Richard, of Howes Farm near Calthwaite, lost his battle with MND in March, age 53.
Since Richard’s diagnosis, his former club Raughton Head Young Farmers Club - and the farming community - has raised over £300,000 in his name.
The club completed a variety of fundraisers, including “Many Miles for MND,” running, biking and rowing 1,222 miles in just 24 hours, the equivalent of Land’s End to John O’Groats.
They then completed “Many Mountains for MND”, in which they conquered all 214 Wainwrights in 24 hours.
Additional fundraising ranged from milk cheque donations and farm events to auctions, a vintage car drive, and even “Messy’s Moo’s”, fancy-dress cows running the Rob Burrow Leeds Marathon.
Richard, a very progressive dairy farmer, developed a 470 head, block calving herd of cross bred dairy cattle at Howes Farm, implementing a paddock grazing system. He won multiple awards including the First Milk Regenerative Farmer of the Year award in 2025 and the Grassland Society Silage Cup in 2026.
Following his diagnosis, Richard was determined to approach MND with a positive attitude, and threw himself into many adventures, including e-biking coast to coast in a day.
He was enormously grateful for the support shown to him by his community.
Humbled and moved
Elisabeth, Richard’s wife, said: ‘Raughton Head YFC was a massive part of Richard’s life, he met many lifelong friends as a member and was thrilled to see his own children Will, James, Eddie and Emily enjoy being part of the club.
“When Rich was diagnosed with MND we were fearful about telling people the difficult news. The YFC community was simply wonderful, offering support to our family and planning and completing two epic fundraising challenges to raise funds for MNDA.
“When Richard was in hospital last summer feeling terribly poorly the club did the ‘Many Mountains for MND challenge’. Throughout the day Richard’s phone was pinging with images and messages of support from various members reaching fell summits all over the Lake District. We were both so humbled and moved thinking about the 214 fells climbed that day in his name.
“In a TV interview at another MND event Rich thanked ‘the best of Cumbrian friends’ for all the love and support he had been shown. It was a huge comfort.”
Long-time Raughton Head YFC committee member Kate Rowland said: “Raughton Head YFC is a very close knit community, when one of our own is going through something we all feel it and all want to help. We planned and took part in the big fundraisers to show the Messenger family our support and to use our platform to raise awareness of MND.
“The challenges we did were nothing compared to what Richard was experiencing and he inspired us all with his positive approach to life, he was much loved by everyone. It was amazing to see everyone come together with past members and other clubs getting involved and messages of support and donations coming in from across the country. It really showed the strength of the wider young farmers family.
“We will really miss Richard who was a big part of the club and we will continue to show our love and support to Elisabeth, Will, James, Eddie and Emily.”
Richard Messenger and his family