The weekend started at about 12:30pm on
Friday afternoon when Maureen and I left out two tins of meat
for the cat, plus instructions on how to operate the can-opener.
We informed our next door neighbours that we were away for the
weekend, asked them to throw the cat an odd slice of bread and
make sure that he did not break back into the house for more tins
of food! The last time we left the cat on its own we left him
a key to the house. When we got
back the place was in a mess. He’d had all his female cat
friends over, boozing’ and smoking pot and generally making
lots of other cats – so no more key being left for him!
We got into our small car and headed for
Newbridge – some 170 miles away. The journey was uneventful
but extremely pleasant – it is terrific to watch the miles
go flying by to the sound of John, Paul, George and Ringo singing
all their early songs. With the volume turned up fairly loudly.
I was in heaven.
Dublin’s Fair
City
We arrived in Newbridge at about 5:30pm
and called round to our daughter’s house, where we had a
cup of tea and a sandwich before she took us to the railway station.
Our destination, Heuston Station in the fair city of Dublin. I
know it’s Dublin’s Fair City – I was singing
about it later that night on the bus! We arrived at Heuston to
be greeted by Vani and Di Di – if you do not know who Vani
is you would have lost £300.00 in Grafton Street too –
just like the other eejet! Vani took us out to Ranelagh where
we had more to eat. Vani had laid out a lovely salad for us.
God it’s great to be spoiled –
and all my women spoil me. Vani also had a lovely surprise for
me. She had bought me a new Beatles Book – 'The Beatles
Files' - filled with previously unpublished photos of the Fab
Four from the archives of The Daily Mirror. A lovely book and
one I did not even know existed. I listened to a few CDs whilst
Maureen and Vani discussed the forthcoming evening’s activities
– as well as the festivities to be experienced the following
day. We eventually departed from Ranelagh and headed up the mountains
to The Blue Light, where a great party was in full swing and Pete
and Pat met us – and of course Derek – all working
like beavers, ensuring that all was going well – and indeed
it was.
The Original Quarrymen
I was introduced to Alistair Taylor and
Geoff Rhind – Geoff signed his photo in the Pete Shotton
book that I had brought along. We were also introduced to some
members of the Original Quarrymen – Len Garry was there
– God what a character – I enjoyed his company immensely
and could listen to him relate stories from the early days in
Liverpool all night, and never get tired. Eric Griffiths and Rod
Davis were also in attendance, and of course the demure Colin
Hanton – their drummer. The ones from the photo taken by
Geoff Rhind all those many years ago.
In their company it was easy for me to transport
myself back in time and share with them; those magical moments
when Skiffle was the rage and a young man called John Lennon,
together with this motley crew was to instigate the creation of
a group that would conquer more of the world than any group prior
to them had done – or any group since for that matter.
Feel The Magic
If it is difficult for you to fully appreciate
the way I was feeling then think of your favourite person, favourite
invention, or favourite film and recall the joy it brought you.
Right – you got that firmly set in your mind – can
you smell the perfume? Can you feel the magic? Are you tingling
with excitement? OK – now multiply that feeling a thousand
fold. You are now experiencing something near what I was feeling.
It was magic – it really was.
Pete Shotton was not there unfortunately,
but I was assured that he would be in attendance tomorrow and
so now there was even more excitement to look forward to. I had
a brilliant night in The Blue Light, and for a while I was even
jamming with the Quarrymen – the originals – Eric
Griffiths, Rod Davis and Dick Hall – (stand-in for Pete
Shotton) - man I was gone.
Molly Malone Murdered
All too soon the night began to draw to
a close – or should I say morning. How do we get back to
Ranelagh I wondered? No bother there – back in the group’s
transport. Can things get any better – now I can boast I
was ‘on the road’ with the Quarrymen! The return trip
was hilarious as we tried to sing folk songs. God love poor Molly
Malone – she was brutally murdered on numerous occasions
as the bus made its merry way down from the peaks of Sandyford
and back into the quiet suburb of Ranelagh.
On arrival back at Vani’s, proper
priorities were established – kettle on, tea made –
some sandwiches were created and the remainder of the beautiful
salad was made to disappear. Vani and Maureen decided to sit up
and talk but I sneaked out of the dining room to the bedroom and
before long – although I was lying in a horizontal position
– in dreams I was standing up and singing along with The
Quarrymen yet again. It did not take me long to enter the land
of nod. There are those who say I do not NEED my beauty sleep
– but they are just being kind!
The Big Day –
Saturday
Saturday morning arrived and after we were
all up and had breakfast, plans for the remainder of the day were
made and we eventually made our way out and got on a bus heading
into town. We had a few more laughs – I was quite frightened
really – we were upstairs on the bus - and there was no
driver! We had a great time wandering around Grafton Street, going
into Tower Records and the two girls had a nice time in The Body
Shop. I went into The Body Shop myself, but once I found out that
it was not an 'exchange' shop, I left. We soon made our way to
The Castle Inn and on our way I saw some cars that had been ’clamped’.
I couldn’t help but think 'Park your car in Dublin –
get a free security lock fitted’.
The Castle Inn was filled with ‘Beatle
People’. On view were many of the terrific drawings by our
own Georgina Byrne and there were stands displaying lots of Beatle
memorabilia. I ordered a CD-ROM of The Beatles albums and I am
eagerly awaiting it's arrival. It will be a nice Christmas present
from me to me. I have been told that I will also be getting The
John Lennon Anthology BoxSet for Christmas and I have been strongly
informed that I WILL NOT be getting it UNTIL Christmas! Women
can be so cruel when they want to be.
I really enjoyed the time in The Castle
Inn and later on I listened to the interviews with Alistair Taylor
and then with The Quarrymen. I got a delightful photo of Vani
as she watched The Quarrymen being interviewed. She was 'hanging
on' to every word being said by Pete Shotton - she was not alone.
I also got a really nice snap of Danielle Byrne (Georgina's sister)
talking to Pete Shotton, it will be something for her to hang
up in her room and relate to her grandchildren - Oasis - rubbish
- I met the originals! Maureen herself was interviewed by UTV,
and it was great. I met a lot of people - many from Northern Ireland,
and there was a chap up from Wexford also.
There were many ladies in attendance too
- some of them real Beatle Fans - others forced along by the choice
- 'either come with me or stay at home looking for the TV remote
- which I have in my pocket' - men can be nasty too, at times.
Someone at our table bought a gigantic plate of chips and a hamburger
and just left it there. The invitation was - 'dig in - help yourself',
so I did. They were not the best chips I have ever eaten but they
found their way to the empty cavities within my stomach and made
their home there.
In attendance at The Castle Inn also was
none other than Mr. Pete Shotton - the person I was looking forward
to meeting. Pete was John’s closest friend. They had both
attended Quarry Bank High School, and had fallen out quite often
but had always made up – just like best friends always do.
Pete was John’s best friend and John was his. To be in his
company was really great for me and I will be eternally grateful
to Beatles Ireland for inviting him over and to Pete Shotton for
coming over. He related some lovely stories, which I will not
repeat here. He came across as being very sincere and down-to-earth
– at one time I reminded him that he used to call John ‘Winnie’.
"That’s right," said Pete – "I did".
"Yes", I added "and he would call you ‘Shitty
Shotton’ in reply". "How right you are,"
replied Pete, "How right you are".
I was positive I could see a little extra
crease at the corner of his eye as he no doubt recalled those
far-off days when he and John ran amok through the fields that
surround the suburbs of Liverpool. They were not destructive boys
just boys trying to be "JUST WILLIAMS" in their own
boyhood way. Pete and I are about the same age – I am only
4 months older than John Lennon myself and I found it very easy
to visualise Pete and John ‘acting the Mick’, having
fun at the expense of others and getting up to all sorts of pranks.
It was terrific meeting him and I was sure that this had to be
the highlight of my day. Boy, was I ever wrong.
We departed The Castle Inn at about 7:30pm
and made our way to The Olympia Theatre for the night’s
entertainment. We were to be entertained by Beach, The Quarrymen
as well as the original Quarrymen, and I had been told that Beach
and The Quarrymen were supposed to be good. That’s like
saying ‘the film TITANIC is about a ship that sinks’.
On entering the hall we were told that BEACH would be on first.
We stayed in the hall with Vani and did not go upstairs until
much later. Beach came on stage and entertained everyone with
their own brand of music – which I thoroughly enjoyed. When
they departed the stage was taken over by The Original Quarrymen
who entertained us with some old Skiffle songs as performed by
Lonnie Donegan, and of course be themselves. It was most interesting
and entertaining to watch them perform and to imagine how they
must have sounded all those years ago when they were just starting
out.
Pete Shotton played lead Washboard. This
was obviously a brand new Rickenbecker Washboard - It had to be
because John Lennon broke the original over Pete’s head
after an argument! For a few numbers he played Hoffner Tea Chest
Bass. A rather ungainly instrument that requires quite a bit of
ingenuity to create the correct sound. If you put too much exertion
on the broom-handle it is quite possible for the main string (the
ONLY string) to be extracted from the tea chest – this results
in a rather quiet sound coming from the now totally relaxed bass
string. I am glad to report that such a catastrophe did not occur
on this night. I also got a few photos of them and in between
taking photos I sang along with them on stage. Let me say that
again – I sang along, on stage with the original Quarrymen.
On drums was the shy Colin Hanton the original
drummer before Pete Best before Ringo Starr even before Tommy
Moore. Colin is a lovely man – I am sure the wild crew that
hung around with John Lennon led him astray! Also there, again,
were Len Garry, Rhythm Guitar, Eric Griffiths, second Rhythm Guitar,
Pete Shotton, Rickenbecker Washboard and Hoffner Bass Tea Chest,
Rod Davies, Guitar. To share the stage with these five was marvellous
for me, and the memory of that night will stay with me forever.
Too soon – their time was up and they closed their show.
The curtain came down and the stage was made ready for the appearance
of THE QUARRYMEN.
I didn’t know what to expect. I had
been warned though, by Vani, by Di Di, by Pat, By Pete, by Derek.
"They are Good, Dick," I was told – "They
are good". They opened their show with that Beatles Anthology
Intro – I’m Ringo and I play the drums. When they
started playing though – WOW – when they started playing.
I could not believe it. How could any group, who are NOT The Beatles
play Beatles music with that same raw energy, that same excitement,
that same magic – how? I didn’t know the answer then
– and in time the only answer I could come up with was –
because they want to – that’s how.
I moved from one side of the stage to the
other and stood in the wings. I was less than three feet from
Fran King (the nearest thing to Macca you will ever see). I can
remember every single second of their performance. They sang 'You
Can’t Do That’ and I stood – in my best John
Lennon stance and sang along with them. Well actually, I was really
only miming - I didn’t have a mike though I was giving it
some Shi – on my invisible guitar!
Executive Honorary Members:- Sir
Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. Executive Patrons:- Sir George Martin,
Julian Lennon. Patron:- Astrid Kirchherr. Honorary Members:- Cynthia
Lennon, Pete Best, Yoko Ono, Gay Byrne, Geoff Rhind, Gerry Marsden, Allan
Williams, Richard Lester, Harry Prytherch, (The Original Quarrymen):-
Rod Davis, Colin Hanton, Eric Griffiths, Len Garry, Pete Shotton.
E-mail us at: beatlesireland(at)utvinternet.com (Please note: To stop spam please copy email address and replace (at) with @)
back the place was in a mess. He’d had all his female cat
friends over, boozing’ and smoking pot and generally making
lots of other cats – so no more key being left for him!
