Richard Ashby 1951 -2021

Unfortunately, over the winter months Hellingly lost one of its longest serving members and great friend Richard Ashby who passed away after a long battle in December.

Richard played for the club for over 40 years primarily as a batsman, but he will also be remembered for his contributions to the club in his many roles including as Chairman, Vice Chairman, Secretary, Captain, and Treasurer. After retiring from playing, Richard took on the job of 1st XI scorer and led the way in the County with his technological advancement from the traditional scorebook. He was the first Club cricket scorer in the County to digitally score all the games on a laptop and also filmed all the games from start to finish on his many cameras. A major part was always played in organising or contributing to the end of season dinner and in 2014 was awarded life membership of the Cricket club. In 2015 a scorebox was built for Richard and all his equipment, and for hours after games had finished various players would gather around the box to see replays, statistics and print outs from the day’s game, all thanks to Richard going above and beyond in his job of scoring. This outstanding service was also extended to many junior games, cup, friendlies, and Sussex senior games with an impressive run of 11 games scored in 11 days back in 2013.

It was not only cricket that Richard supported with his time at Hellingly. He also served for over 20 years on the Sports Club, holding many positions on the committee and supporting the other sections including playing Bowls games, and helping out with American Football. This has led to Richard being awarded Life Membership of Hellingly Sports Club earlier this year with his name to be added to the select list of legends of the club on the honours board as a permanent reminder for all future generations to see.

Richard’s passing has been a huge loss for everyone at the club, but there are plans afoot to make sure that all of his efforts and great work is carried on and built upon. With the club starting out their first season without Richard in 2022 there are already many events and tributes being planned in his memory and one thing is for sure at Hellingly and that is our respected teammate, legend and friend, Richard Ashby will be greatly missed but he will never be forgotten