Page 22 - Club Rockley

the West Indies and the England cricket teams.
In the early seventies a small group of enthusiasts, led by Richard
Wareham and Howard Palmer and including Ralph Johnson, Bruce Tudor, Mickey Armstrong and several others got together to establish Squash as a sport in Barbados. All three of the “ABC partnership” were enthusiastic players and two excellent air conditioned courts became a part of the central facilities. Soon a “Rockley Team” emerged to play in the local competitions and in Rudi Goodridge the Hotel found a wonderful Professional and coach for both hotel guests and local members. I recall highly enjoyable games with many friends and visitors including Ian Dowding, a Cambridge Blue who, not unexpectedly played an elegant and highly accurate game; Eddie Grant, whose long pop star hair sometimes cost him a vital couple of points; Jeffrey Dujon, the extraordinarily athletic West indies wicket keeper from Jamaica; David Hunt of Olympic yachting fame and that master of the drop shot/slow lob game Frank Batstone of British Airways ........... all very good sportsmen and great personalities.
As a UK based tour operator, it was not a huge step from organizing cricket supporters tours with John Snow, to arranging Squash Festivals with Jonah Barrington, who was world number one for several years. These were greatly enjoyed by all who took part, and Jonah’s suggestion to include amongst the professional invitees, the top three UK ladies, was a huge success. The standard of their game was incredibly high, way above our best local men and Lisa Opie, Martine le Moignan, and Nicola Spurgeon won all their matches, whilst gaining many fans along the way.
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Guests enjoy ‘inclusive’ squash. Frank Batstone (seated) in background.