It is with regret that we have to inform you of the death of a retired Police Officer : Sgt Raymond Gibbon who died on Monday 31st August 2015, aged 85yrs.
Ray was born on the 24th September 1929 and joined Durham Constabulary in 1956, initially being stationed at West Hartlepool, before being subsequently serving at Ferryhill, Dog section,Peterlee,Wingate and Durham.
Ray also served as the village police officer at Witton Gilbert before transferring to Northumbria Police where he was promoted to Sgt and served on the dog section before retiring from Whickham in 1984
In retirement spent his time doing voluntary work with various charities, such as the Samaritans. He also served for 20 years in the Citizens Advice Bureau, eventually he became a Durham City Councillor. He had the honour of serving as Mayor of the city in the year 2003/2004 and became an Alderman of Durham in 2008
Ray also wrote a book - The Way it Was :Tales from a Policeman's Notebook, which is an entertaining collection of short stories taken from the Ray's pocket notebooks from his time as a serving officer
Ray is survived by his wife Margaret, two children Nigel & Alison and four grandchildren.
The Funeral service will be held on Thursday September 10th at 10.30am at North Rd Methodist Church Durham City, followed by Durham Crematorium.
The family would like you to join them afterwards at the Church for refreshments.
Our thoughts are with the family at this sad time
