Tribute to John A. G. Wadsworth
In the 1971/72 edition of the Nottinghamshire Badminton Association Handbook under the heading “Pen Pictures”, I quote from the first paragraph, which said “the debt owed by this County to John Wadsworth can never be repaid”. Some thirty years on, when John sadly had to leave us on 5th February 2005, how fitting that quote truly is.
John acted as Tournament Referee to our Open Championships from 1962 to 2004. In 2002 it gave me great pleasure to present him with the English Badminton Award, which was a huge surprise to him, and a well-kept secret by his family. I remember him being extremely flattered, but delighted to receive such an award.
Badminton has always been in the Wadsworth blood. His father helped form the Nottinghamshire Leagues and both his parents played to County level, as did his sister Angela. John first learned to play Badminton at the Deaf and Dumb Institute, where his mother ran junior coaching sessions and he continued this tradition by qualifying as a coach, giving up his lunch breaks to coach at the Nottingham High School. He also coached at Radcliffe and Bingham.
Life began for John on 2nd April 1938 in St Mary`s Nursing Home in Nottingham and he first went to school at St Anselms. His further education took him to Radley College where he “fagged” for none other than Ted Dexter who went on to captain England’s cricket team.
National service followed and he saw active duty with the 40 Commando Troop, Royal Marines in Cyprus, and received an Active Service Medal. John also served in Northern Italy and Africa whilst in the Services.
The Wadsworth family can be traced back to the 16th and 17th centuries when they were successful millers who then used their resources to move into a more professional field. There has been a ‘John’ in every generation and in 1824 the then John Wadsworth became a lawyer and formed the practice, which eventually became Messrs. Watson, Wadsworth and Crewdson on Fletcher Gate. The Wadsworths carried on the family lawyers` tradition but John, with his fathers backing, decided that his career lay elsewhere.
His working life began with the National Coal Board at Sherwood Lodge as an Estates` Assistant and where he trained to become a Chartered Surveyor. He moved into private practice as an FRICS and then became a Civil Servant both in Nottingham and finally until his retirement in 2003, in Birmingham.
John first met Pat, his wife to be, in January 1961 when she helped nurse him at Harlow Wood Hospital following a tragic shooting accident. The first date, however, was not until the 1962 Notts Open Championships when he asked Pat out. This was probably to celebrate being in command as Referee for the first time, having helped his father in previous years. They married in 1967 and had two sons, John and Graham.
In addition to his Badminton, John played Cricket, Golf, and was a keen sailor. He took part in the first World Championships in 1966 of the Fireball Class with his brother-in-law. Most of us will also know what a fanatical supporter he was of the Nottingham Panthers Ice Hockey team. He was first in the queue for his season ticket when the Ice Hockey leagues formed in the 1980`s. Following his death, a minute’s silence was observed at the Ice Stadium, thus clearly helping to demonstrate the stature of the man.
It was my pleasure to invite John to become the President of the Nottinghamshire Badminton Association. Apparently, the invitation rather took his breath away, and he simply said he would think it over. His wife Pat later said that he had telephoned his father who had said “You are going to accept, aren’t you? Ring back straight away!” He did indeed ring back and one of his greatest pleasures was to be able to continue to be involved with Badminton.
John was a very well liked man. All who have known him speak well of him, hold happy memories and will, I am sure, be the better for having met him. Farewell John, I should think you will be keeping a watchful eye on us!
John C Briggs
Chairman of Nottinghamshire Badminton
Association