Ricky Tyrrell
Vocals
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Richard (Ricky) Tyrrell - what I have been up to over the last 45 yrs After I left The Presidents I just bummed around for a few years, no career jobs until I met my future wife, Mascha, and decided that I’d better get my act together. She was working for De Beers, got me an interview, and what I intended to be short term job to get a mortgage lasted 28yrs. I joined in February 1968 and we got married in September. We bought a house near Woking and had to sell our car to be able to afford the mortgage. Times got easier and we moved to Walton-on-Thames, before I started to travel abroad for the company. In 1972 and 1977 I took a long term posting in Africa and Mascha left work. We did that for two years and had our daughter Lisa, but Mascha, who wasn’t enjoying life In Africa with a young baby, decided that it was time to return to England, and we moved to Claygate. I worked in London for a few years and we moved again, to Thames Ditton. I was then fortunate to get a contract which enabled me to travel back and forth to Zaire on my own, without disrupting Lisa’s schooling. I bought the government’s diamond production from 1983 to 1996 (147 trips), and managed to get early retirement at 52. I did occasionally sing in a nightclub in Kinshasha, called the Piano Bar, with a band called The Bobongo All Stars, who were a truly talented group of musicians. It was a great deal of fun. We then moved into some converted kilns in Hampshire and in 1998 I was approached to do some work for a newly formed company doing valuations for various governments and mines, so over the last ten years I have travelled to Canada, the USA, Australia, South Africa, South America, Lesotho, Singapore, Russia and Europe. Our Head Office is in London but we do valuations and tenders from our offices in Belgium. We have a good social and sporting life but I gave up my great sporting passion – water skiing – and took up golf which I find surprisingly enjoyable and challenging. Lisa (30yrs) got a decent degree but seems to do a number of jobs, one of which is disc-jockeying in a club. Mascha is an avid gardener and paints in both water colours and oils. She keeps fit at dancing classes and indoor tennis. We have a house in France which Lisa and Mascha go to often but I have only stayed there a few times due to travel commitments. I have done some singing over the years with a variety of bands, and like Eddy, I don’t have much interest in modern groups. My music collection contains Bobby Darin, Ray Charles, The Eagles, Supertramp, E.L.O., Johnny(Guitar)Watson, Led Zeppelin, Deodato, Santana, Jimi Hendrix, Santana, Police , Sting, Jerry Lee Lewis and others, plus a range of jazz ,blues and some classical. My father died in 1977, my mother in 1999, and Mascha has lost both of her parents so we are a couple of poor orphans. We seem to be pretty content after 41yrs together although we have different interests. My health seems ok and until I look in a mirror I still feel young, which is pretty sad really, but I did decide at the age of 60 not to give in to middle age and started exercising every day with the result that I lost 16lbs over a six month period and feel much fitter and trimmer. Even with my recent right knee replacement I still manage a daily workout. I was in Round Table and travelled all over Europe and made lasting friends, and as we are only 30 miles from where we lived, we still see them regularly. I drive a 4x4 because I find sitting up higher more comfortable while Mascha charges around in a cabriolet but doesn’t often put the roof down because she says it ruins her hairstyle. I dare say you get the same kind of logic from your other- halves. In conclusion, I learnt to speak french for business which is handy for our property in France, but as I learnt it in Africa I get some strange looks from the locals in France. To compound the problem our region is Catalan which isn’t straightforward French but I seem to make myself understood. My English is still as rich in "Anglo-Saxon" as ever, but I do seem to have more patience these days.
R.T. 2008 |