John Mackenzie, Who Helped Open Hyde Real Tennis Club, Has Died
The tennis community, particularly in West Dorset, is deeply saddened by the death of our good friend John Mackenzie, who was an ever popular member of the Hyde and previously of Canford and RTC. He passed away on 5 January 2025.
Obituary written by James Turner
John and I met up when my family and I moved to Dorset in 1990. Knowing there was a tennis court at Canford, I duly booked a court at the earliest opportunity and found myself playing doubles with him. It turned out John and his wife, Ferelith, had moved to Dorset only that previous summer. We saw each other on a regular basis for a few years at Canford during which time we hooked up with Cleeves Palmer, an Old Canfordian, who had secured the ownership of a dilapidated country house court in Walditch with a stunning stone exterior, from the Gundry family who kindly donated it. We became a committee of three, found other likely members and the Hyde Tennis Club was officially opened in June 1998 by Prince Edward.
John began playing Real Tennis in 1978 and was a regular at RTC and spending quite a bit of time in the Ronaldsons' flat as they became good friends. So friendly in fact that the Ronaldsons, together with Lachie Deuchar, decided to throw a birthday party for him on his 39th. The joke goes that the flat was festooned with "HAPPY 40th" posters — John was suitably indignant and typically good humoured about it.
It was during his time at RTC that another of his fondest memories occurred when he won the Billy Ross Skinner in 1986 with the now nonagenarian Sheila Macintosh.
John was an incredibly hard working lawyer but he managed to play at least weekly. He was involved in almost every tournament at the Hyde and won 10 Night Pennants for which he was presented with an engraved bell by our Head Pro, Jez Brodie, in late November on his final visit, which hangs in the winning gallery with that of his partner, Mark Brinson.
The February Doubles weekend which followed his funeral was dedicated to John — a great success and celebration of the character that was John, particularly when those bells rang in the winning gallery. Players were also encouraged to berate themselves with loud Johnisms ("You silly little man!") when they made mistakes.
After acting as my deputy chairman, John became chairman in 2009 for nine years during which time the club grew successfully with Ben Ronaldson as head pro and the present pro, Jez Brodie, as assistant.
In September, John's cancer had returned and we were informed that he was given weeks not months. His son Neil drove him over to Canford in early October to watch and enjoy the John Boys Trophy, which was the match he usually managed, where he enjoyed catching up with old friends.
When I last saw him in late November at a club tournament, he said, with a twinkle in his eye, how well he was doing as he was still alive. Awesome.
He also told a number of us that the game had been such a big part of his life that it was sad he had played his last game. He added that tennis had been so good to him and he hoped he had been good to it. He then expressed his pride and joy in the fact that his son, Neil Mackenzie, was a Tennis Pro at Queen’s.
John, incredibly, was still doing some legal work until just before Christmas as he felt he had to complete a particularly tricky conveyance.
All those who knew him will, I know, join me in sending sincerest sympathies to Ferelith, Neil and Alice.
*Pictures are of our then chairman John with Neil having presented him with his tournament prize and secondly, at our local pub, The Marquis of Lorne with a pint of his beloved Palmers bitter.
