Unsquashable Barry is King of the court

MAPLE chief . . . Barry King retains his love of life and sport

Martyn meets... Barry King: one man who shot Oldham on to the sporting map
LEGEND is a word too easily ascribed but in the case of Barry King I believe it is well deserved, certainly in the tight-knit, volatile and highly competitive world of squash.

Not that this immensely likeable former market trader from Oldham but now resident in Rochdale would recognise the adjective. Yet this is the man who, with Stuart Cox and Alan Bate built, conceived, nurtured and created at Maple Squash one of the country’s major clubs and who retains such a devotion to the sport he has embraced for 40 years he is still playing competitively . . . at the age of 68.

He is a far too modest — without being a shrinking violet — to acknowledge such praise although he would agree to being labelled a squash fanatic.

Barry has been infatuated with the game for most of his adult life and his love of squash shows no sign of abating.

Still playing regularly for Rochdale in the North-West Counties League, he also manages and sometimes represents Lancashire Over-65s in inter-county matches.

OK, these days there are a few more bandages and neoprene supports — I have yet to see him in a neck brace but just about every joint has been reinforced at some juncture.

The eagerness burns brightly in his eyes when he talks about this highly individualistic, aggressive sport.

His enthusiasm is as keen as it was 28 years ago when he discovered squash via a story in the Sunday Times chronicling the great rivalry between Australian Geoff Hunt, whose sheer athleticism transformed the sport, and Jonah Barrington, the man generally regarded as putting the game on to the world stage.

“I was intrigued, utterly, but I had little idea of of the game until I went on holiday to Falmouth and saw the local squash club. I went in, looked and was hooked.”

Back home he debated his discovery with Stuart as they stood Oldham market together, in the days when Tommyfield was the market in the land.

Barry was selling fabrics and Stuart offering ladies’ underwear and, both aged 28, were lamenting the loss of their respective sporting careers in football and rugby league due to the demands of their respective businesses.

“We took ourselves off to Stalybridge, where the indoor sports centre had two courts, but we couldn’t get on until after 9pm. We had no idea of the rules, we just turned up and played.”

As it turned out, both were “pretty good” to use Barry’s own words and soon Barry had been persuaded to turn out for Senior Service, who, in the days when the cigarette factory was a booming, looming presence in Hyde, had their own courts in Newton.

“I played all season but didn’t win a single game,” he added.

Not that his enthusiasm waned, far from it. He and Stuart set about building their own club, closer to home. They identified a piece of land on Broadway and soon plans were in hand, with a lease from JW Lees Brewery, to build a squash club.

“It was a mad enterprise really. We didn’t have a any money, not a penny.”

Undeterred, the intrepid pair enlisted the help of builder Alan Bate, from Grotton, and Barry charmed a loan of £4,000 out of Terry Cooper, a manager with the Williams and Glynn’s Bank, later RBS.

I can certainly attest to the rubicund Cooper’s sporting prowess having been thrashed by him many times during nigh-on 20 years in the Oldham Table Tennis League when the bank manager was playing for Honeywell Lane.

“No-one else would even talk to us, but Terry was a sports fan and he supported us,” he said. “We knew that £4,000 wasn’t anywhere near enough, so I went back when we were four feet out of the ground got the rest so we could finish the building.”

By now squash was taking off and “The Three Squashketeers” were signing up members at £20 a year.

“We very quickly got to 350 and had to close membership, but that money meant we could service the loans and complete the building.”

The doors opened in May, 1975, with British number two Mike Grundy taking on Lancashire number one Clive Francis in an exhibition match. The place was packed and squash was booming.

The six courts weren’t enough and in 1978 an extension saw a glass-back court added which meant that two years later, Maple — and Oldham — hosted one of the sport’s marquee events, the Lookers’ Masters featuring world number one Geoff Hunt. Yep, the same guy who all those years previously had inspired Barry to get into squash.

Under Barry’s guidance, and with support from Stuart and Alan, the club went from strength to strength. Aftab Jawaid was appointed coach and the impressive crop of young players won the NW Counties League championship and went on to take the inaugural national championships with four local youngsters — Andy Gill, Grant Butterworth, Peter Boden and Vinny Hindley — supported by Liverpudlian Zane Saleh, who was being coached by Aftab, the backbone of the squad.

Twelve months later, to Barry’s great delight, the ladies emulated this feat with Karen Butterworth, Michelle Healey, Denise Brown, Linda Kenworthy, Bernadette Gabriel, Annette Pilling, Michelle Merriott, Sue O’Brien and Debbie Taylor prominent.

“Great days, simply wonderful days. Maple was the the place to be a squash player.”

Oldham boasted three other clubs — Chadd, in Spencer Street, Greenacres and Parkfield Hotel and Country Club in Moorside.

Maple was by now a runaway beast and needed to develop further in order to survive. The partners drew up plans for a hotel extension, but for reasons he wouldn’t divulge, they never came to fruition.

Eventually Barry walked away from his creation, handing the business to Stuart who, in turn sold the Maple as a going concern to Frank and Linda Whitehead. They, too, tried to sustain the club by submitting plans for a hotel but, like their predecessors, were blocked at every turn.

Eventually Maple was closed, the building was used as offices for the M60 motorway extension and then demolished. An era had come and gone in the blink of an eye.

I swear Barry wiped away a tear when he thought I wasn’t looking as he recounted the dying days of the Maple. They were nine of years of his life that he could remember in painstaking detail.

“I had fantastic support from my wife Margaret and my family and I made friendships which endure to this day.”

In addition to being a member of the rare breed of squash player who will never, ever, give up — and I know lots of those, believe me, after representing the Village Hyde for nigh-on 20 years — Barry is now a 15-handicap golfer at Manchester.

He is also a member of the Maple Golf Society, a group of former members who have annual trips. Their next is to Anglesey where once again they will relive the glory days of an iconic yet all-too-shortlived memory of Oldham’s glorious sporting heritage.

He has also built up his business, no longer on the markets but ensconced in modern premises in Huddersfield Road where Ambassador Textiles thrives.

Twenty years ago he recruited Scouthead man Mike Donohue — yep, Mike plays squash — at that time a tax a inspector, and the pair have grown the business, latterly with Barry’s daughter Caroline on board too.

They are now in a position whereby they can become a corporate sponsor of the One Future Oldham Sports Awards launched in conjunction with the council and this newspaper.

There is a gala dinner at the Queen Elizabeth Hall on Friday, June 29, and Barry will take his place as major contributor, supporting the Disability category.

Barry has never lost his love of sport or his social conscience. For 22 years he has been an active member of the Terence O’Grady Trust, which supports people with learning difficulties, and is vice-chairman of the Oldham branch.

He retains his interest Maple to this day and has persuaded the people at Gallery Oldham to stage a July exhibition of photographs, trophies and memorabilia from the club.

What’s the betting he visits every day . . .


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