Roger Barnett 1942 - 2018

Notices of deaths, death announcements and messages.
Post Reply
Kevin Thurlow
Posts: 5803
Joined: Wed Apr 30, 2008 12:28 pm

Roger Barnett 1942 - 2018

Post by Kevin Thurlow » Wed Mar 28, 2018 11:16 pm

Roger was a member of Redhill Chess Club for more than 50 years, and it was a rare occurrence for him to miss a club night. He was always willing to play anyone, and encouraged new members. He was a dangerous attacking player, and knew a lot about obscure gambits. In contrast, he was a shy and rather nervous person away from the board, but he was always eager to help. For some years he was Club Secretary, and more recently, club archivist and refreshment officer. Every week, he brought us tea, coffee, milk, biscuits, and Jaffa cakes, until the cupboard was overflowing. He also acted as Surrey’s Correspondence Chess Captain, until that became electronic. Although Roger’s job was in IT, he never owned a PC! He also attended Surrey meetings, as he wanted to be involved, and few at the club wanted to attend. Unfortunately, a couple of times he arrived with instructions to vote against some proposal, and announced this, at which point someone at the meeting would say we had misunderstood the proposal, so Roger, being very nice and trusting, would vote in favour!

He was always the first to visit club members in hospital and to turn up with presents he had carefully selected. He was always thoughtful like that and you couldn’t meet a kinder, gentler person.

He had not been well recently, then had a bad fall in the recent freezing weather. He seemed to be recovering then died a few days later. At the next club meeting we consumed Jaffa cakes in his honour. It was certainly very strange not to see him there.

David Robertson

Re: Roger Barnett 1942 - 2018

Post by David Robertson » Thu Mar 29, 2018 2:23 pm

Nice obit.

RIP Roger. Every club should have one. Many do.

User avatar
John Saunders
Posts: 1710
Joined: Thu Apr 19, 2007 3:10 pm
Location: Kingston-upon-Thames
Contact:

Re: Roger Barnett 1942 - 2018

Post by John Saunders » Thu Mar 29, 2018 3:32 pm

Kevin,

Thanks for that. I echo David's comment about the obit.

Very sad news. Though I didn't know Roger personally, and I haven't played league chess for years, I remember him as a benign presence at Redhill Chess Club when arriving there for away matches. Pleasant to be greeted with a smile from the opposition - not something you get everywhere!
Personal Twitter @johnchess
Britbase https://www.britbase.info
(I prefer email to PM - contact me via this link - https://www.saund.org.uk/email.html)

Angus French
Posts: 2149
Joined: Thu May 15, 2008 1:37 am
Contact:

Re: Roger Barnett 1942 - 2018

Post by Angus French » Thu Mar 29, 2018 3:33 pm

Very sorry to read the news about Roger. From what little I knew of him - I saw him at league matches and meetings over several decades - he was a friendly chap and always eager to contribute.

Kevin Thurlow
Posts: 5803
Joined: Wed Apr 30, 2008 12:28 pm

Re: Roger Barnett 1942 - 2018

Post by Kevin Thurlow » Wed Apr 04, 2018 3:26 pm

Thanks for the nice comments, which will be forwarded to his family.

After his fall, Roger defaulted his game in a league match against Wallington (he couldn't contact us, and we didn't know it had happened). This meant we got penalty points automatically applied. (Defaults above bottom board get penalty points in ratio of "Board Count", if you get 10, you lose half a match point.) However, the opposing captain (Owen Phillips) and the opposing player (Robert Davies) appealed to the league and said the penalty points should be removed in these circumstances. The League organizers agreed.

What a nice gesture, and just what Roger would have done!

It restores one's faith in human nature.

Nick Grey
Posts: 1838
Joined: Thu Dec 01, 2011 12:16 am

Re: Roger Barnett 1942 - 2018

Post by Nick Grey » Sat Apr 07, 2018 12:52 am

RIP Roger.
Kevin, thank you. It is difficult when you lose a club stalwart.
I knew Roger through chess and our Surrey meetings. A real gentleman and tough opposition over the chessboard.
Very welcoming to visitors.

Kevin Thurlow
Posts: 5803
Joined: Wed Apr 30, 2008 12:28 pm

Re: Roger Barnett 1942 - 2018

Post by Kevin Thurlow » Tue Apr 24, 2018 7:40 pm

Roger's family want a quiet funeral for him, so I will not publish the date. I am pleased to say that the presiding official will be the Reverend Cunnington (no relation).

Mike Gunn
Posts: 1014
Joined: Wed Apr 11, 2007 4:45 pm

Re: Roger Barnett 1942 - 2018

Post by Mike Gunn » Fri Apr 27, 2018 10:13 am

Roger was a very reliable member of my County team except in one respect: you could never be sure when he would turn up (often about half an hour after the official start time). Once he turned up when he wasn't in the team (he would have been in the team if I had been able to contact him). Needless to say he seemed to win most of those games when he turned up late.

Post Reply