Nearly fifty close friends and relatives gathered yesterday afternoon on a sunny day at the property
Lockyersleigh near Goulbourn to celebrate the life of the late Bill Ranken latterly known as a social photographer covering the Sydney scene. Bill led two lives, weekdays in Sydney at his Elizabeth Bay apartment and on alternate weekends he would travel to his beloved Lockyersleigh where he was raised, to plant and water trees, stock lakes with ducks and tend to cattle and sheep. Lockyersleigh is regarded as one of NSW 's most desirable country estates and has been in the Ranken family for 3 generations. Now managed by Ranken's nephew Matthew Onions, it has award winning gardens that are open to the public at various times and Bill was rightly proud of the estate. Most guests at yesterday's get-together were the sort of country folk Bill had known all his life, the backbone of the rural community. Amongst city visitors, Di Hamil, public relations expert Deidre O'Loghlin, model agent Grant Dwyer and newspaper executive Cristian King who had nursed Bill during his final days.
