Sports honour guard for ‘Apple’

A VIRTUAL?who’s who of sporting Barbados turned out in their hundreds yesterday to pay their respect to one of the most loved groundsmen, Richard “Apple” Applewaite, whose body was reposed for viewing at his beloved Empire Club in Bank Hall.
Players past and present, officials, administrators, and almost every groundsman from the other Barbados Cricket Association Elite and Division One clubs turned out to show the high esteem they held for a man who produced some of the best pitches in the island.
During Applewaite’s final departure from the Empire ground, members of the hockey, football and cricket teams formed a guard of honour from the pavilion to the pitch where the champion groundsman would have spent most of his working life. Not “a man moved” until the hearse had left the Frank Worrell Gate.
The funeral service will take place today at the All Souls Church in Bank Hall from 1 p.m., followed by burial at Westbury Cemetery.