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Graham Mumby-Croft
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Graham Mumby-Croft
Issue No. 85 Autumn 2021
John Dring - A personal recollection.
I was lucky enough to be able to serve with John Dring as his Area Works Co-ordinator, when he was the Area Manager, for what was at that time the Central Area. I was a newly-promoted Governor 3 and fresh into the position of Works Co-ordinator, which was itself a new position created specifically to work alongside the new Area Manager structure. So we were all finding our feet, and working out how these new positions would work and our place in the overall structure. This was a particularly sensitive situation as my actual line management sat within Construction Services, and yet I worked exclusively within John’s area, and therefore needed to work closely with him.
I always recall that John went out of his way to ensure that he always had time to speak with me, and to provide valuable advice and support, as I learned the secrets of “political management” particularly when dealing with some very senior governors, and on occasions even more senior headquarters staff. I remember his patience when inevitably I made some early mistakes, and he needed to take remedial action.
The main thing that will always stay with me about John was that he really was a true gentleman. He was always impeccably dressed, softly spoken and always calm. As invariably happens in the Prison Service change comes along and working relationships are broken, and John went on to his retirement, and I moved on to another Area when the Central Area ceased to exist, as part of a restructuring. However years later John and I
would meet again through our connection with the RPGA and it was a sign of him as a person that he remembered exactly who I was, and from then on he would always go out of his way to have a word, if we were in the same location for an event. I was so sorry to hear of his diagnosis with MND and whilst inevitable, his death was still a shock. I am sorry to have been unable to attend his funeral but I wish him Eternal Peace.
Graham Mumby-Croft
