Magazine 2024 Final Full Res v1 - Flipbook - Page 24
John Parish (1940 - 2023)
We were saddened to hear of the passing
of John Parish, Vice-President of TMWA,
loved, respected and admired, who could
perhaps be described as the archetypal
Mid-Whitgivian.
Some sad farewells
Born in 1940, during the war, his early
years were spent sheltering from the
bombs.
In 1952, he entered Whitgiv Middle
School, at the old site in North End. John
was a talented all-round sportsman, a
rampaging wing forward who doubled as
scrum half, an athlete and cross country
runner, a hockey player, cricketer,
badminton and squash player.
He went on to Exeter University to study
chemistry and biology and, in his second
year, married Sandra, his teenage
sweetheart and wife for over 60 years.
His early career was in teaching, at
Surbiton Grammar School and Reeds
School Cobham. John and Sandra9s three
children, Nic, Jus}ne and Ann Marie were
born during the family9s }me in Cobham.
At the Service of Thanksgiving at Crawley
on 14th July, the family painted a warm
picture of a dedicated and fun-loving
father and grandfather to a large family,
who was not without some endearing
idiosyncrasies. The occasion was
par}cularly memorable for the eloquent
tributes from his grandchildren.
Juniors, to buying a washing machine and
tumble drier to solve the weekly wrangle
over who was to wash the kit. For his
many contribu}ons to the life of the
Rugby Club, John was made a VicePresident, a role in which he served for
many years.
His spor}ng career matured in the
direc}on of the golf course and John
captained our Golf Society in 2002 and he
was elected President of the Society, from
2014 to 2017.
The less visible side of John9s contribu}on
to the Club was his 20 year Trusteeship
and 昀椀nancial management of the SPF, the
principal funding of the Associa}on,
where his acumen and commitment
guided us though some choppy waters to
provide the sound basis of today9s
A change of career saw John become an
昀椀nances. In 2014, he took on the
Independent Financial Advisor and TMWA
responsibili}es of Honorary General
were later to bene昀椀t enormously from
Secretary and played a key role in the
the a琀琀ributes which John brought to his
commi琀琀ee which conceived and
profession; his integrity, his interpersonal
established the Trinity Sanderstead Sports
skills and his commitment to the 昀椀nancial
and Social Club, with Community Amateur
detail.
Sports Club status, which enabled us to
But as Graham Crouch recalls, most of us survive 昀椀nancially the extensive lock
knew John, the sportsman, a dedicated
down of the Covid years and for which we
playing member of the Rugby Club, from owe John a substan}al debt of gra}tude.
leaving school in 1959 un}l well in the
It is a tribute to John9s modesty that few
1970s, playing in posi}ons where his
of us knew of his enormous contribu}on
昀椀erce tackling ability really counted, from
to the Associa}on. He will be greatly
wing forward to scrum half, centre to
missed. We send our condolences to
second row. But his support for the Club
Sandra, Nic, Jus}ne, Anne-Marie and their
was ongoing, from encouraging the
families.
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