RON Baynham will forever hold a place in the Worcester City history books.

Baynham died on Monday, March 18 aged 94 as the first and only City player to have represented his country, England, in a full international, way back in 1956.

Born in Erdington, Birmingham on 10 June 1929, Baynham grew up enjoying cricket more than he did football before being urged to play by his brother in the local team. That will go down as being the best thing his brother could have done for him!

Baynham, a goalkeeper, went on to be a big hit in amateur football and won a Birmingham Alliance championship medal playing for Bromford Amateurs in the 1949/50 season.

Then City manager Jack Vinall became aware of the talented keeper and he signed for Worcester in August of 1950, which began his long and successful career in football.

During a difficult time in the club's history, when finances were incredibly tight, Baynham was a stand-out performer and it was during an exhibition match against a Stanley Matthews XI at the end of the season that a number of Football League scouts became aware of Baynham.

City received a number of bids from then Division Two outfit Luton and in November 1951, Baynham moved to The Hatters for a fee of over £1,000 after 73 appearances for City, money that probably saved City from bankruptcy.

At first, Baynham played second-fiddle to then Luton first-choice keeper Bernard Streten and had to wait a year to make his debut in a Division 2 game against Doncaster Rovers, but he soon won the number one shirt.

His ability earned selection to the Football League and England B Teams as Luton earned promotion to Division 1 in 1954/55.

First Division football brought out the best in Baynham and he was rewarded with three England caps in 1956, against Denmark, Spain and Ireland. England won all three matches but he would not play again.

Baynham went on to play a whopping 424 games for Luton and he was part of the 1959 side that reached the FA Cup Final against Nottingham Forest at Wembley, which they lost.

After retirement from football, Ron earned a living working as a painter and decorator in the Bedford area. He also worked at Luton Airport for some years but he continued his long involvement in sport by turning out regularly with his village cricket team.

In 2020 he was voted by fans as Luton's best-ever goalkeeper.

As City Club Historian, Julian Pugh, writes: "Although he never came back to Worcester, he deserves to be celebrated as one of the greatest players in our history."