![Jim Richardson with his wife Ann Richardson. Picture supplied Jim Richardson with his wife Ann Richardson. Picture supplied](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/172369331/3ce7b532-2b4f-4b2d-9efc-271a5af9b935.JPG/r0_493_3264_2328_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Jim Richardson was a man of many things, in his younger years he was a bricklayer, a coal miner, and above all he was a devoted family man.
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He was also passionate about his bowls, and spent 20 years as president at the Soldiers Point Bowling Club, before he passed away on April 14 at the age of 83.
Jim met the love of his life and wife of 65 years, Ann, in Scotland.
"Jim's sister married my brother and we met at the wedding," Ann said.
"I suppose you could call it love at first sight."
The pair moved to Australia from Scotland in 1965, in tow were also their three sons, James, John and Brian.
Ann would later give birth to their fourth son, Ken in Australia.
The Richardson family originally moved to Brisbane, before relocating to Newcastle where Jim's sister lived.
Jim was 24 and Ann, 23, when they first moved to Australia and Ann said they moved down under for the weather.
"It was a really lovely country to bring up a family," Ann said.
They lived at Gateshead and had an on-site caravan at Soldiers Point for 13 years and Ann said they would travel there every weekend before moving to Homestead Village at Salamander Bay, where they've been for 26 years.
"Jim would play bowls at Charlestown but then would also play bowls at Soldiers Point," she said.
"After a few years on the board at Soldiers Point, he got the job as president."
Although Jim hadn't played bowls for at least the past 10 years, Ann said he would still go to the bowling club to watch the others play.
"At first when he got president he'd be at the bowling club every day," she said. "He enjoyed the challenge of being president."
![With the help of Cessnock KIA, Soldiers Point Bowling Club were able to buy the Nowak family a new vehicle in 2018. Picture supplied
With the help of Cessnock KIA, Soldiers Point Bowling Club were able to buy the Nowak family a new vehicle in 2018. Picture supplied](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/172369331/677476c6-167d-45cd-a995-4256ce3d864b.jpg/r0_447_4373_2915_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Ann described Jim as a very special man and said he had a dry sense of humour and that he was very well-respected at the bowling club.
"If he had stood again last year when the president elections were due, nobody would have stood against him.
He has done such a fantastic job with the club."
During his time as president, Jim made plenty of changes at the bowling club.
"All of the new bar furniture, a new kitchen, all that the bowling club is now has been changed while Jim was president," Ann said.
"He's had some great board members working alongside him."
About eight years ago, Jim was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. He also had a lung problem and a heart problem.
"In the end, he became a very sick man," Ann said.
"Every time we would come to the bowling club his eyes would just light up."
Jim's life was celebrated at the Soldier's Point Bowling Club on April 26.