Ralph Maudsley lost his fight with cancer on Friday 19th January 2007 this had been a hard fight and he will be sadly missed not only by his wife Olga but also by all of us. Many of the ringers in this area knew Ralph as up front teller of jokes and funny stories. However, he had many facets, husband, Son and Brother are obvious, but also singer, songwriter, bell ringer and friend. Behind this veneer was a modest unassuming surprise ringer who told you he could not ring surprise. A conductor that let others do all that conducting. He only had time to ring a few peals, but had rung many quarters over the years. He got far more pleasure from an ordinary practice night. A time when he could help with his wit and wisdom. Ralph rang many methods and had one favourite method, Grandsire; yes even Ralph had his faults. It was in St John's Hospice at Clatterbridge Hospital that Ralph passed away. He asked that any donations should be sent to the hospice, not flowers at the church. We can imagine him saying, "what's the use of a pile of dead flowers". About 500 yards from the hospice is a garage and car sales firm, they gave Ralph his first job in the motor trade. His primary School motto was "if a job's worth doing, it's worth doing well" this must have become Ralph's motto. No-matter if it was fixing a car, splicing a rope, working on bellframes, or tuning organs. It also applied to his ringing, as he was a reliable and competent member of any band. Ralph first learned to ring at St Andrew's Bebington. His sister and brother, who both sang in the choir, had informed him that new ringers were required. Mrs Poole gave up her time to teach all of the young ringers and she took us all out to meetings this is when Ralph and I found we had the same sense of humour. We had many escapades together, some I could tell you about. Bowman's of Bebington was the place that Ralph trained as a motor mechanic. He later went to the police station at Bromborough, not as a felon, but as a qualified motor mechanic. He worked his way up to running the operation. This was not an easy task as it was an amalgamation of five police forces. Between the two jobs he was asked to run the car hire section of Bowman's. Excellent job with the free use of any car left over. But few can imagine Ralph behind a desk, in a posh suit, twiddling his thumbs. The job did not last long, Bowman's car hire drove him up to Bromborough. Ralph had been a member of the Y.H.A. and the local youth club. In his teens he joined the Auxiliary Fire Service at film Road. They are responsible for his quirky sense of humour; as it was half full of some wacky people. He also became a Special Constable at Bebington. Both the Police and the Fire Brigade have one thing in common: they give every one a nickname, and so did Ralph. Most of the Wirral Branch has one and many of them deserve it. I will not tell you why and spoil Ralph's joke. It was about this time in his life that he saw the local petite damsel and swept her of her feet. They were married at St Andrew's Bebington and had a very happy life together. Even Olga was given a nickname, but only Ralph could use this. Local ringers will recall Ralph did move about a bit, Bebington, Port Sunlight and Heswall. But he was better known for his disappearing act. Most winters he would hibernate. Not to idle his time away, it was spent with his collection of guitars and banjos accumulated from over the years. He wrote songs and at one time played in a band, a beat group. Again in the background on the bass, holding the group together. Some of us will remember Merseyside Police getting a computer system that did not work as well as it should have. Suffice to say that Ralph thought the designer had been "born out of wedlock". It was no shock to find that Ralph did not like spending his days arguing with a laptop. He took early retirement and the next day looked ten years younger. If you arranged a ringing trip it was very handy to take Ralph. A competent ringer, a good supply of jokes and funny stories. If you were lucky, he took a banjo and you could have a singsong. More important you also got the Maudsley rope splicing kit; this helped us out just the other year. After he left the police he worked with his friend John Lifton repairing and restoring church organs. This was an excellent time for Ralph, not because of his mechanical knowledge assisting the work, not even his musical prowess helping tune an organ. It was a big new audience for all the many jokes and tall stories. Now all over the area we all have a Ralph joke, a Maudsley memory, and a story to remember. Some are true, some are not so true, but remember them, and I will not spoil Ralph's joke and tell you the few that are so tall the moon has to make a detour What Ralph would like you all to remember is that his jokes were meant for you to have a good laugh with him for as long as you can, but only cry over his demise for as short a time as you can.

Randle Tinkler May 2007

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