One of Wales’s top middle-distance athletes, Jackie Barnett, who reached the final of the 880 yards at the Perth Commonwealth Games in 1962, has died aged 80.
Her best time that year – 2:12.1 (equivalent to a 2:11.4 800m) – would have placed her just outside the Welsh top ten for 2018. She was also a talented sprinter; among her nine Welsh national titles were the 220 yards in 1956 and the 440/880 double for four successive years from 1959 and 1962.
Born in Cardiff, Jackie grew up in the coalmining village of Ynysddu, Monmouthshire, with her elder brother Michael and parents Rachel and Cyril. Their home in the Welsh valleys was shared with Cyril’s brother’s family, including Jackie’s first cousin Jeanne, and the two brothers ran a hardware and crockery shop. Their synagogue was a local hall with a visiting minister.
Cyril died in 1947 when Jackie was still at primary school. She and Jeanne later attended Pontllanfraith Grammar School in nearby Blackwood. “Academically, we weren’t very studious,” admits Jeanne, “but we both played netball for Monmouthshire, and Jackie was also chosen to represent south Wales. It was at Pontllanfraith that I noticed her athletics ability. ”
Jackie, a member of Newport Athletics Club and later Cardiff’s Roath Harriers, continued her athletics training throughout her teaching degree at the Chelsea College of Physical Education in Eastbourne, culminating in her appearances at the Empire and Commonwealth Games in Cardiff in 1958 and Perth in 1962 alongside team-mate and future Olympic long jump champion Lynn Davies.
She also competed in two Maccabiah Games in Israel, winning a 4 x 100m relay gold and 800m silver in 1961, and bronze for the 400m and 800m in 1965. Her team manager Alf Wilkins described her as “the most established athlete in the relay team.”
By 1965 Jackie had moved to London, and the following year she married photographer Peter Burke whom she had met at a Jewish social club. Their daughters Amanda and Emma were born in 1968 and 1970 and after a career break, Jackie went back to teaching in 1976, as well as coaching sprints at Hillingdon athletics club, where her children were members. She was also team manager for Middlesex schools athletics for many years, with one of her charges a young Mo Farah.
In 1991, a year after Peter died, Jackie retired from teaching and became active in Jewish voluntary work, particularly the League of Jewish Women. She met David Daly at a badminton club and they married in 1996. His death in 2013 signalled the start of Jackie’s health problems. “Mum was gregarious and had a great sense of humour, and a big circle of friends,” said Amanda. “She loved opera, especially Verdi and Puccini. She also liked watching rugby, supporting Wales of course. And she always kept up with watching athletics. But I think losing David was too much for her. She was diagnosed with dementia, which I’m convinced was brought on by shock.”
Jackie eventually moved to a care home but for her 80th birthday last year her daughters framed her Commonwealth Games kit. “It was wonderful to see her smile when she saw it,” said Amanda.” I know she was very proud of what she had achieved.”
Roger Bruck, a 4 x 100m relay gold medallist at the 1961 Maccabiah, described Jackie as “a warm person and as a superb athlete. At the opening ceremony of the 1961 Maccabiah she carried the GB flag, a deserved honour having by then represented Wales at the Commonwealth Games.”
She is survived by her daughters Amanda Burke and Emma Farney, and grandsons Sid and Joe. Her brother Michael pre-deceased her in 2000.
ROSALIND ZEFFERTT
Jackie Barnett: born July 28, 1938. Died March 15, 2019
