1st October 2026

It is with a heavy heart that I tell you that Russel Matthews died yesterday.
To his family our deep and sincere condolences.
Russel and his ‘KODS’ cohort were ultra friendly, kind, inclusive, always happy, always interesting, knowledgeable, generous, amusing and sometime controversial.
They earned a 5 star status as regulars.

We remember their involvement and care about the local community, once found themselves as partners in a local business that needed some support, namely Walton Street Cycles.
During EVERY 4 nations or 5 nations or 6 nations international rugby tournament Russel and his friends would, during their weekly visit to the R&C, sit around their table and predict the winning team for EVERY match played, with the points difference as a tie breaker.
After the games were over, an extremely sophisticated scoring system gave a weekly winner.

The friends never missed a week unless there were family commitments, a rugby match or they had a wine tasting!

Many will recognise Russel from this post on our website a few months ago.
Indeed Russel himself wrote about how he and his friends arrived at the R&C 25 years ago. I’ll leave you to read that post yourselves.
CLICK HERE.

Andrew, Deborah and Adam

We will all miss Russel dreadfully, RIP.