Richard founded MAPS [Military and Police Support] in 2012, to provide support in the West for former service personnel who needed it, including a drop-in service, befriending, counselling, hospital attendance etc. It is an entirely voluntary organisation that receives some limited funding from Northern Ireland Victims Service. He himself had been in the Police and was at the Omagh Bomb scene minutes after it happened. A number of years later when he had to retire due to ill heath he realised there was little support for security force members who left under similar circumstances. MAPS received a citation from HM the Queen in 2017 and Richard was presented with an MBE by Prince William in 2018.
He also talked about his work as Chairman of Omagh British Legion and his visit to Belgium to lay a wreath as part of the Great Pilgrimage90 in 2018, when 1200 legion members and representatives from throughout the UK and Ireland paraded through Ypres to the Menin Gate with their Standards and wreaths.
The citation on the Omagh British Legion wreath was written by Honorary President Bob Lingwood. A number of members recounted their own family memories and history, including the use of photographs and the placing of Poppy Crosses on graves.
