Tributes have been paid to a long-serving former cricket club chairman.
Tony Marsden, who was chairman of Church and Oswaldtwistle Cricket Club for 16 years, died suddenly on Saturday, January 2 after a 20-year battle with asthma and osteoporosis. He was 63.
His wife of 43 years, Barbara, of Radnor Close, Oswaldtwistle, remembered a ‘loyal and loving’ husband who ‘always put others before himself’.
She said: “He was chairman of the club from 1982 to 1998, then had to step down when he got ill.
“He never actually played cricket himself but loved watching it and was a great believer in encouraging youngsters to take up sport.
“He very rarely complained about his illness and always made the best of what he had.”
The couple first met at Blackburn Mecca dance hall in 1968 when Barbara was 17 and Tony 16.
Barbara, 65, said: “It was quite funny - I was coming down the stairs and fell - people must have thought I’d had too much too drink!
“Tony helped me up and we got chatting, then he walked me home.”
The pair married four years later in 1972 at St Mary’s Church in Blackburn and had a daughter, Julie, now 41.
After becoming ill, Tony attended Hyndburn Resource Centre and Enfield Day Centre where he made calendars, wood carvings and animal-themed clocks.
He sold whatever he made to friends, and donated the profits to cancer and Parkinson’s disease charities.
An avid Blackburn Rovers fan, he also enjoyed visiting the Lake District and photographing wildlife.
Barbara added: “He’d tell me he loved me and say he felt guilty that I had to look after him but I told him ‘we’re in this together’.”
Church and Oswaldtwistle Cricket Club committee member Jack Houldsworth also paid tribute to Tony on behalf of the club.
Jack, 80, said: “He was a super man. He worked like a beaver as chairman and was extremely brave in dealing with his illness.
“To lose him in these circumstances is just tragic.”
Tony leaves wife Barbara, daughter Julie and brother Paul.
His funeral service was held on Tuesday, January 12 at Our Lady of Perpetual Succour Church in Blackburn followed by a burial at Pleasington Cemetery.
Donations can be made for Asthma UK c/o Co-op Funeralcare, Mincing Lane, Blackburn, BB2 2EB.
