Heartbroken tributes to Accrington school caretaker 'Mr Ralph' whose smile 'would light up a room'

Tributes have poured in for a well-known and 'sociable' granddad from Accrington.

Ralph Jones passed away on Easter Sunday at the age of 78. Born on Union Road in Oswaldtwistle to Tom and Doris Jones, he was the third of six children.

After getting married to Sandra in 1966, the couple had three children - Natalie, Alex and Debbie.

On leaving school, Ralph he took up a job in the textile industry and in 1965, he joined Enfield Manufacturing as a Cloth Inspector and worked there for around 40 years.

His daugher, Debbie Foskett told LancsLive her dad was well-known for working as a caretaker at St Mary Magdalene's School after moving back to the area. He was at the Accrington school from 2005 until 2008.

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Here, the children affectionally dubbed him "Mr Ralph" as a term of endearment. Debbie continued: "Even my mum, if she's in town now she'll sometimes get, oh hello Mrs Ralph! It's really lovely."

In 1998, Ralph had a knee replacement and his daughter says he was "never quite the same" and lost most of his mobility. Despite this, he was still active within the community, as he volunteered at the mobility shop in Accrington's Arndale, until the coronavirus pandemic hit in 2020.

"He was a very sociable man, everybody knew him," Debbie said. "You knew if you went into town with him, it couldn't just be a flying visit because everyone and his dog would stop him.

"They wanted to say hello to him and chat with him. He was very well-known in Accrington and Oswaldtwistle when we grew up."

Away from work, Ralph was known in the area for his social life too and got to know many residents from joining the local slimming club. "He just enjoyed the camaraderie of going, getting weighed and having a chat," Debbie said.

"Because he was one of about six men in the class, he was the biggest flirt on the planet - he would flirt with anybody and he just loved it. He loved the attention. Even the lady that runs the class, called Marissa, she would always call him 'Ralphy Baby', that was her nickname for him. Just everywhere he went, he would light up a room.

"He was never miserable, he was never down. He always had a smile for everybody. Everybody knew him because he was just such a friendly guy."

In February 2023, Ralph was moved to Pendle Brook care home after multiple falls, which initially was only meant to be a temporary move to "get him back on his feet." Unfortunately, Ralph deteriorated with his mobility and up until his passing, he remained in the home.

Debbie explained: "I think towards the end, it was a relief that he was out of pain and out of suffering. It was distressing to see him.

"Unfortunately because he was in a care home and they did do daily activities, but towards the end he wasn't very happy with being in the home. He kept asking my mum when he could go home and when he could drive the car, so his mind was going a little bit towards the end as well.

"He was mistaking my siblings for other people as well, my sister for my mum and my brother for his brother, but because I didn't see him that often because of where I live, he seemed to remember me every time I went - he knew who I was, which distressed the other two because they were like, well what has she got that I haven't?"

Ralph's funeral will take place at Accrington Crematorium on Wednesday, April 17 at 1pm. Instead of flowers, the family ask for donations to be made to their Just Giving page and the money raised will go to their chosen charity, CMT UK.