Brian Richardson
30th December 1944 – 10th April 2026

On Friday, 10th April 2026, Brian passed away at home with his wife, Helen, and their two children Clare and Damian by his side. He was 81 years old.

Brian grew up in North London with his parents and sister, Maureen. He went to Tollington Grammar School, where he excelled at swimming, cross-country running and captained the rugby 1stXV. He gained A-levels in pure maths, applied maths, physics and technical drawing, which all prepared for his chosen profession of civil engineering. A school trip to the Lake District with the rugby team when he was 14 began Brian's lifelong love of fells and mountains, maps and adventure, and he never looked back!

Brian met Helen in the sixth form, and they were soon going out together. They married in 1966, and in 1969 they moved to the Northwest for Brian's work: which was setting out and construction of the bridges of the first section of the M56 (Lymm to Princess Parkway). Brian's career centred mainly in highway design and construction, and in the nuclear industry, including decommissioning of the thermal oxide reprocessing facility at Sellafield. At one Company Brian worked for, he was involved with the design of an underground system for Manchester City Centre, — though this Project was later abandoned for the metro system.

Brian and John Lymer met by chance through work, and soon they started skiing together, — first at Rossendale Dry Ski slope, and then in Andorra. Brian joined the Ski club of Manchester around 1979, and over several decades took on various roles including Committee member, Membership Secretary (evolving Jonquil's amazing card-based membership system into the club's first electronic database), and Newsletter Editor. He often helped newer members to find their ski feet, and tributes to him from members have included phrases such as: "Brian gave me much help and encouragement with my skiing, and I admired his grit and determination.", " "To me, he was the ski club!", "Brian's calm reassurance certainly helped me survive a few mogul fields!", "Gadget man I called him — because if we had a difficulty with equipment skis etc, he was the man to sort it!"

A pair of new knees in 2006 and retirement in 2010 gave Brian an opportunity to indulge his passion for adventure even more! He walked Grand Randonnée 20 across Corsica in 2008, adding in numerous 'side peaks' along the way, then the Pyrenees 'Haute Route' from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean in 5 fortnight long stages between 2010 and 2014 with David Shepherd and in part with Dave Taylor, plus an extra section (the hardest!) in 2019 at the age of 75. Brian enjoyed numerous ski tours with Barry Lewis and David Shepherd and took every opportunity to get out mountain biking with ex-work pals. He still found time to walk locally and in the Lake District, to build a beautiful home and garden, and to enjoy art, poetry, music, including opera, Jazz and blues.

Brian was a member of East Cheshire Ramblers, through which he led a team of volunteers in regularly helping to maintain footpaths. On our Ski club walks, he would carry pruners to keep the paths clear for others. Three years ago, Brian and a group from Christie Hospital climbed Spain's three highest Peaks in the Sierra Nevada to raise money for Cancer Research at the Christie Hospital.

Despite a diagnosis of bladder cancer in 2020, and with successful treatment over two and a half years, Brian remained physically active until very recently. He was off-piste skiing and ski touring until a year ago, enjoyed hiking in Canada last summer, and joined the Club's walks during Dave Miller's Hebden Bridge mid-week away last September. He was an inspiration to many club members and will be remembered for his helpfulness, cheerfulness, can-do attitude, and fun times shared with so many.

We will miss Brian greatly.