Richie and his class mates
WHILE hunting through the Echo archives, Looking Back found that 50 years ago Loughborough footballer Richie Barker was signed by Brian Clough for Derby County football club - and now a former class mate of Richie’s has been in touch.
Robert White has sent in a photo from his school days at Loughborough Grammar School.
The former pupil said that he remembers Mr C P Tivey was his and Richie’s form master, and that this was the last photo record of the form together before they all graduated to the sixth form or left the school.
Robert said: “Richie Barker was a form mate throughout my period at the grammar school.
“His footballing career has been well documented elsewhere, but at the grammar school in the 1950s the sport of choice was all about rugby, so Richard would have to have developed his football expertise out of school.
“Maybe some of your readers could well commentate on that period during his late schooldays at Loughborough Gramnmar and before he became a professional footballer.
“All I remember from the early 1950s is that he was a great athlete particularly in the gym. The last time I saw him personally was in the mid 1980s when he was limping around Loughborough town centre with a broken leg (perhaps acquired during his football adventures).”
Riobert added that the Loughborough footballer was not his only school friend who went onto big things, and that Peter Preston (who is also in the school photo) went on to be editor of the Guardian newspaper.
• Do you recognise any of the faces in the school photo?
Or maybe you have played football or any other sport with Richie?
If so please contact Liam Coleman on 01509 635806 or email liam.coleman@trinitymirror.com