Today marks the first anniversary of the passing of Cecil Duckworth CBE, our President in Perpetuity.
The thoughts of everyone at the club are with Beatrice, the Duckworth family, Cecil’s friends and colleagues from the many aspects of his amazing life.
Cecil may have gone but he will never be forgotten and he is always in our thoughts, today in particular.
On Friday we were honoured to host the President’s Memorial Lunch held to commemorate Cecil, his many achievements and a life well lived.
As COVID-19 protocols restricted the numbers of those who were able to attend Cecil’s funeral last December, this was the first opportunity for those who knew Cecil well to gather and pay tribute to a man who touched so many lives across of County.
It was a poignant but uplifting occasion and, as Cecil would have wished, proceeds from the lunch will go to the Warriors Community Foundation, one of the many worthy causes that were special to him.
The Memorial lunch was attended by many of the organisations that benefited from Cecil’s expertise, considerable wisdom and financial support including Worcester Bosch, Acorns Children’s Hospice, and The Warriors Community Foundation.
Also in attendance were representatives from the Lord Lieutenant’s office, The Mayor of Worcester and Worcester City Council, Worcestershire County Council and Wychavon District Council.
Jim Panter, Chair of Warriors Community Foundation hosted the event and the tribute to Cecil was led by David Hallmark OBE. Past present and future Warriors were present including Steve Lloyd, Chris Pennell and Justin Clegg who all took part in a tribute on stage.
When Cecil first became involved with the club he had no particular interest in rugby but he was excited by the ambitious vision of taking his local club from the Midlands Leagues all the way to the Premiership and building a stadium that the city and county could be proud of.
It took a little time but, thanks to Cecil’s generous support, those two objectives were achieved and his rugby legacy is here for all to see.
But Cecil was not content with just making it to the Premiership, he had higher ambitions.
Cecil wanted Warriors to become a top six Premiership club, competing in the Heineken Champions Cup with the best clubs in Europe playing at Sixways. Ultimately, he wanted Warriors to win the Premiership and become the best club in England.
Cecil also drew up an ambitious masterplan for the development of the Sixways site which would generate significant non-matchday revenue to make Warriors a sustainable Premiership rugby club.
Everyone associated with the club is proud to have inherited Cecil’s legacy and we are committed to honouring his memory by fulfilling his ambitions on and off the pitch.