tennis NEWS

LTCC Member and Former T&RA Council Member Clive Barnes Has Died

Measured by any dimension, Clive Barnes’s contribution to Real Tennis, and the Leamington Tennis Court Club in particular, was immense. He joined Leamington in 1959 when he was an articled clerk at local chartered accountants, Burgis & Bullock, and was an active and wholly committed member for over 60 years. After qualification Clive joined the family firm HL Barnes and Sons where he was a partner from 1964 until his retirement in 2001. He was originally attracted to the club to play squash and did not touch a Real Tennis racquet until the early 1970s — and his swift improvement was entirely predictable.

Clive had a whipcord physique and was a gifted sportsman who graced the hockey field, squash, lawn, and Real Tennis courts with equal aplomb. Not only was he talented, but he also had that essential quality of competitiveness - but that didn’t worry his opponents with whom he was universally popular; rather, they were delighted by his charming manner when back in the dressing rooms and accepting of his offer of a close of play drink. He was very successful across all these sports over a period of many years. His hockey career included playing for Warwickshire in an unbroken run of 65 matches during an 11-year period and being a GB Olympic triallist for the Mexico games. As a lawn tennis player, he represented the Warwick Boat Club in the European Clubs Over 65s Veterans’ finals.

At LTCC, Clive was club champion on two occasions, first in 1989 and again in 1996. In 2002, partnering fellow LTCC member Anthony Tufton (Lord Hothfield), he won the World Veterans Doubles in New York. He was an avid Real Tennis tourist both domestically and overseas to the USA and Australia for the Boomerang Cup. He loved hosting visitors from overseas and indeed other players from the UK and Europe and made many good friends along the way.

Clive was unfortunate to suffer a stroke in February 2016, followed by a second one in June 2016. These left him with seriously impaired vision and unable to drive but he was still able to make an occasional visit to the club in the company of his elder brother, David, who has himself been a member since 1957 and is still a regular doubles player. Clive’s two sons, Luke and Tom, both joined in 1988. Luke is still on the list and Tom remained so until 2019.

At LTCC Clive served on the management committee for around half a century. Of course, as a chartered accountant, he had all the knowledge and expertise which we needed during the difficult years in the late 1970s when the club faced the real prospect of closure, and we relied heavily on this expertise to completely restructure the club and the limited company. These were essential elements of Leamington’s worldwide fundraising appeal to renovate the club after the ravages of dry rot. He never let us down and together with the then-chairman, John Camkin, he guided the club to financial stability and the opportunities we now have to enjoy a period of relative calm and growth.

On top of this, Clive was a generous benefactor to the game, particularly to LTCC and Moreton Morrell, his two home clubs, and we all have much to be thankful for.

At a national level, Clive was elected to serve two terms on the Council of the Tennis & Rackets Association, the governing body of the game in the UK.

We offer our most sincere condolences to all of Clive’s family.

Olaf Dixon

LTCC

8th January 2025

PHOTO: Chris Ronaldson, Clive Barnes and Wayne Davies at Leamington for the Invitational Pro-Am in 1982.