Ronald Desmond Arnold

“Our memories build a special bridge and bring us peace of mind”

Ron sadly passed away on 10th November 2020 aged 70 years at Leighton Hospital.

He will be so sadly missed by his children, daughter Christobel and his two sons Simon and Andrew.

Ron’s funeral will take place on Thursday 26th November at Crewe Crematorium.

Donations for ‘Mind’ will be very much appreciated in memory of Ron.

Ronald was seventy years young and originated from Wales. He came to Crewe in
his late teens and without a career carved out, Ronald was a jack of all trades,
qualified in none, he would turn his hand to anything, fixing, mending; as they used
to say on Boy’s From the Blackstuff – Giz a job, I can do that!
Always wheeling and dealing and a few deals done in the pub, he was a real tinker,
especially when he was on the bins and took great delight in selling other peoples
rubbish!
Bin man, Bricky, gardener, security guy, taxi driver, licencee, he certainly had a
lengthy CV. He had many funny tales to tell, some of which aren’t repeatable nor
was his language when he got into the flow. One time he was waiting in his taxi for
hours and flippin hours outside Crewe station, waiting for his turn to pick up a fare. A
bloke came out of the station with that many cases, it seemed to take Ronald ages to
load them all up and he thought; well this should be a good one! The chap got in and
asked to be taken to the hotel just opposite the station! Minimum fare and he had to
unload all the cases he had just put in the boot!
Ronald prided himself on getting around in the days before Sat Nav’s when he just
had the knack of finding his way around. Christobel told me, there may have been
times when she didn’t see much of her dad, but she always felt he had her back, she
never had to worry about getting stranded in Crewe; Dad can you get me a taxi and
as if by magic, one of his colleagues would appear! Ronald used to drive the Mayor
of Crewe to different venues and got on so well with him the Mayor bought Ronald a
lighter with his name engraved on it.
Apparently, he often used to finish on the taxis in the early hours and was so wide
awake, he thought nothing of thrashing it across to Wales to see family, ignoring all
the traffic regulations. Christabel was often on a sleepover with her cousin Tracey
and in the days when people left their doors on the latch, Ronald would burst in,
wake all the children up, cause chaos and when the youngsters were well and truly
hyper, he would go to sleep in front of the coal fire!
In his early days he raced stock cars and also had a passion for mechanics. I gather
he was always in the inspection pit or underneath the bonnet of a car in his grubby
overalls and with a filthy face stinking of oil. His unruly hair was tucked under his
bob hat; over the years he may have lost the overalls and oil but his hair remained
unruly! So today he is going on his journey with his bob hat on! And let’s hope there
are no spiders where Ronald is going! He was absolutely petrified of them, well of
anything that crawled or flew and Christobel only realised his phobia when she was
hoovering around and whilst moving the furniture, as most ladies do; she found a
collection of chestnuts scattered in the corners of the rooms and on the windowsills.
Now according to the old wives’ tale, the creatures are repelled by chestnuts so they
keep spiders at bay … safety warning watch your pets as some conkers can be
poisonous!
During lockdown, Ronald still tried to maintain his independence, Christabel bought
him a mobility scooter, he still went to the shops and insisted on paying his bills at
the bank, none of this direct debit malarky for him!