FORMER Worcestershire CCC board member Clive Richards CBE has recently passed away, the club confirmed on Monday.

The 83-year-old philanthropist was born and educated in Birmingham and was a very passionate member of the board with a wide ranging interest in sport.

After a very successful business career, he and wife Sylvia set up the Clive Richards Charity to support communities and individuals to allow access to education and a pathway to independence.

Richards was awarded the Knighthood of the Equestrian Order of St. Gregory the Great in 2018 and in January 2020 he was awarded the Commander of the British Empire for services to charity and to the community in Herefordshire.

In 2014, Mr Richards donated £1 million to the Bartestree-based St Michael’s Hospice for a major refurbishment.

Other organisations in Herefordshire to benefit from Mr Richards’s generosity include Hereford County Hospital, where he bought a CT scanner worth £250,000, The Conquest Theatre and Queen Elizabeth High School in Bromyard, and John Kyrle High School in Ross-on-Wye.

The cricket club said that it wished to send its condolences to his wife Sylvia and the rest of his family.