Peter - thank you.

I've been mulling over this anonymous tripe all morning, trying to
formulate a balanced reply, and couldn't have put it better.

Business is business - simply that. Live with it..!

Al



At 13:30 20 March 2009, Peter Purdie wrote:
And your point is?

Ralph had a business to run. He wouldn't have bought the canopy on a
whim to inconvenence a pilot, he would have a glider to repair to make
money so he could fly. Your lady friend had a range of choices,
including going to the Scleicher agents or Mecaplex, but took the quick,
easy (and by your accounts expensive) route. And knowing Ralph, got a
quality repair.

For everyone who found Ralph 'difficult' you will find another who has
at times benefitted from his remarkable generosity to someone whom he
though had their heart in flying.

The massive attandance at last Tuesday's funeral says much more about
Ralph than the rather petty post below.

And I at least post under my own name.

Peter Purdie

At 12:12 20 March 2009, The Real Doctor wrote:
On 9 Mar, 12:30, Walter Kahn wrote:
Very sadly Ralph Jones, one of the 'greats' of British Gliding died
in
hospital early on Sunday morning.

A truly remarkable man. The first I heard of him was from a Lasham
pilot who owned a K6e and had the misfortune to break the canopy in a
field landing. As soon as she got home she rang Bob Reece (Rematic) to
buy a new one, only to find that he had none in stock and couldn't
make one for a considerable while. He /had/ had one in stock, but
Ralph Jones had bought it just an hour or so before.

So she rang Ralph - who had, of course, heard of the damage through
the Lasham grapevine. Delightfully and helpfully he offered to sell
her the one he had just bought, the only one available in Britain. At
a one hundred percent markup. Plus fitting charge, although she was
perfectly capable of fitting it herself.

The result - she was hundreds of pounds out of pocket and had to
curtail her gliding activity for a year as a result.

Ian