but had no hesitation in wanting to continue his support and involvement in Brooklands Radio. Sadly that success was to be short-lived when he became seriously ill. Our thoughts are with his wife and daughter.