Funeral Day – Standing room Only!

One of the more palatable features of funerals is that we often learn much of interest about the individual that we didn’t previously know.

But that, in turn, brings the extra sadness of realising there is a lot more we would like to have asked or said before it was too late.

The chances of acquiring fresh insight are considerably increased when the eulogy is delivered by the deceased’s ghost-writer – a task to which Tim Nash did full justice in paying tribute to Terry Wharton in Bushbury Crematorium’s East Chapel.

The fact Terry has ten grandchildren left the former Express & Star correspondent in no doubt that he would be addressing a sizeable gathering on Friday lunchtime. Add to that family set-up a huge circle of friends – not only from Wolves but also those made in non-League circles, in club cricket, in village life in Brewood and Perton and on the golf course – and it was no surprise that there was a full house and much more.

Dozens had to watch the service on screen, mainly from the venue’s corridors, and some stood outside as the disclosures about the goal-scoring winger came thick and fast: he weighed only 2lbs when entering the world 83 and a half years ago and was going to be called Melvin until it was decided ‘Terence’ suited him better. In his teens, he briefly worked in an abattoir and butchery.

He once scored ten goals in a schoolboy match that was halted soon after half-time to spare the opposition more punishment but might conceivably have then switched to rugby union. After his dad, Jackie, was sold by Blackburn to Newport, he impressed sufficiently with the oval ball to be lined up for a Wales Schoolboys trial, only for the transfer market to return Wharton Snr to Lancashire with Wigan.

Not only was Terry overlooked in his teens by his home-town club, Bolton. Preston decided against signing him, too, although he scored twice in a trial match for them. Thankfully, after a year on the groundstaff at Notts County with his lifelong pal, Dennis Crompton, he moved to Wolves and was Billy Wright’s boot boy for a short while. 

And, as this is a write-up for supporters of a certain persuasion, what about his Molineux years? Back to Tim for more of the detailed back story from the point when the duo’s former County manager, Tommy Lawton, having been appointed by George Noakes as one of Stan Cullis’s talent-finders, pointed the youngster towards the West Midlands…..

Wharton was in digs alongside David Woodfield, Freddie Goodwin and (later) Peter Knowles with Bill Shorthouse’s mother-in-law in Waterloo Road, where they had the formidable Mrs Clamp (Eddie’s mum and the long-time Molineux laundry lady) as a next-door neighbour. Plenty of watchful eyes there, then.

He noticed that the commissionaire on Molineux’s front door wore a smart hat and decided at that point he was at a proper club; one who rewarded his progress with a new contract and a wage rise to £10 a week on Cup Final day in 1960.

Inevitably, there were times of tension with Stan Cullis, who had a go at him for buying a car for the first time, a Ford Consul, and asked what was wrong with the bus or walking. Just as well the management didn’t hear about the night out with Phil Parkes, Peter Knowles and others at a bowling alley that ended with Terry winding his window down and receiving a punch on the nose from an irate lorry driver.

‘Wharty’, who loved a flutter and spent his final working years as a taxi driver, had failed his test once but the second attempt quickly became more promising because the examiner was a Wolves fan who recognised him!

Wharton made wonderful progress in a fading side and scored the club’s first goal on Match of the Day and their first in the League Cup. Throughout his career, he netted against 25 goalkeepers of various international status, including a 25-yard chip over Gordon Banks for his only goal for Crystal Palace.

His delight at touring America and Canada with the triumphant Los Angeles Wolves in 1967 came against a challenging family development, though. His son was born during the trip and, far from being allowed paternal leave, Dad had to stay with the squad and wait a whole month for his first cuddle. The said infant, Darren, is now 58 and told the gathering two days ago we should be celebrating a life and not turning the end of it into an unduly sad occasion. He also informed us that, whether playing pool, darts, table tennis or nine holes with his golf group, The Croakers, Terry was hugely competitive – but generous enough to once acquire tickets for a Villa v Tottenham game because his (Darren’s) sister, Helen, liked Gary Lineker.

Colin Brazier, who was Terry’s chauffeur to and from golf days and lunches in recent years, was part of a funeral-day Wolves delegation also containing Steve Daley, Mel Eves, Fred Kemp, Phil Nicholls, Geoff Palmer, Jon Purdie, John Richards, Gerry Taylor and present or past Molineux directors or staff John Gough, John Bowater, Russell Jones, Peter Crump and Paul Berry. In addition, northerners Norman Bell and Gerry Farrell stayed over to pay their respects after attending the Phil Parkes tribute dinner the previous night.

We should make special mention here of Gerry O’Hara as he and his wife touched down in Manchester from Barbados at 6.30am and just had time for a quick trip home and freshen-up before taking their places. “I played with Terry at Bilston, played for him at Wednesfield and Brewood, and thought the world of him,” recalled the mid-1970s midfielder at Fordhouses Cricket Club afterwards.

“He had obviously been a terrific player in his prime years and was someone you wanted to do well for. I loved his sayings like needing to ‘cuddle’ or ‘cream’ the ball when it was at your feet. I wasn’t going to miss the chance of being here today.”  

We end this piece by again extending our deepest condolences to Terry’s lovely wife, Sue, who he met at Central Taxis in 1999 and married in 2006, and to all their family and friends, plus his first wife, Jackie, who was present as well. We raise a tot of his favourite Scotch in his memory and to them all. And we are relieved Tim Nash and the family have decided to see through the Terry’s All Gold book project in the coming months.