A well known author and poet died in his car after watching his favourite football team play, the club has announced. Les Barker who had written over 70 books and released more than 20 albums died aged 75 on Sunday, January 15 in the car park of The New Saints of Oswestry Town football ground.
The club said that Les watched The New Saints defeat Newtown 7-0 in the JD Welsh Cup, but unfortunately, he never made it home. On Sunday morning at approximately 8:45am, he was found unresponsive in his car by a member of the building’s cleaning staff who promptly notified the emergency services.
Both the police and paramedics were quickly on the scene, but despite their best efforts to revive him, he was sadly pronounced dead in the car park shortly after. The club said it is suspected he had died of a heart attack.
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Famous for his comedic poetry and parodies of popular songs, the Manchester-born poet relocated to Bwlchgwyn in North Wales in the mid-2000s and it was at that point he began to follow the fortunes of The New Saints, said the club's chairman Mike Harris.
Throughout his distinguished career, he performed in numerous countries across the globe, including Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States, before announcing his retirement in late September 2022.
The club’s chairman, Mr Harris , paid tribute, saying: “Everyone at The New Saints FC was incredibly saddened to hear the news about Les on Sunday. On behalf of everyone at the club, I would like to offer my deepest condolences to all of his family and friends at this extremely sad time. He will be dearly missed and we would like to dedicate Saturday’s 7-0 win to him.”
There will be a minute’s silence in Les’ memory ahead of the Genero Adran Premier fixture between The New Saints Women and Abergavenny Women, and Saturday’s JD Cymru Premier match between The New Saints and Bala Town.
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