Hi,
my name is Ricky Kilby, I am married to my lovely wife Lori with 4 grown-up step children,
3 grandchildren, 2 Westies called 'Tess' and 'Wesley'. We live in a small village called Ashton Keynes just outside
Swindon, Wiltshire.
I was born in the
district of Clapton, London on the 3rd of July 1962. At the age of 5 my family moved to Clacton-on-Sea, Essex, where I started school at the
Alton Park Junior School. When I was 9 years old we
moved on to Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, where I attended Sarson High
School and then King Edward VII Upper School before leaving to go to
college.
After leaving school at 16 I started an engineering
course at college; while my family moved again, this time back south
to Rainham, Essex. After my first year at college I too moved to Rainham,
and joined the Ford Motor Company at Dagenham, as an apprentice. A year
after finishing my apprenticeship (1985), I diversified due to redundancy and became a bus
driver with London Transport, driving double-decker buses through London
City Centre. It was at this time I met Lori, my wife to-be in
Southend-on-Sea. After moving to Southend-on-Sea and re-entering the
engineering trade with Ekco Plastics Ltd, (a local company) Lori and I
married in September 1987. We then become proud owners of 2 Border Collie
crosses, firstly Snowy and then a year later BD (Baby Dog - Snowy's half
sister).
In 1990 we moved and left for the green hills of
Herefordshire, firstly in Hereford, here I joined a local food manufacturer Sun Valley Foods
Ltd as a production
maintenance engineer. Later moving to a small hamlet called Mansell Gamage
just outside Hereford. In 2000 Snowy suffered a stroke and was close to
being put to sleep, but on the day the vet arrived to administer the deed,
she showed an amazing improvement and gave herself a reprieve. After a
couple of weeks she was back to her old self albeit for a slight tilt of
her head. This was a reminder that our pets do not last as long as we
would want, but also how much they become part of your life and family.
Ten
years in the same job had given me itchy feet and knowing there was far
more challenging roles out there we decided to move on. In
June 2001 we moved to Ashton Keynes, Wiltshire where I started a new job
as a Production Support Engineer at Honda of the UK, working in the Engine
plant.
July
2002, unfortunately after
14 years BD become unwell and we had to have her put to sleep, we were
devastated and still miss her very much.
July
2003 Loris' 50th and an early prezzie - 9 week old Westie pup called Tess,
who's spoilt rotten.
May 2005, we had to have Snowy put to sleep, after her stroke in 2000 we
thought she would not last long but she proved us all wrong. She gave us
such happy and memorable times together making her absence all the harder
to deal with, she is deeply missed by all. click
here for her tribute
December
2005, and a new addition to the family and new friend for Tess is
another Westie called 'Wesley' - back to a 2 dog family again.
Its hard to
live without doggy friends once you have had such wonderful dogs as we
have.
I
enjoy playing snooker, gardening, and carp fishing
which is ideal having moved to the centre of the Cotswold Water Parks. My
old syndicate water was; Docklow
Pools, Herefordshire which is where I caught my best fish (and lake
record at the time). I am also an avid fan of
cult/sci-fi programs such as Star Trek, Stargate, X-Files, etc.
My wife Lori, enjoys reading,
cooking, gardening; and looking after myself, and our small pet family.
Aside from work and all other pastimes, I am now trying
to find time for this new project; this website and tracking my genealogy. I feel this will be an ongoing project,
and hope that this small start will take me further, and hopefully this
website will help keep a record of where it leads me.
Thank
you for your interest.
Ricky
"Benttail" 24lbs of common carp
Welcome to
Kilby.org.uk
Charlie
Brown, "The Lounger"