Ralph given date for his BEM Award

Ralph tells us that he has now received his official invitation for the award of his much deserved Medal of the British Empire, which was announced in the Birthday 2018 Honours List.

The ceremony will take place at Tatton Hall at 2:30pm on Wednesday 7 November 2018 and his medal will be presented to him by the Lord-Lieutenant of Cheshire, Mr David Briggs MBE.

Ralph may be accompanied by 4 guests who will be his three sons and a life-long friend. Suits will be worn and Ralph intends to do a "Gareth Southgate" and sport a waistcoat!!

Ralph tells us that he understands that he will also be invited to a Garden Party at Buckingham Palace in the summer of 2019 to which he may take one guest who he has decided will be his eldest grand-daughter. He remarks in passing that he will be required to kit her out with some new clothes for the occasion!!

The British Empire Medal is an award exclusively for Commonwealth citizens who have demonstrated an outstanding commitment to the service of their local community, and is richly deserved by "our Ralph".

Since gaining news of the award, Ralph has gleaned some background as to how it came about and he is in awe of the work done by two Audlem residents Helen Lloyd and Stephanie Richardson who worked with his son Jonathan to produce the background information required for consideration by the Awards Committee. Helen and Stephanie modestly assert that the task was made easier by the help they obtained from villagers keen to contribute a tribute to Ralph.

This article is from our news archive. As a result pictures or videos originally associated with it may have been removed and some of the content may no longer be accurate or relevant.