Sporting Life 20th anniversary reunion/wake

Posted: February 28th, 2018

Were you a Sporting Lifer? In Long Acre? Holborn? Clerkenwell? Canary Wharf?

The Sporting Life was Britain’s oldest daily newspaper, racing’s greatest daily and so much more. It was closed on May 12, 1998.

But the paper will be remembered and celebrated by former staff at a unique and probably final gathering, marking twenty years to the day since the final issue rolled off the presses.

The event – in the evening on Saturday, May 12 at The Freemasons Arms in Long Acre, London WC2 – will be the largest gathering of former staff since the paper’s original wake at the same pub 20 years ago. The venue is totally appropriate since it was the Life’s local pub in the old Long Acre days.

The informal affair will rekindle the camaraderie and comradeship the Life always engendered, and the idea has caught the imagination of all concerned. This very special evening is unlikely to be repeated, so to ensure the widest possible attendance, long-lost colleagues are being tracked down; friendships are being renewed.

The function room at the Freemasons (https://www.freemasonsarmscoventgarden.co.uk/functions) has been booked with private bar and buffet. A small per-head charge will be made on the night to cover costs.

Any former Lifers interested in attending who have not already signed up to the celebrations can get more details from Paul Duffett: flamephotos@hotmail.com – or Caro Cluskey via the Contact Us form on this website.

The image shows the cover of James Lambie’s fine book: The Story of Your Life: A History of The Sporting Life Newspaper (1859-1998).