Wolves' Wembley winners kick off for charity

Two Wolves favourites with over 1,100 appearances between them teamed up for a unique charity fundraiser.

League Cup winners Derek Parkin and John McAlle answered a plea from keen Wolves fan Mark Rigby, from Bridgnorth, whose brother Stuart was a gold-and- black fanatic who died of cancer last year, to raise money for Severn Hospice.

Rigby has bought 15 retro shirts and programmes from the 1980 League Cup final, in which Wolves beat Nottingham Forest 1-0 at Wembley.

The 41-year-old father-of-four hopes to get all the memorabilia signed by all 10 surviving members of the team – captain Emlyn Hughes died in 2004 – as well as manager John Barnwell and others in the squad to auction them off.

Parkin, 64 – Wolves' record appearance holder with 609 games – and McAlle, 62, who played 508 times – added their names in a signing session at the Ball and Bails pub in St Georges, Telford, where they are regulars.

The Wolves stalwarts were only too happy to help out, especially as McAlle has become aware of hospice care in recent times.

"My wife Jill and I support Compton Hospice after a friend of ours, Pearl Skitt, a sister at New Cross Hospital who delivered our daughter Zoe in 1974, died of cancer about three years ago. She was also a big Wolves fan."

Defender George Berry was the first to sign the shirts after Rigby, a maintenance worker at the Princess Royal Hospital in Telford, met him at a service station off the M6 near Stoke.

Rigby is hopeful of getting the signatures of all the players, including club legends Kenny Hibbitt, John Richards and Andy Gray, who scored the winner in the final after a mix-up between goalkeeper Peter Shilton and Dave Needham But he so far hasn't been able to contact goalkeeper Paul Bradshaw and midfielder Peter Daniel.

Anyone who can help with the whereabouts of Bradshaw or Daniel and/or is interested in buying one of the signed shirts or programmes should email rigbym70@live.co.uk