Hundreds at funeral of chip shop owner Richard
HUNDREDS of people attended the funeral of a beloved Valley chip shop owner who died just six weeks after being diagnosed with cancer.
Richard Ashworth, who ran the Cottage Chip Shop in Cloughfold with his wife Elaine for 25 years, died on Sunday, October 2, aged 68.
‘Tash’, as he was known, only developed symptoms of pancreatic cancer weeks before his death.
Crowds gathered to pay their respects at his funeral outside Woodtop Chapel of Rest in Rawtenstall, and his coffin was taken by friends on a horse and cart to Rossendale Cemetery.
His wife Elaine, whom he married in 1992 and lived with on Bacup Road in Rawtenstall, said her ‘soulmate’ was the “best man you could ever meet”.
She said: “I’m absolutely devastated. Our life was together, we worked together, we lived together. It’s left a big gaping whole in all our lives. It was so quick, he never even got the chance to have chemotherapy. By the time the cancer showed itself it was too late to do anything.”
A man of all trades, Richard originally trained as a plumber, then worked as a general labourer, meeting Elaine while he was working at a furniture company in the late 1980s.
Great-grandfather Richard was passionate about shooting and was a keen member of the Clough Head Gun Club. He loved horses and playing bass guitar with his band ‘The Management’.
Elaine, 49, said: “Everybody knew him and loved him. He was the same with me as he was with anybody else, he was such a loving, giving man. If he could do anything to help us or to make us happy, nothing was too much trouble. He was so genuinely kind, and it just went to show with the amount of people who turned out to pay their respects to him, it spoke volumes.”
After the funeral on October 7 a celebration of Richard’s life was held at the Rose and Bowl.
Elaine added: “It was such a perfect day, it was just a shame Richard wasn’t there to enjoy it, he would have been the life and soul of the party. I have decided I am going to try and keep the shop going, it’s going to be hard, we did it for all these years together but we have got some good friends helping us out.”
Richard leaves wife Elaine, sister June, daughters Janine and Cheryl, sons Lee, Christopher and Dean, and their partners, eight grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.