5th April, 2003  It is with great sadness that the death of former Town and Borough Councillor Bob Richardson is noted. Bob died on Saturday, 5th April, in Colchester General Hospital after a short illness.

Bob served Wivenhoe as a Councillor on Colchester Borough Council for 12 years, retiring in April 2002. He had also been a Councillor on Wivenhoe Town Council and served as Town Mayor 1989-90.

He was a well-known figure in Wivenhoe. Apart from his Council responsibilities which he took very seriously, he made a significant contribution to several organisations. For a number of years he was Chairman of the Wivenhoe Allotments and Gardens Association; for a long time, he had been very actively involved with Wivenhoe Cricket Club taking on responsibilities, including those of running the bar.  He was a Trustee of the Wivenhoe Housing Trust, and formerly a Trustee of the Jonathan Feedham Charity, as the nominated representative of Wivenhoe Town Council. Following the purchase by the Town Council of a community mini-bus, from fund-raising from successive Mayors’ Charity fund-raising efforts, Bob became Chairman of the working party responsible for managing the ‘Munty’ bus.  And if any charity event needed a bar, you only had to ask Bob, and with the considerable support of his wife Jan, and a willing team of helpers, a bar would be run with great professionalism.   Former Councillor, Bob Richardson, who died on Saturday, 5th April, 2003

Bob has made a great contribution to Wivenhoe in the thirty years or so he has lived here. He has helped a great many people during that time. He has been respected for his views and straight talking.  

He was a well-known person in Colchester too, making a name for himself in the local fire-service, until early-retirement about ten years ago. Over the years, he was a regular after-dinner speaker, with a considerable stock of amusing stories to tell.

On Colchester Borough Council, he served on many Committees, with Planning being one he took a particular interest in. Although a member of the Labour Group on the Council, he had friends in all parties.    

Bob, you will be missed. 

Note: A celebration of Bob’s life was held at St Mary’s Church at 2pm on Monday 14th April, 2003, after which everybody was invited to raise a glass to him at the Cricket Club.  The family asked that donations be given to the Wivenhoe Communty Bus in Bob’s memory, instead of flowers, as Bob had been very closely associated with acquiring and running the Munty bus.