Obituary: Neil Richardson

Prebendary Neil Richardson: an obituary

It was with great sadness that I learned of the death of Prebendary Neil Richardson, who died on Sunday 13 March following a short illness. Neil was our resident author of the “Pulpit” and has contributed 63 articles to the Journal since 2006! This achievement gained him an Honorary Vice Presidency in 2016, which was awarded to him for 10 years of quarterly publications at that point. Neil was presented with his award at the Learning Convention at the Oxford Belfry Hotel, which he attended with his wife, Marion. Neil’s article in this edition was the last one he sent me shortly before he died.

Neil’s family home was in Newton Heath in Manchester where he was the third of four children. He developed asthma as a young child and concerns for his health were so great that the local authorities advised that he should go to a residential open air school. So, at the tender age of five he was taken away from his family, a trauma from which he never fully recovered. When he was ten, he returned home where re-establishing his place in the family was difficult. He attended local schools and he developed a love of music, poetry and literature, particularly Shakespeare and learned to play the recorder. He was fortunate to have some talented teachers who nourished these gifts.

Neil’s family were active participants in the local parish church where Neil sang in the choir as a boy chorister and later in the tenor section, further developing his musical skills and his love of church music, especially early music. During his teenage years he became aware of his vocation to the priesthood and was supported in this by his parish priest.

He trained as a teacher, during which time he met and married Marion. After teaching for 2 years in London, during which time Toby was born, they moved to Salisbury for his theological training at Sarum College. Ben was born during this time in Salisbury. Neil always saw himself as a parish priest, working on the “parish floor”, as he put it. This he did, as a curate at Oldham Parish Church, then at St Hugh’s on Holts Estate in Oldham, where Hannah was born. Then for 31 years as Rector of Holy Cross Church in Greenford. For 16 of those years, he was a local councillor, sitting on the Labour benches. Here he was a member and sometime chair of the education committee. On retirement, Neil and Marion moved to Essex to be near to Hannah and her family and continue their involvement in family life. Here they quickly found a spiritual home at St Johns and many friends in the surrounding villages, including a doppelgänger! Being a “towny” Neil was fascinated by the agricultural environment and enjoyed watching the changing seasons in the fields around his home.

Neil was a great writer of poetry; it was his way of expressing himself to the world. He also wrote many articles, short stories, and plays as well as music. His head was always full of music and he and Marion attended many concerts, from their first date at a prom concert at the Royal Albert Hall through to retirement and going to Thaxted music festival. He had most of his written work printed but there is still one in progress on his laptop.

As well as his working life Neil’s great joy was his family, his wife, his three children and five grandchildren! His family life was a source of pleasure and sustenance to him, and he was so proud of them. They feature in a great deal of his poetry.

Through his work and his warmth and sense of humour, Neil touched many lives in the community. He used to say how he enjoyed taking funerals, talking to the families involved and that a funeral should always contain some humour. So let us all enjoy talking together and bring a smile and a laugh into our loss.

Thank you to Neil’s wife of 54 years, Marion, for giving us a snapshot of the man that was the “Pulpit”. Neil leaves behind a legacy in his work for us all to enjoy. He will be greatly missed.