Cousin Ringo
Richard Starkey, or Ringo was the oldest of the Beatles. The name Starkey has its origins in the Shetland Isles.
Ringo's mum, Elsie Gleave got married to his father, Richard Starkey in 1936. They both worked at the same bakery in Liverpool. She was short blonde and stocky.
When they were married they lived with Ringo's fathers parents in the Dingle area. The roughest part of liverpool was deemed to be Scotland Road, next was the Dingle. Its not far from the old dockland part of Liverpool, not as posh as were Paul, John and George grew up.
Ringo said about Dingle 'A lot of people in little boxes trying to get out'. If you came from the Dingle other people from Liverpool would say your bound to be a hard case, which was often not true.
Richard and Elsie Starkey got a little house just before Ringo was born. The house was at number 9 Madryn Street, a grim row of two-storyed terraced houses. They had a bigger house, three up and three down instead of the usual two up and two down. The rent in 1940 was 14s.10d. a week.
Although there's a rumour that Ringo's great-grandmother was fairly well off but 'we've always been just an ordinary working-class family on both sides.'
'But me mother's was very really poor. She had fourteen kids'
Ringo was born just after midnight on the 7th of July 1940, at number 9 Madryn Street. A week late, delivered by forcepts and weighed 10 pounds. His eyes were open, looking all around. His mother told the neighbours that he must have been here before in a previous incarnation.
Who'ed ever think that a lad from these humble beginings would become the drummer of the most well known and sucessfull band in the world and make meditation popular through the Beatles learning to meditate from the great Indian spiritual teacher, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi who had a spiritual retreat in Rishikesk India (Davies 1968)
(To be continued)