Mining innovation was Ray’s legacy

Although an accomplished businessman, it wasn’t all work; he more recently enjoyed plenty of laughs with his mates on the bowling green.

Beverley Bloomfield was Ray’s soul mate and the other half of his many endeavours.

“He was a marvellous man, I’ve known him for 56 years and was married to him for 51 years,” she said.

His funeral service on Saturday was a touching send-off attended by more than 200 people who had been a part of Ray’s life in some way.

Mr Bloomfield’s was a life filled with a passion for tinkering and manufacturing.

From the Bloomfields’ Greenwell Point-based business Rosebery Spray he and Beverley took their mining equipment all around the world.

“Our equipment went from little old Greenwell Point to many countries, including Germany and Russia,” Mrs Bloomfield said.

“He loved to manufacture things, no matter what it was. He would only read technical books.

“He would build all sorts of things, he was always designing something.

“Even through his illness he started designing something to assist people who had emphysema,” she said.

Ray was a respected businessman in the Shoalhaven and was awarded the region’s second Shoalhaven Business Person of the Year Award.

He also won an Australian Design Award for one of his mining equipment designs.

The Bloomfields built the business up over 36 years before retiring only six years ago.

Mrs Bloomfield said that throughout her husband’s illness the community support she received was something she never took for granted.

“The community has been fantastic, from the ambulance staff, the Shoalhaven Hospital emergency staff and the staff in Medical A Ward. I was so impressed with that hospital,” she said.

Mr Bloomfield was a believer in being an active member of his community and Mrs Bloomfield is continuing that legacy.

She is a member of the ITEC board in Wollongong, Shoalhaven Business Chamber, South Coast Correctional Centre Consultative Committee, and the Greenwell Point Hospital Auxiliary.