A dogged collector of canine figurines has written a memoir of owning an accident-prone pooch, recalling all the scrapes and near-misses they both got into back in the eighties.
Ray McDonald, who now runs Keepsakes on Forres high street, where he sells some of his massive catalogue of collectables, has gathered up the ‘tails’ of his pet companion in ‘A Whippet Called Seb‘ which he will launch officially at the Forres Theme Day next Sunday in Grant Park.
Ray also runs a charity called Ray’s Opportunities, which helps people with disabilities, and he said he was spurred on to write the book after it supported the publication of Fantastic Forres, the popular children’s book written by Ewen Watson and illustrated by Sathya Schlösser. Profits from the book will go to the charity.
A manic collector
Ray was a very keen collector of Robert Harrop figurines, which are humanised caricatures of different dog breeds.
“I was a manic collector, and probably one of the top collectors in the country at the time.
“I’d already written three short stories for the Robert Harrop Designs Collectors Club magazine back in the late 80s and 90s, so I had these anyway, and I felt that it would be nice if I could recall my other memories of Seb and produce a little book.
“I felt that the book would be enhanced by having some nice illustrations. So as I come to know Sathya through the Fantastic Forres connection, I wrote the rest of the articles and finished off the book with Sathya doing the illustrations.
The wrong breed!
Ray recalled the reasoning behind getting Seb as a companion: “It was the era of the running boom and around the time of the London Marathon and I asked myself ‘Why don’t I start training for a marathon’?
“I thought, what a better way of doing it than to have some kind of canine companion that would sedately run by my side.
“However, it didn’t happen like that, because, as mentioned in the book, I made the wrong choice of breed!
“Of course, he was still my loyal companion and he turned out to be quite a character. But unfortunately always in the wars! One of the predicaments he got into was self-inflicted as Seb got his tail trapped in the garage door! Well, not exactly self-inflicted… I inflicted it on him!
Ray didn’t end up running the London marathon, but he did join the local running club, and ended up running short and long distances.
From builder to baker
The book also charts Ray’s somewhat bizarre career move. While operating as a building contractor he acquired a bakers shop, and he ran this at the same time as his building company.
Ray added the he’d always wanted to write a book of some sort, despite having no writing experience. He just wanted to put down his memories.
“My nephew’s twin daughters just couldn’t believe that they had an uncle who actually wrote a book.
The book, aimed at all ages, will be for sale at the Forres Theme Day in Ewen and Sathya’s Fantastic Forres stall, and it is also available from Under The Leaves, Keepsakes, Sandra’s Barbers and Forres Coffee House.
Ray is pictured with copies of the book, and a commemorative drawing of Seb which Sathya gave to him on his birthday.
- Forres Theme Day is on 5 May in Grant Park