The sporting purveyors of city's West side stories

I refer to Richardsons, the newsagents of St John's who, through four generations, have been running a successful business which first opened in the year of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee - 1897.

The Richardson family has been equally prominent too on the sporting scene in Worcester for over 100 years.

Four generations of Richardsons have been leading figures in Worcester Rowing Club, while three generations have also been fine players with Worcester Rugby Club. The family has also been actively involved in a wide variety of other sporting pursuits down the past century.

The long-established newsagents business on Worcester's Westside is now in the hands of three Richardson brothers. Martin and Peter run the large shop at 26 and 28 St John's, while Jeremy has charge of the sub-Post Office and newsagents shop at Dines Green.

However, it is to their maternal grandfather, Tom Millage, that the three Richardson "boys" must look for the original setting up of the family business. Tom was from a family in Tenbury Wells, who ran an ironmongers's firm in the "Town in the Orchard" through much of the 19th Century.

Tom was sent to The King's School at Worcester for his education, and his yearly report for 1878, signed by headmaster Maurice Day, still survives, recording his general conduct and academic achievements as "Good".

It was still as a comparatively young man that Tom Millage decided to settle in Worcester and to set up in business on his own, buying 28 St John's and opening as a newsagent in 1897. He married Marianne Price, a nurse and midwife who, at one time, had nursed one of the famous American Colgate family in France.

Also in the 1890s, Herbert Richardson, born a Cockney, came to Worcester to take up employment as a representative for Spreckleys Brewery in Barbourne. He and his wife Emma Louise lived for many years in Flagmeadow Walk, Worcester.

It was in the 1890s too, that Herbert joined Worcester Rowing Club to begin the remarkable family line of oarsmen which now spans four generations. He didn't retire from Spreckleys Brewery until 1941.

The Millages and Richardsons were to come together through marriage in 1936, when Ivy Millage, Tom and Marianne's daughter, married William (Bill) Richardson, son of Herbert and Emma Louise Richardson.

An Evening News report of the event had the headline: "Sporting Couple Married - Pretty Ceremony at St John's Church."

Ivy Millage had been secretary of Perdiswell Tennis Club for five years and a member of the Worcester Ladies Hockey team, while Bill Richardson was already "a popular member of Worcester Rowing Club".

A few years before her marriage, Ivy took over the running of the newsagents shop at St John's from her father, though her mother was sometimes to be seen behind the counter and was known affectionately by locals as "Old Mother Millage".

After Ivy's marriage to Bill Richardson, the name board over the entrance to the shop was changed to Richardsons, though Bill continued to work for Williamsons at the Providence Works and was then away on war service with the RAF.

It was not until the late 1940s, that he joined his wife in the newsagents business and also acquired the neighbouring property - 26 St John's where, as a trading addition, he ran a fishing tackle business at the rear for a few years.

Then, in 1953, Bill Richardson expanded the business to Dines Green, where he opened the estate's first sub Post Office and newsagents shop in Gresham Road. It still remains with the family today and is run by Bill's second son Jeremy.

Throughout his life, Bill Richardson was heavily engaged in sport and leisure pursuits. He played for Worcester Rugby Club before the war and was later its president and then, for several years, its Treasurer, being involved in the move from Bevere to Six Ways. He was a long-time member of Worcester Rowing Club, a keen angler with local fishing clubs, and was a leading light in the St John's Workingmen's Club for many years, being its president for a time.

His wife Ivy also added membership of Worcester Rowing Club to her list of sporting interests and, for a time, double-sculled with Tom Wyatt, father of the late Billy Wyatt of Worcester WODs fame. Ivy was at one time president of the Worcester and District Newsagents Federation and was also a member of the Townswomen's Guild.

In the mid-1950s, 26 and 28 St John's were merged and converted into a much larger newsagents shop.

Bill Richardson died at the age of 77 in 1983, just a few years after his wife Ivy's death. They left three sons who were to carry on the family business.

* Martin Richardson, who is 65, was educated at The King's School, Worcester, and served for three years in the 11th Hussars from 1954 to 1957, seeing active service against the terrorists in Malaya, and driving through jungle terrain aboard a Saracen armoured vehicle.

He first joined the family business at St John's as a boy, returning to it after Army service, and he has remained with it ever since. Following in his father's footsteps, his great outside interest has always been sport.

He played rugby for 24 years from the age of 21, being a second row forward for several seasons in Worcester Rugby Club's First XV. He also played cricket and table tennis for the Worcester Cathedral Guild, was a member of Worcester Rowing Club, played golf at Boughton Park, and still plays bowls for Unison (formerly Nalgo) and skittles for the Grosvenor pub.

He and his former wife Pat have four children, and the family newsagents business has moved into its fourth generation through their daughter Susan (Molly) who occasionally works in the St John's shop.

* Jeremy (Jem) Richardson, who is 63, was educated at Stanley Road School and Worcester Technical High School and then served an apprenticeship with the former giant engineering firm of Heenan and Froude at Shrub Hill.

In 1966, however, he joined the family business and, also emulating his father, had already become an active member of Worcester Rowing Club, winning one fours trophy alongside well-known Worcester benefactor Cecil Duckworth.

Even so, Jeremy's greatest sporting achievements were to be on the rugby field. He joined Worcester Rugby Club in 1957 at the age of 18 and was to make no fewer than 436 First XV appearances over the next 19 seasons - an incredible playing record. He was First XV Captain from 1961 to 1965 and again in 1969-70, Captain of the Wanderers XV from 1977 to 1981, Club vice-chairman from 1981 to 1983 and Chairman in 1983-4. He also represented the County for more than eight years and, in the late 1980s, his son Ian carried the family into its third generation with Worcester Rugby Club. Jeremy and wife Nina have four children, and daughter Deborah, like her cousin Molly, has carried the family business into a fourth generation, working with Jeremy at Dines Green.

* Peter Richardson, who is 60, completed his education at Worcester Technical High School and was then employed by Morris and King's at St John's, later working at Dudley as a wines and spirits buyer.

However, he too joined the family business in 1979 and, very much like his father before him, rowing and rugby have been the sporting loves of Peter's life. He played rugby for 30 years, making about 50 appearances with Worcester Rugby Club's First XV in the 1970s, and has now been a member of Worcester Rowing Club for nearly 40 years since the age of 21.

He was at the height of his competitive rowing for about 10 years and was club captain from 1979 until 1981. He has held several club posts including treasurer, bar secretary and archivist and is now the club's chief coach.

His finest achievement in this role was to coach the crew of four who won the Wyfold Challenge Cup at the Henley Regatta in 2000. It is rare for a provincial crew to win this race, and it was the first time in its 125-year history that Worcester Rowing Club had achieved a win at Henley.

One of the crew was Peter's son Jeremy Slade Richardson who, obviously, has taken the family into its fourth generation with Worcester Rowing Club. Jeremy, the only child of Peter and wife Sarah, also turned out for Worcester Rugby Club in the late 1980s but now plays for Pershore Rugby Club.

To his great surprise and pleasure, Peter Richardson was recently presented with a coveted Diploma from the International Olympic Committee in recognition of his "remarkable contribution as a volunteer to the development of sport and Olympism" through his rowing coaching.