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What a corker at Corkerhill
It was a star-studded Open Day event we had earlier this month at our Sporting Memories club at Corkerhill Community Hub in Glasgow, with over 30 members, visitors and volunteers enjoying a highly entertaining morning with guests Dave MacKinnon and Billy Sloan.
Davie was a professional footballer, who played for Dundee, Partick Thistle, Rangers, Airdrieonians, Kilmarnock and Forfar Athletic before embarking on footballing managerial positions and a media career. Billy is a respected music journalist and broadcaster currently with BBC Radio Scotland. He has enjoyed a glittering career interviewing legendary music names such as U2, The Rolling Stones, Tom Jones, Coldplay, Simple Minds. The list goes on.
The Open Day was the brainchild of volunteer Simon McLean to bring together our members with some of the Walking Football community who play in the hour preceding our weekly meeting at 11.30am each Monday. The volunteers all did a power of work to bring the event together.
We started the meeting off with a “Ball Pass” on favourite centre halves and there was good participation from the floor as well as the guests before volunteer Kenneth McGlashan introduced Davie McKinnon.
Davie was a fund of hilarious moments over his footballing career, but his favourite moments had to be appearing on Top of the Pops when a teenager on Arsenal's books -and his mother's reaction when she saw him on the prerecorded Xmas special. This was closely followed by the 20-pound turkey that Arsenal provided to every player and which he hauled up the road from London only to find that it barely fitted in the McKinnon oven!
In February 2022, Davie fell down a flight of stairs and the injuries he sustained almost cost him his life. During his recovery, he reflected on his life and reconciled some of the episodes from his football career that still weighed heavy on his mind. The result was a fascinating insight in the publication of his book Slide Tackles and Boardroom Battles.
We were then joined by Billy as he regaled the audience with tales from a life and career full of extraordinary moments, such as backstage interviewing the likes of Keith Richards and David Bowie at the height of Ziggy-mania. As well as legendary music and gigs, there's Grace Jones in the bath, candid conversations with Rod Stewart and football in Brazil with Simple Minds. Billy has recently published a book, One Love, One Life, packed with anecdotes and more.
Volunteer Davie Denholm had prepared a great quiz themed around our guests but sadly we had to save that for another day as the time just ran away with such an entertaining event.
Reminiscing about sport is what brings our members together every week and plays a vital part in keeping memories alive. Music is also a favourite topic at many meetings and that is why we participate in Playlist for Life as well. Our two guests at Corkerhill brought a perfect blend of football and music – so well done to the volunteers for producing such a fabulous event!
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