OBITUARY: Barry James

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Barry James, Commonwealth Judo Association Executive Committee Member, who passed away recently.Upon retiring from the mat, Barry’s involvement in judo did not wane as he became a Board Member of the British Judo Association and also became a life member of the BJA.

Last year he received a County of Kent Judo long service award with his most recent achievement being his promotion to 6th Dan.

He was not just a fierce competitor on the mat however as he qualified as a National Referee, a Supervisory Examiner and a Senior Coach.

He was a member of Judo England Masters and was the Judo England Manager for over 18 years.

Barry was a long time Executive Committee member of the Commonwealth Judo Association and was Sport Director from 2006 – 2010 and continued as an EC member until he sadly passed away.

He was England Team Manager and took teams to the Commonwealth Games in Manchester (2002) and also for the Commonwealth Judo Championships in Stephenville, Canada (2000), New Zealand (2004), Derry (2006), Mauritius (2008) and Singapore (2010).

He was also involved in para-judo for many years and went to the Sydney Para-Olympics in 2000 as a referee. 

Barry will be solely by all of the judo family, across the British Judo Association and the Commonwealth Judo Association.

Please see below for details of his funeral:

Service:

St Richards Chapel (Surrey and Sussex Crematorium, Crawley RH10 3NQ) on Wednesday the 27th June at 12 o’clock.

Followed by:

Commemoration and Reflection

Hunsdon Hall Room at Ghyll Manor Hotel, Rusper RH12 4PX.

Please feel free to dress informally.

If you are planning to attend please it would be appreciated if you could RSVP (jamesgillian@hotmail.com)

His family have requested that it is family flowers only at the funeral please. If you wish to make a donation in Barry’s memory then they would ask that you support the Institute of Cancer Research’s Immunotherapy work (therapies which use the body’s own immune system as a weapon against cancer), or another Cancer charity of your choice.

You can donate at: https://www.icr.ac.uk/support-us/appeals-campaigns/immunotherapy-appeal or call 0845 222 0547