Regular players for the Cavaliers in the 1980s and '90s, Clive Dring, Mike Roberts, Jim Harmer and John's brother Chris, along with sometime 1st team player Tim Johnson joined a packed St John the Baptist Church in Purley for the funeral of John Barrie, who 'lost his wicket' recently, just 8 short of his century.
Moving solos, including Ave Maria, with a full Latin Mass (meticulously laid out in advance by John) counterbalanced with a very amusing eulogy by John's daughter Jackie which often lovingly took the micky out of her dad, made for a memorable send off. Jackie took us through his life as a lay person in the Catholic Church and how he became a Papal Knight (the Order of St Gregory) by helping with the visit of John-Paul II to the UK in 1982. This included the logistics of ferrying around the Bishops - 'not an easy job, considering they can only move diagonally'. The extent of John's work for the church, and other causes, before and after the Pope's visit has been immense.
At the reception, Jackie continued with the other two loves of John's life - his wife Una, pictured here with John in his Cavalier's jersey, and their family, and of course cricket. He played for many years at Purley CC, where Tim has also played, and in the mid 1980's joined the Cavaliers at Reigate Priory for a more relaxed type of game, where families were much involved. He attended club events until quite recently and he was of course an MCC member and renowned as a dapper and funny gentleman, and an elegant batsman!