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Basil Hebden
It is with deep regret that we have learnt about Basil Hebden.
One of squash’s greatest characters. Though to those that met him, his constitution must have been mighty, because to go down 7/9 in the fifth after looking like an easy 0/3 shows how resilient he was.
I and many others, met Basil at his empire, the Meyrick Park Squash Club in leafy Bournemouth. Basil was Mr Bournemouth. He organised a squash tournament, the Hanimex Bournemouth Festival, that became legendary from approximately 1964 to, I believe, the start of the 21st century. Most of the top ‘amateur’ players and the ‘senior’ professionals played in an atmosphere of hard squash and drunken conviviality, exactly as Ian Bradburn does to this day.
In my sides, the Bucchanalians and later Mercia, we had stars like Ricky Hill, Ian Robinson, Lars Kvant, Mickey Hellstrom. As well as the most hedonistic talent such as the legendary Chris Barker, Jim McCollum et al. We won it in 1976 but the writing was on the wall for us in the late seventies when the Professionals turned up tea-total and of course won it. From then on, if memory serves me correctly, it continued for a large number of years with the social angle still prevalent but the playing standard somewhat diluted.
Two stories from the late seventies, to encapsulate the flavour of Basil’s tournament – a very serious match between Chris Barker and a Barrington prototype, all long hair, length and fitness. The latter was winning easily, 2/0 and 5/0, a drop into the top left hand corner, an easy winner. Let please said Barker, not moving from the back. ‘Why, asked the ref, tricky Dickie Carter…… He’s done one in the corner, in fact, he has been doing them all through the match…………… No I aven’t………..Yes you have you dirty beast…………………Let granted and please don’t fart on court………. Explosion verbally and completely ruined concentration. Barker, he of the extended cardigan, eventually lost 10/8 in the fifth and the match to the Scrubbers!
I remember Basil leaving our bar sometime in the early hours. He had, if memory serves me correctly, an Austin Allegro. A few hundred yards and there was a blockage at the traffic lights. Basil had fallen asleep. Luckily the squad car allocated knew him very well, woke him up and sent him on his way!! ………..back to us at the bar!
Basil was one of life’s bonviveurs and it shows his adaptability and resilience to have survived so long in the new politically correct country we know as England.
England Squash Masters and all players and friends who met Basil will mourn his passing. Our thoughts are with his family at this time.
MCP
Briefly Basil was ‘Mr Squash’ in Bournemouth for many years being the professional at the Meyrick Park squash courts. Every Easter for about 25 years he organised a four day squash festival centred on Meyrick Park but because of the numbers – 40 teams of 5 players was the largest entry I seem to recall – also used four other local clubs. In the late 60s early 70s several world ranked Pakistanis came, in the late 70s and early 80s Shawcross, Brownlee, and Norman (all world champions) came along with many other international players.
For many the partying was just as important as the squash.
I propose obtaining a copy of the address at the funeral and forwarding this to you which various publications and websites might like to reproduce as a tribute to Basil. Time precludes me from writing at this moment.
The urgency is to announce details of Basil’s funeral which are:-
At St John’s Church, Christchurch Road, Boscombe, on Wednesday 16 July at 1pm.
Followed by a private family cremation at 2pm and thereafter a Wake at Bournemouth Sports Club, Chapel Gate, Hurn (just west of Bournemouth Airport).
It was Basil’s wish that his final send off should be more like a party.
Finally, one of his favourite expressions was ‘aren’t people nice?’ which tells you something of the man hopefully.
Thanks again.
Jimmy Evans