A NIGHT TO REMEMBER PAUL MARINER

On Sunday 31 October 2021, the Kevin Beattie Foundation joined forces with Argyle Legends (Paul Hart) to remember and celebrate the life of a legend that is Paul Mariner.

The night was held at Plymouth Argyle FC in their main Argyle Lounge and the venue was superbly laid out for what was a special night and many thanks go to PAFC for their help and support.

The night was Sponsored by local companies, Cisco Homes and Manning and Company!

The tables were decorated with a specially designed Souvenir Programme and Beer Mats which everyone wanted more of to take home.

Both sets of fans came together and enjoyed a fantastic evening which was all in aid of the Brain Tumour Charity.

Gordon Sparkes, a Breakfast Radio Presenter for BBC Radio Devon, was the host for the night and he took time to chat with various former players of Paul’s to talk about their memories and time with PM.

First up was John Hore, who was Captain when Paul was a player at Plymouth Argyle and he spoke well of Paul especially as a lad coming from Chorley FC to start his trade as a professional footballer. John paid a tribute to Paul at the end of his chat with Gordon and he was slightly emotional which showed how much respect he had for Paul.

John Peddelty who was part of the transfer deal from Ipswich to Plymouth which saw Paul go the other way made a short visit to the stage to explain the transfer deal and how it affected him and what Sir Bobby said about the saga. What a lot of people don’t know is Paul signed for West Ham. However Sir Bobby Robson stepped in the last minute before the papers were registered. This upset the West Ham then Manager, the late Ron Greenwood who said he would never deal with Plymouth again… it was a great story told by Paul Hart of the Argyle Legends.

Last up was the crowd’s hero, Bill Rafferty who as he approached the stage was greeted with a chorus of Billy, Billy Rafferty!!

Billy was a very close friend of Paul and also his striking partner when Plymouth got promoted with both he and Paul scoring over 20 goals each that season.

Billy sadly spoke about Paul’s last few days when he went to visit him. Paul could not move as heavily sedated but smiled when he saw Billy and there was not a dry eye in the house when Billy spoke about this.

The funniest story had to be from Geoff Crudington. When Paul came back as Manager, Geoff was doing everything at the club due to the finances at the time when Plymouth nearly went out of business. Paul asked him what he did and Geoff replied basically everything, even driving the team bus, and Paul laughed and said yes okay not believing him!

Fact was Geoff was actually a bus driver and drove the team bus for the first part of the journey as he knew routes out of Plymouth.

At the next away game, a few minutes into the journey, Paul shouted out to Geoff “Come on, we need one more for the card school” and Geoff told the official driver to go and join him and when he did, Paul shouted “Who the **** is driving the bus”. Paul had literally fell for the joke and was properly scared!

After this, the Auction and Raffle took place and the bidding was amazing and we have a list of the donations below. We were lucky to have some world star names support us and again this showed how much Paul was thought of.

We will be doing a cheque presentation at a future Argyle Game with the Mariner Family so watch this space. Amount raised is below!!

At the end, players were swamped with fans wanting autographs, photos etc and we want to thank everyone who came along to support the event.

Our thanks to…

We have to thank a few people who made the night so special.

• Paul Hart of Argyle Legends for all his help in organising this night since we had the idea
• Plymouth Argyle FC for the use of their Venue
• Gordon Sparkes for hosting the night
• John Hore, Geoff Crudington, Billy Rafferty for attending and speaking about Paul
• Cisco Homes and Manning and Company for sponsoring the Night
• Auguste Krasnickaite & Christian Kent for providing a great Buffet and sorting out the smooth running of the night.
• Dylane of Maverrik for providing a fabulous production of the Souvenir Programme
• Get it Printed for the personalised Beer Mats
• Red Dragon Flagmakers and New England Revolution FC for Flags
• Paul Mariner Table cloth by Silk Stitch
• Everyone who donated the prizes in the Raffle and Auction – see more below.
• Everyone who purchased a ticket and made bids
• All who attended

Sorry if we missed anyone out..

Charity auction & raffle raises £8,627.72

We are delighted to say that the charity raffle in aid of the Brain Tumour Charity raised a brilliant £8,627.72.