W Bro Mike Richards has been very active throughout his 40 years as a Mason, and is well known in the Craft and many other Orders, throughout the Province and beyond, as an energetic and ever cheery individual.
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However, in the past few months, he has suffered such a harrowing time that it is only through the support of family and friends, and his indomitable spirit that has been able to carry on. On 25 May his beloved wife, Sally, was admitted to Northampton General Hospital with a serious illness. On 24 July Bro Mike was on his way to visit her when he had a painful experience that proved to be a serious heart attack. He had just made it to the ward when the heart attack was diagnosed. After being immediately admitted, initially to the A & E Department, he was transferred to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford. Very sadly Sally did not recover from her illness and died on 3 August. |
Bro Mike said
As you might imagine, this has been a very difficult time for me and I'd like to use the Provincial Website as a means of communicating to as many people as possible my sincere appreciation for their support. The staff who treated me at John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford did a magnificent job for which I will be eternally grateful.
I have also been absolutely overwhelmed with messages of goodwill through personal calls, telephone calls, cards, letters and emails. These have come from all over the Province, the country and even from abroad. It has been just wonderful."