For Richard, I agree with the great many tributes which use the word "Gentleman." My son, Jonny, sent this to me "A proper gent. He was always so kind when I was a youngster in the club."

In the sadness of Richard's passing I choose to write a few memories, mainly from a rugby perspective, of admiration for his sporting and personal skills. They are in no particular order, other than the first one.

September 1970 saw the arrival at KRC of Richard, Keith Hey, Mike Hodgson, Jim Wilson, Ben Davis and myself. The upturn in Keswick's results were due, in no small part, to Richard's skills (even though he made very few appearances at training!) In the tributes, John Wilson acknowledged Richard's 'hand-off' as the best in the north west. Never known for brute strength, and certainly never for malice or exhibitionism, Richard's timing and skill made the 'hand-off' as gratifying as scoring one of his many tries. With ease, he could spin and wriggle out of tight situations. This might well have been one of sources of the nickname 'Tricky Dicky." It may have also come from his impish sense of humour and teasing.

Opponents may have raised eyebrows when Richard arrived on the pitch wearing gloves in the Keswick colours, knitted by Vera Airey. Spending too long post-match in the bar may have occasionally put him in the dog-house. He was soon forgiven and Beverley would kindly put his kit in the tumble drier just before le left for the next home game. The kit would still be warm when the game started as he almost never arrived early. (We have further prewarmed-kit anecdotes for 'Memory Lane' chats.)

The best years for our rugby generation were when Peter Thorburn was captain and scrum half. Richard had spotted that Peter often made a swift break from a scrum in the centre of the pitch, just before half time. Richard would shadow this break and invite me, from full-back, to do the same on Peter's other shoulder. Being slower and less skilful than Richard, I usually watched him score under the posts. At least it gave me an easy conversion. I was glad that he allowed me to do the goal kicking.

If a line-out jumper dropped the ball at Peter's feet, he wouldn't bend to pick it up, he simply kicked it across the grass/mud to Richard. Despite Richard's facial disappointment at such a lousy 'pass' he would invariably retrieve the situation.

Richard was guaranteed selection for the 1st team, even though, in the early days, he only played 2 weeks out of 3. The 3rd weekend was playing Bridge and he was 'capped' for England.

A measure of his qualities was that when he 'retired' from the 1st team he volunteered to captain the 3rd team. This meant that many young players were mentored in the skills, discipline and culture of rugby. Recently he told me that much of his Fridays and Saturday mornings was spent on the phone finding players.

A couple of months ago, I asked him to confirm his age when he finished playing regularly as I suspected that he was the oldest at KRC. He replied "Gave up at 57, and I managed the 2nd team, and we had a couple of fantastic 2nd team years, when Benzol Junior’s group of youngsters became 17."

Richard was a multi-talented sportsman and a true gentleman.