In Memory of
Ralph Edward Dawes
02 . 08 . 1933 – 01 . 06 . 2024
Dear Amanda and Jonathon
The news of Ralph’s leaving us was devastating.
The committee wishes me to write, from the Company, words of condolences but my efforts pall into insignificance when wordsmiths have put the appropriate sentiments to paper ahead of me.
WS wrote “Now cracks a noble heart. Good night, sweet prince, and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest”.
And someone observed “when someone passes, you now have an angel you can call by name”
Everyone has an appreciative word for your Dad’s many years given to the Company and I know the Community Centre has paid their own tribute.
May Ralph Rest in Peace
Dated June 13 2024 – Honorary Secretary
“The End of a Wick Era” – Ray Hopper
The death of Ralph certainly marks the end of an era for the Wick, as he was the last surviving founder member, having made an immense contribution to Wick life.
Over 76 years he was involved in 144 main productions, of which he acted in 101, directed 9, and was either set designer and constructor, stage manager or in various technical roles on a further 64, meaning he had dual roles in several productions. In addition, he was involved as actor or director in dozens of one act productions, either in competitive festivals or charitable or fund-raising events. He was also heavily involved in the administration of the Company, at various times being a committee member, Workshop manager, Treasurer and more recently our President.
His daughter, Amanda, asked in her splendid eulogy at the July 5 funeral, “How do you distil a life of 90 years without missing out key moments?” We have the same problem in this piece trying to cover his Wick life, and will only be able to skim the surface.
Let us start with some excerpts from Amanda’s eulogy.
After the war, he joined Fishersgate’s Unity Youth Club. Betty, his future wife, was also a member. Having seen an American theatre company at the Brighton Hippodrome, Betty asked Mr. Mepham, the Youth Club leader, if they could start a drama club. He asked Molly Penney and Peter Elder of the Southwick Players to help. The Unity Players was formed.
Ralph was 16 when he performed in their first production of Four One Act plays. They soon changed their name to the Young Wick Players, and as they grew up dropped the word “Young” and became the Wick Theatre Company.
Ralph and Betty remained heavily involved with all aspects of Wick productions. Rehearsals were mainly held at the home of Molly Penney, 26 Church Lane[1]. With the support of her husband George, they both encouraged and mentored the Young Company.
In the late 1950s, Ralph and Betty started to “go out” with each other. After an argument on a stormy day, with Betty running out into the rain, Ralph proposed. They were married at St. Peter’s Church in Fishersgate on 15th August 1959. They started married life in a lovely flat above Betty’s father’s butcher’s shop in Boundary Road, Portslade.
Betty fell pregnant with their first child, only to discover that two other Wick couples were also expecting. The three babies were born within a few days of each other, leading to the well-known story of “Wick’s triple production”.
The three children, Amanda, Mark and Charles, got together with Ralph last year to celebrate their 60th Birthdays.
Amanda went on to tell us of the growing family’s moves to different houses, ending up at 16 Park Lane[2], which became frequently filled with rehearsals and celebrations.
While running his own roofing business, Ralph got himself on the books of the “Ugly” agency, specialising in providing extras for film and TV. He did a few high-profile campaigns, one of which saw him on the advertising boards on the underground, which was slightly disconcerting for those of us working in London at the time. He was also an extra on the Paul Merton comedy show and a model for M&S.
He was a keen and accomplished sportsman, and trained as a line judge for Wimbledon, as well as playing football, cricket and hockey. In addition to acting, he enjoyed singing with the chorus of Southwick Opera, often in productions directed by Betty. He was always very involved with Southwick Community Centre and proud to be involved in the redevelopment of The Barn in the late 1990s.”
So, time to embark on the impossible task of covering his immense body of Wick work.
I think the best I can do is offer a few personal memories, and leave it to other members to fill in gaps which are important to them, at another time.
I first met Ralph in early 1957 when I joined the Young Wick Players aged 16. He and I were both cast in The Happiest Days of Your Life. Ralph played the juvenile lead as handsome young Dick Tassell. He was delighted when I asked him to play the old school caretaker Rainbow in our 2007 version marking my 50th anniversary with the Wick.
Ralph enjoyed telling a good story and, as we mentioned at the funeral, I was soon hearing about the door which wouldn’t stay shut in 1954’s Ghost Train and the episode with older brother Mike in Rookery Nook when they jumped from Act One to Act Three and back again twice, leading to Mike walking off stage leaving Ralph to improvise alone. Mike never appeared for Wick again! Later on, we were both onstage in Mr. Bolfry with the umbrella which refused to leave the stage, which became another regular tale. He guided my early attempts at direction with a joint production of Sleeping Partnership in 1960, and we enjoyed a very productive and successful time in the mid-1960s with his productions of The Crucible and the Southwick festival winning productions of first The Private Ear followed by The Public Eye.
He wrote a very kind memory of The Crucible rehearsals in his 90th birthday celebration piece for the Newsletter last year. As others noted at the funeral, he was a delight to work with, a very “giving” actor, as Barrie Bowen described him, and a wise and perceptive director.
For those of us involved in them, our various productions of Philip King’s Sailor series became a great favourite, and twice coincided with important Wick landmarks. Firstly, Sailor Beware in 1959, with Ralph’s perfectly timed performance as the henpecked Henry Hornett, escaping the wrath of his wife Emma, again perfectly played by Ralph’s wife Betty, by retiring to his shed to attend to his ferrets. Barrie and I were the sailors and Betty Elliott an absolute hoot as the batty Aunt Edie. We particularly remembered Ralph’s skill in animating his beloved ferret Rosie, and his triumphant inebriated hornpipe after finally standing up to Emma and going to the pub with the boys.
After the Southwick production, we performed it to the inmates and staff of Hellingly mental hospital, which was the source of more tales for Ralph to tell, including our stage vicar walking back to the distant dressing room and being asked for a pastoral visit by one of the patients.
November 1962, saw us present the sequel, Watch it, Sailor, with 7 of the same cast. This was our first production as The Wick Theatre Company. Then it was decided that our hundredth production in May 1979 should be a rerun of Sailor Beware, this time with 6 of the original cast. This was only made possible by Clodagh Riedl, now living in Austria, returning to the UK for an extended holiday to rehearse and play the character of Chief Bridesmaid Daphne Pink.
The author was President of the Southwick Players at the time, and attended a couple of our rehearsals, but sadly died before the production.
Finally, to celebrate the life of our beloved Betty at her memorial concert in July 2017, Ralph and Amanda asked the four other surviving members of the original cast, now in their 80s, to perform a short excerpt with Amanda standing in for Betty. Once again, Clodagh joined us from Austria. Remarkably, we found that we could remember our lines from 60 years earlier, despite having difficulty remembering what we did yesterday! Ralph at 84 had lost none of his stage presence and skills.
At the funeral Amanda reminded us of Ralph’s love for a social gathering. In recent times a small group of friends met as “The Archive Committee” to have a good old chat about anything Wick and to help Peter Joyce in his incredible efforts to make our online archive as comprehensive as possible. Ralph asked that any donations in his memory should be allocated to this work on the archive.
He also loved attending our monthly social mornings whenever possible and remarkably continued having French conversation classes until a few weeks before his death.
There is so much I have had to leave out. Nearly 140 productions didn’t get a mention! If you have a special memory of Ralph which you would like to share why not submit something to a future edition of this newsletter?
In Sailor Beware, Ralph and Barrie had an exchange of dialogue which went, “Hello Pop” and “How are you son?”, which they, and I, continued to greet each other with. So, as it was at the funeral, it’s time to say, with a naval salute, “Goodbye Pop, and thank you.”
Ray Hopper
In memory of Ralph Dawes – Claire Wiggins
I am very sorry that I am unable to attend Ralphs funeral today. I have very fond memories of Ralph ever since he welcomed me into the Wick Theatre 35 years ago when I played the part of Jane Eyre. Ralph was relaxed funny and warm but my abiding memory of him (and related to the reason why I cannot be here today) is how he indirectly secured me work as a model.
About 30 years ago I remember Ralph telling me that he worked as a fitting-model. He worked directly for Marks and Spencer’s and he explained it involved trying on clothes that were under development and feeding back to the designers about their fit and feel. I thought at the time that I would like to do something similar when I had more time so after stopping work three years ago, I applied to Artemis Fitting Models. During my interview the owner of the company told me that my measurements were not sufficiently standard to make much fitting work likely but would I consider photographic modelling. Initially I thought I was too old and too ordinary for such work but recalled Ralph saying his agency (Uglies) had made him realise there was work for all sorts of looks, ages and characters. And it turned out he was right. I have undertaken more work as a photographic lifestyle model than as a fitting model or film extra. I have enjoyed every minute of the work and was pleased to have told Ralph how instrumental he had been to my post working life when I last saw him.
To me, Ralph was and will always be integral to The Wick Theatre Company. I will never forget his story telling, his quiet encouragement and his sound advice.
Rest in Peace Ralph
[1] Southwick, BN42 4GB
[2] Southwick, BN42 4DL