At our lunch on 15 March 2022, the speaker was Richard Caborn, the former Sheffield Central Member of Parliament from 1983 to 2010.
A born and bred Sheffielder, and a lifelong Blades supporter, Richard was born in Jessop’s Hospital, was educated at Prince Edward School at Manor Top. He remembers walking down East Bank Road on Christmas day with his Dad to go to the match and was always glad they were able to get the bus back home to Gleadless.
He worked at Firth Brown on Savile Street and gradually, after being chosen as Vice President of Sheffield Trades Council, which led him on the path to being an MP. He was elected to his Sheffield Central seat in 1983 and remained the MP there until 2010. His career led him through many ministerial roles and he entertained us with stories from his time as Minister of Sport and how long the preparation took for the successful bid to be awarded to Britain for the 2012 Olympic games.
Richard proudly pointed out that he was wearing a tie that had once belonged to Derek Dooley. This had been given to him by Sylvia, Derek’s wife, following his passing.
He is now heavily involved in the building and expansion of the Sheffield Legacy Park and told us that when it is finally completed, there will be 3,000 young people on site daily using the huge variety of facilities and educational establishments.
Still a season ticket holder at Bramall Lane, he thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon with two former Blades players, Tony Currie and Ted Hemsley reminiscing about their glory days.