Richard Trahair
Richard was an inmate of Sherborne School, then a volunteer in an Approved School for young rogues near Glasgow, and at last graduated at Leeds University in Textile Management, in 1973.
His first job was with a shirt manufacturer, but he quickly realised that factory life was not for him, and changed career to be a Chartered Surveyor and agricultural Land Agent, retiring in 2011 after thirty years as estate manager for the Church of England, continuing as a Presiding Justice in the magistrates courts for a quarter of a century, and parish organist for rather longer. He is a keen cruising sailor.
Most of these experiences feature in one or other of his published books:
Sailor All At Sea
Bleak Encounter At The Cape
Parsonage And Parson
The Organist and The Magistrate
Richard Trahair's Books
£8.99
The Organist and the Magistrate
28 Nov 2023Two tales of misadventure and crime, illustrating the role of both a church organ and its player and also of a lay Justice of the Peace, drawn from the author’s experiences in both title roles.
In ‘The Organist’, a well-known elderly organist slumps into a coma while giving a recital to a packed church audience. The regular organist, a mysterious young lady, has vanished. In a plot that sweeps from a country town in England to the Rock of Gibraltar, the stakes could not be higher after nefarious plans which could lead to an international crisis are uncovered.
‘The Magistrate’ is an adventure tale of kidnap and revenge. When the Justice becomes the victim of a man who holds some kind of grudge against him, he unwisely pursues his own investigation. Contrasting characters then emerge to demonstrate the avenues open to magistrates to exercise common-sense justice while at the same time coping with the sorry state of the criminal justice system.
£8.99
Parsonage and Parson
28 Sep 2022Richard Trahair shares an insider's experience of the wide-ranging 'goings on' in a large Church of England diocese in the south of England from the 1980s.
As estate manager - Diocesan Property Secretary - for more than thirty years, he reflects on the astonishing range of characters he worked alongside, and the diverse buildings and land for which he was responsible. Richard delves into the nature of a parsonage house, its parish loyalties, and the keen controversy over selling the grand old houses and replacing them with smaller ones so that the impoverished clergy and their families can at least keep warm.
Both people and places were a heady mix of the delightful, the worthy, the curious and the downright eccentric. With encounters recounted that range from wacky and hilarious, to thought-provoking and historical, catch a glimpse into the life of a twenty-nine-year-old surveyor in a diocesan office dominated by retired military gentlemen, rattling around in a huge 15th century former city workhouse, as he grows into his role.