A son has paid tribute to his "strong-willed" and "amazing" mum who worked in Everton FC's laundrette for twenty years.
Honor Wright grew up on Scotland Road. She had a number of jobs before starting at Everton FC in the 1960s, where she worked to clean and repair the team's kits and training gear.
She worked there until the mid 1980s, when the club outsourced their laundry work. Honor, known to many as Nora, continued to work for the laundry company but she lost her enjoyment of the job and missed being around Goodison Park, according to her son Anthony Wright. Much loved at Everton, Honor died on March 17 2023 at the age of 90.
READ MORE: Arsenal fans 'set example' with Hillsborough respect at Anfield
Honor raised Anthony and his brother in their home on Goodison Road - a stone's throw from the Blues' historic ground. Anthony spoke to the ECHO about his mum and her work at Everton.
He said: "My mum was everything to me. She was strong-willed, she looked after us all and was so generous to everyone else. She was an amazing woman.
"She worked long hours, even through the night, to make sure the Everton players were always immaculate on game days. She was very proud of her Everton team."
He added: "My mum used to bring back all the kits to sew and fix. At the end of every season, she used to get the old kits and she would give them out to youth teams.
"She was like Everton in the Community before it even started. She was a very generous woman."
Anthony has very fond memories of growing up around Goodison Park and the access his mum's job afforded him. He had a season ticket, would spend time in the ground after school and, as their Goodison Road home didn't have a bathroom, his family used the facilities in the changing rooms.
Anthony also had his 18th and 21st birthday parties at the ground, which he described as a dream for any Evertonian.
He said: "It was brilliant. We were in there all the time - every day. I used to come home from school and sit in the laundry at Everton for an hour.
"But we also had a key to the ground as well, we could come and go as we wanted to. Mum was always working there, with the kits and the players.
"When the players had the Christmas parties for the kids, I used to go along as well. I used to meet them all - Duncan McKenzie, Bob Latchford, Martin Dobson.
"It was amazing growing up around the ground. I think I've been down the players' entrance more than any Everton player because I did it every single day.
"Growing up, it was just normal to us."
Honor was popular among the players and staff at the ground. For Anthony's 18th birthday, she gave him a card signed by Everton and Liverpool players, while he also got plenty of kits over the years.
She also decorated the laundry room with posters - Everton, and her job, meant a huge amount to Honor.
Anthony continued: "My mum was a big Everton supporter, she would go to all the games. She made it onto the pitch at the end of the 1978 derby at Goodison, that Everton won 1-0.
"It became a famous Match of the Day moment with John Motson's commentary."
Honor can be seen on TV, congratulating the Everton players as a police officer ushers a BBC reporter and goalscorer Andy King off the pitch.
She loved her job but the club's decision to outsource its laundry to another company in 1983 saddened her. The mum of two missed the atmosphere around Goodison and Everton's training ground Bellefield.
He said: "Everton closed the laundry down and they sub-contracted it out. She went to work for them, but she didn't like it. She liked being in the ground. Everton meant that much to her. She loved the place.
"She used to work hard. We used to tell her off for doing so much overtime. She wouldn't get paid for it. Sometimes she worked through the night on a Friday before a Saturday, but she just loved the place. It was a safe place for her."
Honor moved to Tuebrook after her retirement. She died last month at Aintree Hospital, having suffered with pneumonia. Anthony spent the day before she died with her, watching the horse racing from the Cheltenham Festival.
Anthony will place a bet on the forthcoming Grand National in her memory.
He added: "She was 90, she passed away on St Patrick's Day. So, every year, I'll have a Guinness for her and raise a glass."
READ NEXT
Join the Liverpool ECHO's WhatsApp community for breaking news and top headlines
Map shows where £301 DWP cost of living payments will start to be paid later this month
Christine McGuinness hits back at Paddy after 'exhausting' family break
Exact time 50mph winds will batter Merseyside as weather warning issued
Body of man found in water at Salthouse Dock
Celebrity skincare expert says £3 product is the 'secret to perfect skin'
