TRIBUTES have been paid to a ‘fun-loving’ former chairman and president of a cricket club.

Bob Butchers, who was also a champion tipster for a national newspaper, died on March 31 aged 94.

He was the chairman of Odiham and Greywell Cricket Club from 1977 to 84, and was then president from 1985 to 95, while he was one of the key people in charge of the club’s move to its current location in King Street.

Originally from Lewes, in East Sussex, he lived in Odiham from the 1960s to the late 1990s with his family.

With a love of horses entrenched in the family, with his brother, father and grandfather being jockeys or horse trainers, Bob became a jockey before starting his career as the tipster for the national newspaper the Daily Mirror.

Bob’s career as a jockey was interrupted by the outbreak of the Second World War, when he joined the RAF.

He spent long and unsociable hours loading bombs onto Lancaster bomber planes, before he went to Arizona in America to train as a pilot.

After the war had finished, in 1946, Bob had to make a decision between continuing as a jockey or not, when a friend suggested the newspaper job.

Then, he would spend the next 39 years being the tipster at the Mirror, where he predicted more than 125,000 winners over the course of his career.

Bob’s son Guy Butchers said: “He was much-loved by so many, and was known as a fun-loving chap.

“He loved family gatherings and his work and had a striking dedication to whatever he did.”

He is survived by his wife of 70 years Marian, his daughter Lesley and son Guy.

The funeral will be taking place on Thursday, 25 April at 12.15pm at Aldershot Crematorium, with a wake to follow at Odiham and Greywell Cricket Club.

To attend, email Guy at guy.utd1@yahoo.com.

Family flowers only.