The Days of Wine and Roses  By E.C. Dowson 

                                                      They are not long,
                                                      The weeping and the laughter,
                                                      Love and desire and hate.
                                                      I think they have no portion in us, after, we pass the gate.

                                                      They are not long,
                                                      The days of wine and roses,
                                                      Out of misty dreams,
                                                      Our paths merge for a while,
                                                      Then close within a dream.

It was in September 2001 when I began teaching a Year 4 class at Longmeadow Junior School that I first met Ralph.

Ralph was the Deputy Chair of Governors and also did supply teaching within the school. With my son Jamie either often ill, or having to attend various hospitals and other medical appointments, and as a returnee teacher, having to attend refresher courses, Ralph was often called upon to step in and do supply cover for my class. We found that we had similar interests in art and history but although I always thought that I had a fairly good knowledge of these subjects, what Ralph knew about the Battles during various Wars was quite simply amazing. He was, as they say “a fountain of knowledge”, having visited many of the battle sites.
 Over the years Ralph became a family friend becoming almost like part of our family, even visiting my aunt and uncle, another Mr. and Mrs. Davies who lived in Torquay, near to where Ralph’s former neighbour and friend Anne was living in Newton Abbotts. Ralph and my uncle also shared interests of serving in the RAF during their National Service and of course Welsh history.
Ralph enjoyed good food and was an accomplished cook, I am sure that there are many more friends like my husband Jim and myself who enjoyed Rib-eye steak a la Davies. Ralph also loved red wine and was quite a connoisseur. He also liked to own fast cars and his pride and joy was his Subaru. We will never forget when he came to visit us one day and parked his car outside our house, just as a group of teenage boys were walking up the road.
“Cor Mister, is that YOUR car?” they shouted.
To which Ralph very proudly responded “Yes, as a matter of fact it is!”
Ralph loved to travel and tried to visit as many countries as possible during his lifetime, spell bounding any listener about his latest cruise or trip. There could not have been very many places left in the world that he had not visited, perhaps more than once. He loved travelling around the USA and was completely smitten with New Zealand, apart from the fact that there were so few cars on the roads. I am very sure that had his health remained strong he would have loved to have visited even more had he been able to, including the moon; such was his thirst for adventure.
It was during one of these magical touring holidays in the USA that Ralph met Pam, who brought joy, and love back into his life. Ralph had always been a very talented and gifted artist and I think his artwork improved because of meeting and marrying Pam. Theirs was a meeting of two minds and Pam brought out the very best in Ralph, who had been so lonely for so many years. So one of the cruellest results of his final illness was the fact that he lost his ability to paint, read, talk and even communicate.
As a family, Clan Paterson will miss Ralph so very much and we will always treasure his memory.
He was without doubt a very special teacher, artist and friend, that Welshman from Aberdare.
 From Julie, Jim and Jamie Paterson   (Stevenage, Hertfordshire)