Roy Swinbourne death: Final farewells to Wolves Honved Hero at funeral
Final farewells were paid to Wolves' 'Honved Hero' Roy Swinbourne at his funeral today.
More than 100 of his friends and family - several proudly wearing gold and black scarves - attended the service at New Road Methodist Church, Stourbridge.
Among those gathered were representatives from Wolves and former players John Richards and Ted Farmer.
Readings by some of Mr Swinbourne's oldest friends recalled his splendid Wolves career in which he made 230 appearances for the club, scoring 114 goals between 1945 and 1957.
The striker, whose goals led the club to their first title back in the 1953-54 season and provided the catalyst for the famous victory over Honved in 1954, died at a Kidderminster nursing home in December at the age of 86 following a long battle with vascular dementia.
Baroness Rachael Heyhoe Flint, a vice-president at Wolves, recalled the number nine's most famous goals for the club.
"I was sitting there, having attended school in the city. It was my brother and I. We were rammed into what was then called the hotel end.
"It was the most amazing floodlit game and he was the star that night scoring the equaliser and that special winning goal."
Later Baroness Heyhoe Flint got to know Mr Swinbourne at functions held for the club's former players.
"He always had a lovely twinkle in his eye, and a great sense of humour."
After being forced to retire from the game in 1957 due to a knee injury, Roy worked as a rep for Wolverhampton tyre giant Goodyear, before starting his own successful Midlands-based tyre business.
He moved from his home in Kinver to The Shrubbery nursing home in Kidderminster around six years ago as his illness began to escalate.
