CHAIRBOY Posted October 8, 2009 Share Posted October 8, 2009 John Richie died last year INFO; FOR ROCK LEGEND http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/john-ritchie-440430.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocklegend Posted October 8, 2009 Author Share Posted October 8, 2009 John Richie died last year INFO; FOR ROCK LEGEND I knew that mate,I was putting my question (about Chairboy) on the post about him,as he had posted on it too,cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arfer Mo Posted October 8, 2009 Share Posted October 8, 2009 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/john-ritchie-440430.html Hi Chairboy, Thanks very much for that very interesting link re John's obituary, and of other people, l truly sympathise regards the awful time you are going through ,but feel inspired by your attitude of coping with it, l am fighting the wheelchair dread myself after several spinal decompressions without much success, but reaching the age of 85 l shall not have the time for wheelchair aid as long as you,.Anyhow as many others have said,may you have as little pain and discomfort as is possible, and Good Luck Arthur Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arfer Mo Posted October 8, 2009 Share Posted October 8, 2009 I knew that mate,I was putting my question (about Chairboy) on the post about him,as he had posted on it too,cheers. Sorry Rocklegend l should have known you would have known. Cheers Arthur. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimay Posted October 9, 2009 Share Posted October 9, 2009 like many others have said i have never met you but enjoyed reading your posts.all the best wishes to you chairboy. Ditto from me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PCInfield Posted October 9, 2009 Share Posted October 9, 2009 Ditto from me. And from me.Good luck Chairboy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CHAIRBOY Posted October 9, 2009 Share Posted October 9, 2009 Encore it is and it may be the correct word as I am sure I have related this factual story before but it must be one of my treasured football memories and does involve John Ritchie in a tenuous link, so please permit this indulgence. 8th April 1964 was the day Stoke were to play a Division 1 fixture at Hillsborough. We were given a half-day holiday in lieu of school Speech Day and so set forth for the number 37 bus to Bakewell. I was an avid autograph hunter at that time. We knew where clubs stayed, the times of trains, the hotels etc. and Stoke would be taking their afternoon tea stop at the Rutland, in the heart of this Derbyshire town. One of my fellow scholars Tony Hinchcliffe could testify my account. We exchanged the texts of Mee, Hill and Whitmarsh and crammed our obligatory satchels with annuals; Charles Buchan, Topical Times and scrapbooks bulging with cuttings from Football Monthly editions. There were two others in our party, one might have been someone dodging his school register – Alan Scholey springs to mind? The Stoke bus arrived, players signed some photographs and entered the hotel. We often needed more action shots signing as we played a game of counting up within the annuals, pages were bookmarked with woollen bands for quick attention. We didn’t enter the hotel, the layout, unlike the Grand in Sheffield was unfamiliar to us. The team eventually exited for the second part of their trip to S6. By this time, there was no way that public transport would get us to the game in time. There was one chance. We expressed our desperation to the Stoke team manager, Tony Waddington, and with a flick of his head, he directed us to the back seat of the coach. Wow, would be the current term. We sat like church mice not wanting to chance our arm by disturbing the card schools taking place. Stoke had several internationals at that time and we were on board with them. John Ritchie and Peter Dobing puffed pipes as they laid out their winning hands! Tony Allen was also in our company. The ego intensified as we approached Hillsborough especially when the coach turned through the Penistone Road gates. Gazing eyes looked at us as if we may be future stars. When the coach pulled up outside the players’ entrance the naughty thought was to alight and walk in with them but we decided not to do it ‘too brown’. Before the revamp of the main entrance, there were two entrances. There was one that my late uncle commissioned with Lord’s-like rigour in front of the locomotive nameplate bearing the name of Sheffield Wednesday. The actual players’ entrance would not be wide enough to accommodate my present day wheelchair. This was the door my father had used as a player in the 40s, one I had accessed after being recruited by Arthur Glaves in 1961 to act as a ball boy when the old North Stand had been demolished for greater things. It was a most unglamorous entrance as players crammed the narrow passage to give out their complimentary tickets. I recall that half-a-crown fee for match-day duties but decided to steer away that night and use my shareholder’s ticket instead. Wednesday won that game 2-0 with goals from Dobson and Fantham. Coincidentally, I have only been to Stoke once in my lifetime and Stoke beat the Owls 2-0 on that occasion in 1955, when the names of Mountford, Bowyer and Matthews ruled at The Victoria Ground. When Tony Waddington died in 1994, I must have been one of many wanting to pay tribute to the Mancunian. This story was related on Radio Stoke and I had a piece published in the ‘Pink’ of the Stoke Sentinel. I hadn’t forgotten Waddington’s generosity of 1964, then and haven’t some fifteen years on. Would it happen today? About as likely as a small town club winning the Premiership as Ipswich and Burnley had done, then Division 1 title, only a couple of years earlier. The coaches nowadays – tinted windows preclude one from viewing who is on board. There are no sliding windows through which to pass your annual with pen in page for signing. Tony Waddington offered us a window of opportunity and our quartet will remain eternally grateful! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoffusa Posted October 9, 2009 Share Posted October 9, 2009 Encore it is and it may be the correct word as I am sure I have related this factual story before but it must be one of my treasured football memories and does involve John Ritchie in a tenuous link, so please permit this indulgence. 8th April 1964 was the day Stoke were to play a Division 1 fixture at Hillsborough. We were given a half-day holiday in lieu of school Speech Day and so set forth for the number 37 bus to Bakewell. I was an avid autograph hunter at that time. We knew where clubs stayed, the times of trains, the hotels etc. and Stoke would be taking their afternoon tea stop at the Rutland, in the heart of this Derbyshire town. One of my fellow scholars Tony Hinchcliffe could testify my account. We exchanged the texts of Mee, Hill and Whitmarsh and crammed our obligatory satchels with annuals; Charles Buchan, Topical Times and scrapbooks bulging with cuttings from Football Monthly editions. There were two others in our party, one might have been someone dodging his school register – Alan Scholey springs to mind? The Stoke bus arrived, players signed some photographs and entered the hotel. We often needed more action shots signing as we played a game of counting up within the annuals, pages were bookmarked with woollen bands for quick attention. We didn’t enter the hotel, the layout, unlike the Grand in Sheffield was unfamiliar to us. The team eventually exited for the second part of their trip to S6. By this time, there was no way that public transport would get us to the game in time. There was one chance. We expressed our desperation to the Stoke team manager, Tony Waddington, and with a flick of his head, he directed us to the back seat of the coach. Wow, would be the current term. We sat like church mice not wanting to chance our arm by disturbing the card schools taking place. Stoke had several internationals at that time and we were on board with them. John Ritchie and Peter Dobing puffed pipes as they laid out their winning hands! Tony Allen was also in our company. The ego intensified as we approached Hillsborough especially when the coach turned through the Penistone Road gates. Gazing eyes looked at us as if we may be future stars. When the coach pulled up outside the players’ entrance the naughty thought was to alight and walk in with them but we decided not to do it ‘too brown’. Before the revamp of the main entrance, there were two entrances. There was one that my late uncle commissioned with Lord’s-like rigour in front of the locomotive nameplate bearing the name of Sheffield Wednesday. The actual players’ entrance would not be wide enough to accommodate my present day wheelchair. This was the door my father had used as a player in the 40s, one I had accessed after being recruited by Arthur Glaves in 1961 to act as a ball boy when the old North Stand had been demolished for greater things. It was a most unglamorous entrance as players crammed the narrow passage to give out their complimentary tickets. I recall that half-a-crown fee for match-day duties but decided to steer away that night and use my shareholder’s ticket instead. Wednesday won that game 2-0 with goals from Dobson and Fantham. Coincidentally, I have only been to Stoke once in my lifetime and Stoke beat the Owls 2-0 on that occasion in 1955, when the names of Mountford, Bowyer and Matthews ruled at The Victoria Ground. When Tony Waddington died in 1994, I must have been one of many wanting to pay tribute to the Mancunian. This story was related on Radio Stoke and I had a piece published in the ‘Pink’ of the Stoke Sentinel. I hadn’t forgotten Waddington’s generosity of 1964, then and haven’t some fifteen years on. Would it happen today? About as likely as a small town club winning the Premiership as Ipswich and Burnley had done, then Division 1 title, only a couple of years earlier. The coaches nowadays – tinted windows preclude one from viewing who is on board. There are no sliding windows through which to pass your annual with pen in page for signing. Tony Waddington offered us a window of opportunity and our quartet will remain eternally grateful! Hi Chairboy. Was your late uncle who commisioned the players entrance called Bill by any chance ? Geoff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CHAIRBOY Posted October 9, 2009 Share Posted October 9, 2009 Hi Geoff, No. I know who Bill was but he was before my uncle George but back in 1964, I'm sure Bill would have been in charge! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoffusa Posted October 9, 2009 Share Posted October 9, 2009 Hi Geoff, No. I know who Bill was but he was before my uncle George but back in 1964, I'm sure Bill would have been in charge! Talking of getting autographs etc. I used to get invited into the Players entrance as a kid to wait for Ralph O'donnell, more often than not it was reserve games. Ralph was my games teacher at Owler Lane and was obviously our hero. I still talk regularly with him on the phone, even from the USA. He is in his mid seventies now and still great to speak to. Speak soon C/B Geoff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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