Tributes paid to former Liberal Party candidate

Falkland Cricket Club’s ‘sadness’ at death of vice chairman Tony Richards

ONE of Falkland Cricket Club’s vice presidents and a former Liberal Party parliamentary candidate for Newbury has died.

Tony Richards died just before Christmas, at the age of 73, after a sudden brain haemorrhage.

Mr Richards was a popular figure at Falkland and in Newbury too, and the cricket club expressed its sadness of his death.

A statement on the club’s website said: "It is with great sadness that Falkland Cricket Club has learnt of the sudden passing just before Christmas of one of its vice presidents, Tony Richards.

"Tony moved to the area when he was adopted as the Liberal Party candidate, standing unsuccessfully in the 1979 and 1983

"A keen cricketer who represented his native Merionethshire, now part of Gwynedd, at junior level, Tony turned out regularly for the West Berks Liberals team and formed a strong friendship with many local cricketers.

"He continued to keep in touch with and support Falkland Cricket Club as a vice president after he moved away from the area, and at the time of his death was back living in Wales.

"He will be remembered with great affection by many of the older members who knew him."

Mr Richards was well-known by many across the area and his partner Carol was touched to have received so many calls and emails.

She said: "I’ve received so many emails and phone calls from people I’ve known, and those I’ve never met, with condolences but more than that – their thoughts about Tony.

"Through all these communications, three things stand out – patience, kindness and courage. These he held in abundance.

"I feel so proud to have known and been loved by him.

"I will carry Tony in my heart now and in the years to come and where I go, I know he will be there with me, his kind, gentle and patient spirit guiding me until we are together once more."

Peter George, another close friend of Mr Richards, added: "I knew Tony well for a time through cricket and the strong ethical and moral background to his life was visible in all my dealings with him.

"He was a good, warm and sociable man."

Russell Thomas met Mr Richards when the pair took part in voluntary service in Sudan 50 years ago and they remained good friends up until his death.

Mr Thomas said: "My family and I will remember Tony for his humility, his humour and his compassion.

"He was good company, he could entertain us with light-hearted anecdotes and then challenge us with profound analysis.

"He could grip our attention with his own conversation one minute, and slip into the role of a patient and sympathetic listener the next.

"He was quietly spoken, he never needed to raise his voice because when he spoke you listened and you listened carefully because what he had to say was worth hearing."

Conservative MP Sir Malcolm Thornton knew Mr Richards when the latter ran his own public affairs consultancy in London (Keene Public Affairs), after he stepped down as Liberal candidate for Newbury.

He said: "Together, we shared both the highs and lows of each other’s lives.

"For Ro and me, a great high was when Tony and Carol got together.

"They were so right for each other and Tony was enormously proud of Carol’s considerable achievements.

"Most importantly, he loved her very much and it is a tragedy that their time together has been cut short in this way."