IT WAS a tragedy that Ralph Millward never truly discovered what a cherished member of the community he was.

The outpouring of grief and the poignancy of tributes following his death proved how many lives the popular Big Issue seller had touched.

Ralph, 41, had become Westbourne’s most familiar face, taking up his pitch outside Marks and Spencer come rain or shine.

He had been a fixture of people’s days for the best part of a decade, always finding time for a chat, or “shooting the breeze”, as he put it.

Tributes paid to Ralph in the wake of his untimely death remembered a “gentleman” and an “integral part of the community”.

Hundreds of people gathered in Westbourne for Ralph's thanksgiving service, see video below.

Others recalled his “great warmth and spirit” and “polite and cheery” manner.

Ralph was also a renowned bookworm and could always be found with his head buried in a novel when he wasn’t selling his magazines.

Samantha Allen, the Big Issue’s Bournemouth area manager, said Ralph would roll into their office at five to four each day “with a smile on his face and his nose in a book”.

A remembrance service for Ralph brought Westbourne to a standstill, with hundreds turning out in an extraordinary show of affection.

Despite his easy-going nature, Ralph’s life had not been an easy one.

Brought up in Lichfield, Staffordshire, he followed in his dad’s footsteps in working as a machine operator at the Dunlop factory.

But his alcoholism cost him his job and ultimately his family, and he started living on the streets when his parents moved Bournemouth in the late 1990s.

Dad Ken Millward said though Ralph was not “an ideal son” he never stopped loving him.