This site is a tribute to Richard Long. He is much loved and will always be remembered.
 
Richard was born in Farnborough, Kent on 11th December 1948 and spent his childhood in Bromley with his parents, Mary & Eric, and older sister Trisha.
 
He went to Dulwich Prep School followed by Alleyns in Dulwich where he met the boys who would remain lifelong friends, Brian, John, Jeremy and Paul. 
 
There was only one career path that Richard wanted to follow and that was to be a pilot.  He had actually been offered a place at Dartmouth Naval College but decided against that in preference of Hamble Flying College on the south coast from where he went on to join what was then BOAC, later to become British Airways.
 
I can honestly say that Richard was one of the few people I have ever met who truly loved his job.  He was very conscientious, and in the words of one of his pilot friends ‘popular and well respected by all his colleagues throughout the airline’.  In the words of another ‘his laid back manner as a Captain made him easy and pleasant to fly with’.  Richard joined BOAC flying the VC10 and when that went out of service he spent several years on the Boeing 737 and then the Boeing 777 up until his retirement.
 
Richard and I met in 1975 and got married in May 1977.   And yes, it was the classic ‘pilot and stewardess’ combination!  We sold his and hers houses and bought ‘theirs’ in Camberley and whilst there Andrew (in ’79), Verity (’83) and Rob (‘85) were born.  The family then moved walking distance up the road to Greyfriars when Rob was just 6 weeks old in order to have more room and a level garden!  And there we have remained and it was there, as Richard wanted, that he died in the early hours of Wednesday 3rd June.
 
During the course of his time with BOAC/BA Richard spent time seconded to other airlines by way of a change.  Just prior to our marriage he spent 9 month based in Bahrain flying for Gulf Air,  in 1980 6 months based in Abu Dhabi flying for the Sheikh of Bahrain  (he had a VC10 and needed crew to fly it!)  This was followed a couple of years later by a spell in Malta flying for the Dutch company Transavia who in turn were flying on behalf of Air Malta.  Most of our spare time in Malta was spent at the local beach club where we learned to windsurf and Andrew, then just three, would wear arm bands and flippers and hold on to the back of Richard’s board whilst he surfed around in the bay, Richard turning round to pick him up if he lost his hold!  We had every intention of continuing with this sport when we returned home, but falling off in UK waters didn’t quite hold the same appeal as falling off in the Med.  We loved Malta, returning for a holiday in 1986 and again for our ruby wedding anniversary in 2017.
 
Much as Richard loved his job, he was ready for retirement when it came after 35 years.  He always said that being able to retire at 55 with a reasonable pension meant he should have at least 10 to 15 years of good health to enjoy said retirement. How true that was to prove to be.
 
Retirement in December 2003 saw the start of another chapter in his life with the purchase of a long lusted after Hardy 36, ‘Icarus’.  Many trips to France, the Channel Islands and Ireland followed, but the highlight was our ‘round Britain’ trip in 2006, leaving Poole harbour in early May and returning at the end of September.  To those of you who don’t remember, that was a summer of fantastic weather and even the north of Scotland had beautiful warm sunshine that year.  Happy days.
 
Another retirement boating highlight for Richard were the trips with  Jeremy on his yacht ‘Raylah’.  Firstly in 2011 from Riatea (French Polynesia) to Australia, then competing in the ‘ARC’ transatlantic crossing from the Canary Islands to St Lucia (2015) and from there to Cuba and most recently  in 2018 down the east coast of the United States from Norfolk, Virginia to Miami.  What amazing adventures.
 
In 2009 we realised another dream when we were able to buy our ‘two up, two down in the West Country’.  Hope Cove to be precise and from then until now we have spent many happy times there.  It is a very special place full of very special people and a place we, the children and grandchildren love.
 
More recently there has been another highlight to Richard’s life and that was getting his MGB back on the road thanks to our lovely friend Barry.  Richard freely admitted he could take no credit, having done nothing himself after the poor thing had been reclining in the garage for the past 30 plus years.  Thank you, Barry.
 
So all in all I feel that we his family, thanks to Richard, have had a very blessed life.  Having always been so fit, healthy and constantly busy that his life should have been cut short due to this terrible disease is doubly cruel.  But he lived to see our three children settled and happy and the birth of our four grandchildren, all of whom he treasured dearly. He has left us all with lasting and endless happy memories.  May he now be peaceful and out of pain.

Until we meet again.