When it comes to the cream of the crop, we’ve got them on our team! We’re so proud to have some of the top experts in their fields as part of the Ramsey Bros family — including the one and only Craig ‘Radish’ Furnell, our Wudinna Service Manager. For 37 years, Radish has provided second-to-none servicing for our clients and is well-known across the Eyre Peninsula for his down-to-earth nature.
But just because we respect our experts, doesn’t stop us from having a chuckle when they’re involved in a good yarn! And there’s no one better placed to share a yarn about Radish, than his good mate Dennis Heath.
Not only is Dennis the owner of Heath’s Transport (a preferred transport supplier for Ramsey Bros), the Heath family is also a long-standing customer of our Wudinna Branch — purchasing farm machinery, spare parts and utilising Rad’s expertise in the workshop for the family farm at Kyancutta. Add to the mix Dennis and Radish being regulars at the Wudinna Pub and you could say he knows him pretty well! We got the low-down on the one time the ‘unshakeable Radish’ got shook.
“Radish is a very loyal and hard worker — he’d work all day, every day and is never keen to knock off until the job is done. Nothing much flusters him (except maybe, harvest) and at the end of a long day, you couldn’t find a better bloke to enjoy a West End with,” Dennis says.
“Ramsey Bros’ service is a big part of why we’ll keep working them for many years to come. Heading up their service department in Wudinna, Radish plays a big part in this. But just ‘cos he’s good at his job, that won’t stop me ribbing him for a move he made when off the tools a few years ago,” Dennis begins.
“The SA Variety Bash was coming through town and Rad was working on a local car to get it ready for the event. He’d mucked around with it in the workshop and thought we should take it for a ride to see how it was running. Of course, it was also a good excuse to hang out, so we packed an esky with beers and stuff to have a barbie out in the scrub.
“We’d hardly got out of town when the car started to overheat, so we had to pull over and Radish jumped out to have a look. Now, probably the first thing you learn as a mechanic is not to ever take a radiator cap off when a car’s overheating… but I think Rad’s eyes must’ve been on the esky because he did exactly that and burnt his hand to a crisp!” Dennis recalls.
“I couldn’t believe it. Such a rookie error for someone who knows their craft back to front. The only thing we could do was put it in the esky until we got him to a hospital. Once the shock subsided, I think he was pretty mad with himself but there’s no doubt it’s only the kind of mistake he could make when there was beer and a barbie on the line! I’m certain if he’d been on the clock, it wouldn’t have happened,” Dennis says.
“Still, that’s not going to stop us taking the piss out of him for it… or for ripping him for the time he rocked up to my mum’s funeral wearing two completely different shoes,” Dennis laughs.
Radish is not only a local legend, but over the journey has become one of the industry’s most respected Service advisers. We’re honored to have Rad as such a special part of the Ramsey Bros story — and to be able partner with other great local business such as Heath’s Transport, is the icing on this West End flavored cake.
