Read by Revd. Sarah Long at Richard’s funeral 7th September 2026.
Richard’s earliest memory was a painful one. Aged about 3, he had gone with his mother and grandmother to visit his great uncle William in Chester. Richard was fascinated by a strange yellow and black insect on the lawn and tried to pick it up. The large bumble bee instantly stung him and he ran crying back into the house to be comforted by his mother.
Richard’s great uncle was a successful businessman, William Oates. His family ran the ceramics company Oates and Green, who made the tiles for the Blackwall tunnel in London. Closer to home, gentlemen of a certain age will almost certainly have used their products, as they also made the urinals that were once situated in Bull Green. Richard also remembers pulling the bell rope in the dining room to summon the butler to bring dessert and sitting on the bonnet of his great uncle’s car.
Richard himself was born into much more humble surroundings. He remembered Halifax in the 1930s as a town covered by a haze of smoke belched out by hundreds of factories, with houses in overcrowded back-to-back terraces sharing a toilet block at the end of the street. His father had opened a butcher’s shop in a densely populated area of King Cross, dominated by the vast Scarborough Mills, and Richard grew up there in Trafalgar Street with brother David and sister Elizabeth until the mid-1940s. As a young boy he was surrounded by a crowd of doting female relatives. Aged 3½, he was taken to visit his grandmother Clara one Eastertime. She was ill in bed and from under her bedclothes she produced an Easter egg for him. He was delighted, but thought that, perhaps as hens do, she had laid it.
Junior school was a very happy time for him, although again his childhood logic once let him down. One day he ran out into the yard at play time to find his auntie Cissie and auntie Chattie waiting for him. They produced a small bag of sweets out of their pockets – a real treat! However, he then expected them to be there with similar treats every play time after that and was very disappointed when they never came again. Richard remembered the name of every teacher who taught him at Haugh Shaw Juniors, especially Miss Howarth, a strict disciplinarian who looked after the oldest class and who once punished a boy who was chewing gum by rubbing it into his hair. Strangely, Miss Howarth later became a friend of Richard’s mother and turned out to be quite a kind person.
Secondary education was not a happy time for Richard. Indeed, he described it as a “miserable five years.” He had passed the 11+ examination with flying colours and secured a place at the prestigious Heath Grammar School, but his parents knew one of the masters at Sowerby Bridge Grammar School and decided it would be better to send him there instead. There was no careers advice in those days and so little chance for an intelligent young man such as Richard to know what opportunities the world offered when he left school. His father was a strict disciplinarian and gave him two options: work with him in the butcher’s shop or go to the bottom of the street and find a job in the textile mill. He wanted to do neither. His mother had a much better understanding of the world of work and suggested he applied for a job at the Halifax Building Society, as it would offer a
pension.
So in 1947 he started work as a junior cashier. Here a young lady called Alma Fawcett caught his eye and so, when the ladies’ and the gentlemen’s coffee breaks finally coincided, he took the plunge and invited her out to a church dance. He knew she was a good dancer, as she was one of the leading girls in Miss Ibbotson’s dancing class, the best school for ballet and tap in the area. Richard had been encouraged by his mother to take dancing lessons and so the evening went very well. Alma reciprocated by inviting him to a ballet, Coppélia, at Leeds Grand Theatre and Richard was entranced by the music, costumes, dancing and, of course, by her.
It was dancing that got Alma into trouble at the Building Society. You weren’t allowed to have any income other than your Building Society salary, but Alma had started a dancing class to provide some entertainment at events organised by the Methodist Church and charged her pupils a shilling a week. One day, a busybody at the Building Society saw a poster advertising an event where Miss Fawcett’s dancing class was to take part and reported her to the management. She was summonedbefore the Senior Ladies’ Clerk and the Assistant General Manager, Mr Beresford, to explain to them why she had an extra source of income. Eventually Alma’s superiors were satisfied that her earnings
barely covered her costs and gave her permission to continue. Ironically, Mr Beresford ran a farm in the Calder Valley in his spare time and earned considerable sums from breeding pedigree pigs. Richard was living on his father’s farm at Illingworth at this time. This was very bad for his health, as he suffered from asthma. The vicar of All Souls Church recommended marriage as a way of solving Richard’s health problem and family tradition has it that the local GP gave similar advice. Alma was at Richard’s bedside when the doctor visited one day and he took her aside. “Do you love him, lass?”
he asked. “Yes, I do,” Alma replied. “Well then,” the doctor said, “marry him and get him out of here!” However, one of the more elderly Building Society cashiers gave very different advice to Richard, when in shock he found out that Alma lived in Boothtown, and exclaimed “If tha’ crosse North Bridge to do tha’ courting, tha’s doomed!” Fortunately, this warning was ot heeded. Alma and Richard were married at All Souls Church on 19 th March 1955, a date which made sure the whole year’s marriage allowance could be claimed back. Had Alma lived for two more days, they would have reached their sapphire wedding anniversary. “What happy years we had,” Richard once wrote. “Our love never died.”
The Building Society was quite a Victorian environment. Married ladies were not employed, so Alma had to leave when she married Richard, and it was unheard of to have ladies behind the counter serving customers. Richard progressed to the role of senior cashier, which gave him Thursday afternoons off (half-day closing in Halifax) and he spent these studying for and passing his accountancy exams. In his spare time he enjoyed playing for the Society’s cricket team. He wasn’t a great batsman, but excelled in the field, where he took dozens of catches at first slip. After nine years he was beginning to find work at the Building Society boring and decided that he didn’t want to do this for another 40 years until he retired. He needed a change of career and his first steps took him towards the Church.
Richard’s parents had married at St Jude’s Church in January 1931, but neither they nor Alma’s parents were particularly religious. However, along with many young children at the time, Richard and Alma had both gone to Sunday school and the Church provided a broad range of social activities for young people and thus the seeds of their faith grew and were nurtured. Alma was a Methodist by background, so they went to services at both denominations before settling on All Souls Church in Boothtown. The vicar here was the inspiring and energetic Dr Ted Henderson and he was supportive when Richard felt he might be called to ordination.
The curate was also enthusiastic and encouraged Richard to visit St Aidan’s College at Birkenhead, where he had been trained. So one day Richard took time off work and drove to the Wirral on his motorbike, with the curate as pillion passenger. There was no M62 in those days, so it was an arduous journey and the curate was a hefty fellow. As a result, the chain came off the motorbike on several occasions and Richard arrived too late for lunch, somewhat dishevelled and with his hands coated in oil. He wasn’t really in a fit state to be interviewed by the principal, who decided after a few questions that the Church wasn’t really Richard’s opening and that he should return home and pray about it. Well, God moves in mysterious ways. Richard realised that his real vocation lay in teaching and was successful in his application for training at York St John’s, where he specialised in Religious Knowledge and also took a craft course in Bookbinding.
The ill-fated journey to Birkenhead didn’t dim his enthusiasm for motorbikes. Having started off with a little Corgi, he eventually bought a Triumph 500cc bike and enjoyed riding to college in York and back on it. He was allowed to return home at the weekend ‘to view his property’, but was never sure whether that meant his house or his dear wife. He certainly whisked Alma around in style.
Richard’s brother David also had a motorbike and he and his wife Judith spent several happy holidays with Richard and Alma in England and abroad. On one occasion, as they were travelling south through France, they decided to camp overnight in the corner of a field, going through a small gate and erecting their tent. Next morning, they packed up the tent and all their gear into the paniers on the side of the motorbike, only to find that it was too wide to get back through the gate out of the field. They had to unpack everything again, move the bike out through the gate unladen and then repack before they could continue their journey.
However, Richard never lost his talent for holiday packing and it was amazing what he could fit into the car for family holidays in France – even a cricket bat, pads and stumps were squeezed in at the last minute on one occasion. In September 1959 Richard started his teaching career at Holy Trinity Boys’ School and Richard and Alma started a family shortly afterwards. Christopher was born in 1960, followed by Ian in 1964 and Nigel in 1966. In that year Richard moved to Salterhebble Junior School as Deputy Head, becoming Headteacher at St Mary’s School, Millbank in 1970. He remained there until his retirement in 1989.
As it was quite a small school, he had to teach a class of Year 5 and 6 pupils and do all the
administration work with only two half days a week off teaching. Parents were not always easy. On one occasion a local farmer came in to complain that Richard had ticked off his son for poor table manners. Richard explained, “Well, he often picks up his plate and licks it at the end of dinner.” “And what’s wrong wi’ that?” the farmer replied, “I allus do it!” With her ability to do shorthand at 140 words per minute and make a typewriter chatter faultlessly for hours on end, Alma had a succession of senior secretarial jobs before becoming a lecturer in Secretarial Studies at the Percival Whitley College until her retirement. Richard and Alma then had a very happy time travelling the world, gardening and spending time with their three sons Chris, Ian and Nigel and their grandchildren Lucie, Hannah, Richard and Tom. Richard and Alma found Tom’s younger years particularly happy, as they would regularlydrive to Bingley and bring him back to Halifax for the day,
where he spent hours playing in the garden or learning to push trolleys at great speed around the supermarket. Most recently, cradling his great grandsons Felix and Jacob in his arms was a real joyfor Richard.
Church always played a big part in both Richard and Alma’s life. Alma pioneered the Dance Drama group at St Jude’s and contributed hugely to various social functions, dancing and singing with a little group to ‘keep young and beautiful’ and often partnering Margaret Walker in hilarioussketches. Although the family had moved to Skircoat Green in 1970 and Alma and the boys attended St Jude’s, Richard initially stayed at All Souls, where he was on the PCC. A contretemps between the vicar and the Treasurer there had led to the latter’s resignation and Richard had agreed to take on the role for a maximum of 6 months until someone suitable could be found. The six months became10 years, but eventually Richard resigned and became a permanent fixture at St Jude’s, where he joined the Finance Committee and organised the annual Gift Aid claims. When the Treasurer, Allan
Irving, had to step down through ill health, Richard agreed to take on the role, for a short time, and occupied it for 17 years. Despite passing the RSA Level 2 in Integrated Business Technology, he preferred ledgers to spreadsheets. His account books were always beautifully kept and never failed to balance, even if it meant spending two hours on a Sunday afternoon tracking down a missing 10p in the ledger. In 1989 the Bishop of Wakefield, David Hope, decided to set up a Centenary Fund to raise one million pounds for parishes in the diocese to use for projects they wouldn’t otherwise
have the funds for. The fund needed an honorary treasurer, a role which the diocese felt would suit a retired bank manager. Instead they got a newly retired headteacher, as Richard successfully applied for the post. This ‘short-term’ project lasted until 2004 and involved not only looking after the finances, but also visiting churches as a trustee to assess their grant applications. Another permanent temporary job was Treasurer of All Souls Operatic Society. Richard was no singer, but he
agreed to play the part of the jailer Frosch in the 1971 production of Die Fledermaus and remained a cast member until 1985. As Treasurer he was a key figure behind the scenes and organised the ticket sales for the Society’s productions so efficiently that there was rarely a seat left unsold.
Richard was also Treasurer for Churches Together and Christian Aid in Halifax. The Probus Club was a source of real pleasure and fulfilment for him in his later years. He hugely enjoyed his year as President in 2025-26 and was proud not to have missed a single meeting during his year in office.
Music played a huge part in Richard and Alma’s retired life and they loved both operetta and opera, particularly Puccini’s La Bohème. Attending a production at the Opera House in Vienna for their Ruby wedding anniversary, Alma was amazed when Richard led her up to a small balcony on the front row in the middle of the first grand circle. He had bought the best seats in the house so they could listen in luxury and comfort to the famous love duet from that opera sung by Luciano Pavarotti and Mirella Freni.
Richard’s love of gardening started when he was given a few seeds and small patch of garden when he was a small boy and throughout his adult life his garden was perhaps his favourite area of relaxation – ‘relaxation’ meaning hours spent planting tulips, daffodils and dahlias and then digging them up at the end of the season after their magnificent display. It was only this year that he was unable to make the daily Summer visit to the greenhouse to water his tomatoes and to pick some apples or rhubarb for his tea. Alma and Richard loved visiting gardens, especially the RHS shows at Chelsea and Tatton Park. Here, a long day trawling round the displays was always followed by a picnic in the deer park.
Richard was also a keen armchair follower of Halifax Town. It was his sons, and later also his grandson, Richard, who restricted him to being an armchair supporter, because he seemed to have a jinx on the club and every time he went to the Shay, they lost. However, he was there to see the famous FA Cup victory over Manchester City in 1980. On one occasion, about 10 years earlier,
Richard and Christopher went to the regular Boxing Day match against Rochdale. When they arrived at Alma’s parents’ flat for tea, Alma asked, “Who won?” Richard replied triumphantly, “We did,” whilst Chris dejectedly replied, “They did!” It turned out that Halifax Town had switched that season from playing in their traditional blue to wearing bright tangerine shirts. Rochdale were playing in blue and Richard had been supporting the wrong side throughout a 4-1 defeat for Halifax!
When asked last year what were the secrets of his long life, he said “Looking after other people, bringing up a lovely family and having a most adorable and loving wife who bore with me through difficulties wherever they arose. And I’ve always tried to maintain my faith in God and spread the word whenever the occasion arose. People say to me that I’ve got to the end of a long life and they look around and say that I don’t stop. Well it’s when you stop, that life stops, so try to keep going.”
On 6 th August he had to stop. His family lost a loving father, grandfather and great-grandfather who always did his best to ensure his and Alma’s home was a happy and supportive one. Denied the chance of the university education they would nowadays inevitably have enjoyed, Richard and Alma encouraged and supported their sons’ academic, professional and free-time endeavours. And once their sons had flown the nest, they were always there to give a helping hand, whether this meant
babysitting grandchildren, erecting a greenhouse in Devon or laying drive blocks in Long Eaton.
Because of Covid regulations, Alma never had the adieu she deserved, so we now remember and give grateful thanks for the lives of both Richard and Alma.