A XV FIXTURES FOR 2023/24 SEASON ANNOUNCED
July 2, 2023
CLUB PRESIDENT GRAHAM CROUCH ON JOHN PARISH
July 11, 2023
The club is saddened to learn of the passing of John Parish. John was a Vice President of the Club and a valuable officer of the TSSSC/TMWA.
Chris Great was a contemporary of John’s in Trinity’s Upper Sixth in the late fifties and tells us John was a ‘fine open side wing forward’. Bruce Jupp remembers, it was John along with Mike Oliver who converted from wing-forward to centre during the mid-60s as they were indeed “the best tacklers in the club.” Bruce adds, “I remember one match against Warlingham when Terry Brook had just returned – having played for England – that they hammered him all match and gave him no chance to score. John was a lovely chap and played many years for the club with Barry Ghent as flankers, I believe he did a couple of years as team secretary.”
“John made an enormous contribution to TMWA, both as a Trustee of the SPF for 20 years and as Honorary General Secretary, from 2012 until he passed on his files to me in 2019. He played a major role in the small team who conceived and delivered CASC and the TSSSC in 2015, putting in a lot of work for us and laying the ground for our financial survival during Covid.”
John was also a big supporter of our juniors and made donations to support the running of that section. Most importantly he purchased the rugby club washing machine and tumble dryer, without which we would be lost. Not only do we turn out in clean kit, we save a fortune in laundry bills each week.
The service for John will be on Friday 14th July at 12.00 at the Surrey and Sussex Crematorium, Balcombe Rd, Crawley, RH10 3NQ and afterwards at Nutfield Priory.
There is a Just Giving page in memory of John in support of Cure Parkinsons. If any of you would like to add to this fund please feel free to do so by following the link below:
