SIGNED by Saints in February 1981 and still going strong - admittedly with another club!

That's the proud product of Thatto Heath and Grange Park School Paul 'Buffer' Forber.

He put pen to paper at Knowsley Road after serving his apprenticeship with Saints Colts' dynamic duo Bob Dagnall and Johnny Fishwick.

Paul, aged 35, lives at Haydock with wife Sharon, and the happy couple have three children, Rhiane and twins Jessica and Liam.

Forber's debut was a baptism as Australia trounced Saints 32-nil at Knowsley Road in 1982.

He went on to make 176 full and 71 super-sub appearances for the club, which yielded 50 tries, seven goals and one drop goal.

Ask fearless Forber to recall his most memorable games in a Saints' jersey and his reply would probably read something like this:

January 12, 1988. Being a member of the squad that lifted the Regal Trophy 15-14 versus Leeds at Wigan.

April 23, 1989: A brace of penalties earns Saints a 4-2 victory in the Premiership semi-final at Wigan (Paul always did try that bit harder against the old enemy!). October 1, 1989: Probably 'Buffer's' finest hour, with his last-gasp try seeing Saints through to a 27-26 win over New Zealand at Knowsley Road.

And, for the wrong reasons, the Wembley defeats against Halifax (1987) and Wigan (1989) which was Forber's 25th birthday!

However Paul treasures Lancashire Cup, Premiership and Charity Shield medals he won at Saints, while at representative level he played for Great Britain Colts and the Lancashire senior squads, and was desperately unlucky not be chosen in the Australian tour parties of 1988 and 1990.

In that year Paul's Rugby League career hung in the balance after suffering a serious neck injury against Wigan, and he was initially advised to hang up his boots but, as with countless other injuries, he battled back to full fitness.

More than a decade of unstinting service at Knowsley Road was rewarded with a bumper benefit in 1992, with Paul's swan-song in the famous red-and-white Saints' strip coming in the 11-6 defeat at Leigh on - would you believe it - Remembrance Day of that year!

Barnstorming 'Buffer' later spent five seasons with Salford and is now enjoying oval-ball life at Workington, where his old team-mate Andy Platt holds the coaching reins.

Away from the hurly-burly of Rugby League this devoted family man owns a thriving sun-bed parlour at St. James' Road, Prescot.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.