Ashley Ashwood Tribute

Just want to send my deepest sympathies to the whole family. Uncle Ash was larger than life,such an inspiration to me in my teen years. I got my interest in photography from him. I am so very sad. He really lived his life,in every sense. I am sorry I wasn't a better nephew. Rob x

One of my best memories of Ashley was at Dick's Last Resort in Dallas, TX. He was on some photo trip with BCal that landed in Dallas where my husband and I lived so we suggested Dick's as a place to meet for dinner (along with about 10 or so of the British crew).

Ashley was VERY fond of Texas barbeque since the very first time my father introduced him to the Salt Lick in the Texas hill country. The Ashwoods' summer visits to our place in Fischer, Texas were the highlight of my father's last few years -- Daddy used to start saying in about February, "When are the English coming?"

Well, that night at Dick's, Ashley was all the way at one end of the long table and Norris and I were at the other. There was a lot of noise and laughter, and Norris was hard-pressed to understand a word these Brits were saying. He just stared in awe at this world-traveled Englishman, Ashley, eating a rib with barbeque sauce literally from ear to ear on this face. At one point, Ashley took the rib bone and used it to wipe the sauce from his cheeks. Norris was 100% Texan as well as a Paris-trained French Chef. He took great pride in telling this story over and over again to pretentious foodies we'd meet.

All those little memories of Ashley's zest for life will never be lost in my mind. I find them every now and then and they not only make me smile, but they become expert tour guides to many other good memories..........

Peter Marsh got it right. Ash really did have a lugubrious sense of humor.

When I last saw Ash, I told him the story of a dreadful train trip I had taken the previous winter. 15 hours in a Soviet train, with not one second of sleep, primarily due to the blast furnace heating system that guaranteed a minimum temperature of 32 degrees and 90% humidity in our sauna-like coupes.

The situation could not be remedied by opening our windows, since they were sealed shut.

"British Rail have done the same thing here!" said Ash.

"Really? That's news to me!" I replied, not realizing that I was being set up.

"Oh yeah," said Ash. "They began sealing the windows because so many people were throwing themselves off the trains because of what Tony Blair has done to this country!"

Thanks, Ash. Glad I could provide you with an opportunity for a great, impromptu joke.

I have known Ashley all of my life as we are cousins. His mother made my christening gown. His dad was my mother’s brother. His mother’s sister and family lived here in Melbourne and we knew them quite well. Ashley must have had a lot of patience as I recall that his photo that launched his career with the Daily Mirror was of a pigeon laying an egg and he waited patiently for hours for the egg to be laid. Ash as he was affectionately known visited my wife and I in Australia during a CHOGM meeting that the Queen opened here in Melbourne on a working holiday. He visited Western Australia where he was introduced to Billy tea, a tea that he really enjoyed. He loved making with our two sons damper bread in our back garden this was another taste that he really enjoyed. Whilst his visit was brief due to his working commitments we had a good time together. He took black and white photos of the family and myself at this time and over the time as letters turned to emails and film turned to digital cameras we have kept in touch on the net over the years. He asserted that if the Queens photographer can take pictures in digital so can I. On a few visits to England over the last four years I have managed to catch up with him either ay Badgers Oast or at Rotherhithe. I enjoyed meeting Babs, Lee and also Ian and Isobel’s children, Ashley’s grandchildren and when he took me there to see them he seemed to me to be very contented in the granddad role. I will relate to you my latest telephone call that I had with Ashley, as the time differences are a factor when making a call to England. I was looking at the clock to work out the time that it was England. The time differences change usually is when the clocks go back an hour in England the clocks go forward an hour in Australia. Not this year our clocks went forward an hour a month earlier this year. To cut things short before I could get to the phone it rings and on the line was Ashley. Very spooky!
We will miss Ashley as a friend and a cousin.

Ashley adored his two grandchildren, Amelia (3) and Carmen (1) and loved spending the day with them every Thursday. Ashley was always stoic of character but at the same time obviously loving and generous towards his granddaughters. Although they are too young to understand we have tried to explain that Granddad is a star in the sky now and we hope that we will be able to keep his memory alive for them as they grow up.