FAMILY TRIBUTE: RICKY AHMED

Our dearest beloved father Dibul Ahmed, also known as Ricky, started his journey in the catering industry by attending a catering school for Indian cooking in Sandhurst in the 1970s. Ricky had opened his first restaurant in Weybridge in 1985 at the age of 18 and then went on to open more restaurants and venture out to many other businesses and never looked back.

Ed: To read more about Ricky, please go to https://wendovernews.co.uk/news/ local-face-ricky-dibul-ahmed/

Throughout his journey he helped and supported many people with their businesses and their personal life. Our father was a convivial person and always loved people hence why he pursued his career in the catering and hospitality industry and created a platform where he was able to do a lot a charity work for the community as well as help individuals raise money for their causes. Charity work was very close to Ricky’s heart supporting Marie Curie Cancer Research, Wendover Harriers Football Club, Aylesbury Rugby Club and many RAF charities.

This flourishing family business continued to grow with the opening of new restaurants across the UK before arriving in Buckinghamshire and discovering the charm of Wendover. Ricky opened The Raj in Wendover in 1996, the exact year his youngest son was born and he always described The Raj as his little baby. The buzzing vibe on a Friday and Saturday night at The Raj is just unforgettable. The atmosphere was full of laughter and good energy and this will truly be missed.

Throughout the lively years of The Raj, Ricky interacted with thousands of people. Through these interactions, people would meet him only once or many times, but he would always leave an indelible mark that connected forever. Ricky was a vibrant part of the Wendover community for 22 exciting years, and he partnered up with the RAF Catering Training School teaching recruits how to cook Indian food and was even a Parish Councillor in Wendover for a while. Ricky was a very optimistic person who was full of positive energy and was always up for a good laugh, his charming ways and smiling face are a pleasure to recall.

Everyone will have their own special memories of our father. For us brothers he was our best friend and mentor, above all he was a gentle, caring and kind father. He was thoughtful and an honest man with strong principles. He had a true gift for communicating and he used it well! Actually, he loved talking to everyone he met and would talk to anyone. It did not matter who they were, it made no difference to him. Everyone was treated with the same respect.

Last year, we were hurt by the sad news that The Raj had to close as the Landlord had decided to take back the property and still to this day we are so heartbroken and we miss all our lovely customers and the people of Wendover, see https://wendovernews.co.uk/print-editions/ April 2019, page 19.

However, this year we faced a much greater tragedy, as, in tears, we watched the most important person in our lives fade away from our life. Our father fought so hard to stay with us, but Coronavirus took him away. The loss of our father is a heavy burden to bear. It will be hard to turn the page, knowing that our beloved father will not be with us in the next chapter of our lives, but we will always remember our father because there will never be another person to replace him in our hearts.

As a family we want to thank you all for the kind messages of support and flowers over the last few weeks. We would like to place on record our heartfelt appreciation to everyone in Wendover who supported our father and The Raj over the years and we shall forever be grateful. In Memory of our father and grandma (Ricky’s mum) we are building a Masjid in Bangladesh for the poor people in the local village, as this is what Ricky would want. The Masjid provides a place for its worshippers to pray and contemplate as well as being a hub for educational programmes and other everyday services. We would be grateful if you could kindly help us reach our target, by generously donating as much as you can. Thank you.

Zubair Ahmed

https://www.gofundme.com/f/to-help-builda-Masjid-in-Bangladesh?utm_source=customer&utm_medium=copy_link-tip&utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet

Other tributes to Ricky can be found at https:// wendovernews.co.uk/news/tribute-ricky-dibulahmed/ and https://wendovernews.co.uk/ print-editions June 2020, page 12.