Richard Martineau

** UPDATED DATE FOR MEMORIAL CEREMONY **

On 10^th December our president, Richard Martineau, aged 86, died peacefully after a very short illness. His Memorial Service will be held at St. Mary’s church Walsham on Wednesday 29^th January 2025 at 14.30; the respect which he was held in, both across the county and within the village, will mean a very full church.

For our part, as sports club members, the following comments as to what Richard has meant to us are worth reflecting on   

The progress over the years of the Sports Club has largely been facilitated by the Martineau family going back before the beginning of the last century. We have Cricket Club minutes of 1897 showing Richard’s great grandfather John Martineau as president. it is interesting to read that expenditure in that year was £10 and a penny with income of £9 19s 6p; the financial situation being rescued by a £2 subscription from the president. We have tried to not to repeat that situation, but we have been indebted to the family in so many ways since.

Football and cricket will have been played on Martineau land before the war, but the Sports Club only really came into being in 1952 when football and cricket came together on the freshly planted green sward in Summer Road after being ploughed up during the war years. The land was made available to the Club at a peppercorn rent by Richard’s father, John, and it was not until a new pavilion was constructed in 1974 that a lease was formalised.

It was in the early years of this century that Richard used his city contacts to work with others to create a new national being, Community Amateur Sports Clubs, that would be eligible to apply for the grants that were coming available from the Football Foundation and would have a charitable status. After much work and cost, aided by Richard, in 2005 Walsham Le Willows Sports Club CASC came into being, announcing itself with floodlights, a new stand and changing rooms.

Two more steps have taken the Club to where it is now. In 2010, Martineau land opposite the Club in Summer Rd was taken out of the family Trust and leased to the Sports Club enabling the construction of three football pitches, an artificial grass football court, tennis court and car park. The success of that expansion was such that in 2017, Richard decided that we had grown up enough (his words not mine) and that we should in future not be tenants but should own the land and buildings on it. The route to do this was complicated and expensive but in 2018, Walsham Le Willows Sports Club CASC was closed and all its assets were moved over to Walsham Le Willows Sports Club CIO (Charitable Incorporated Organisation) , finally we were a full blown Charity, secure for the future.

None of the above paragraph would have been remotely possible except for the energy, direction and financial support of Richard. We hope the accolade the village of Walsham le Willows received this year as 2024 Most Active Suffolk village was a fitting tribute to a fine gentleman and friend.

Ian Campbell