My father Tony Skelton, who has died aged 82, was a painter and decorator who lived and worked in Sheffield for his entire life.
He was born in the city to Thomas, a rolling mill labourer in the steelworks, and his wife, Annie (nee Turner), who worked in a wartime munitions factory. Although Tony was registered as Thomas, at some early stage he decided that he preferred Tony, and so Tony it remained. He went to Shirecliffe secondary school, where he was a promising footballer and had trials with Doncaster Rovers. However, a broken leg put paid to any possibility of a career in that direction, and instead he moved into painting and decorating. As his reputation spread throughout Sheffield he took on a number of interesting jobs both in the city and further afield.
My brother Richard and I worked with him for periods in the school holidays, during which I remember we decorated Haddon Hall, a country house in Derbyshire. Filming was taking place while we were there, but my father’s attempts to be discovered as a movie star went sadly unrewarded. We also decorated the ladies’ lavatories in the city’s Castle Fish Market, which was an education for a young lad.
Tony was a fanatical Sheffield Wednesday supporter and remained a season ticket holder at Hillsborough until the age of 81. An incredibly welcoming and optimistic individual, he was never shy about giving his opinions on football tactics to anyone who might be interested, and would often share these in the supermarket when he would bump into Jack Charlton during his tenure as manager of Sheffield Wednesday.
After a stroke in 2016 robbed Tony of his mobility and a degree of his cognitive ability, he moved into a care home, where he was extraordinarily popular with the staff and received visitors on a daily basis. A series of severe strokes this year worsened his condition.
He is survived by my mother, Anne, also from Sheffield, whom he married in 1960, by his sons, Richard and me, and his grandson Tommy.
