John Dawes joined the old Neath Club in about 1966 but later transferred his allegiance to the town’s other club, Castell Nedd. He was the kind of solid dependable player that every club needs and, in addition to that he sat on the club committee for many years and helped to run one of the club’s many teams. In 2006 he was voted Clubman of the Year, an honour which reflected all the work that he had done for the club over the previous twelve months.

John had a calm and quiet personality but was a very solid player who was a great asset to the club's second team. On one occasion, he was playing in Briton Ferry. After just half an hour's play John's opponent threw the board up in the air, with pieces flying everywhere. The team captain rushed over to find out what had happened and John just commented, "Interesting!"

He was a difficult man to beat and had quite a bit of success against strong players in the club’s annual guest simultaneous displays.

John was followed into the club by his two grandsons, Adam and James Ridgeway.

Outside chess he was an excellent gardener, winning many of the local council gardening awards. He and his wife took part in sequence dancing all their married lives. There is often an argument about whether chess is an art or a science – obviously with John it appealed to his artistic side. He retired from the chess club about fifteen years ago, but will long be remembered.

18/04/2024