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Paul McCartney
becomes Executive Honorary Member of Beatles Ireland
Beatles
Ireland members Pete Brennan, Michael Lynch and Damian
Smyth meet Paul and Heather at Castle Leslie, Glaslough, Co. Monaghan,
Ireland, the day before they get married.
June
10th 2002 began just like any other morning for me. Feed our baby, make
some bottles, change a few nappies and watch another World Cup game.
At halftime in the football, I heard that Paul McCartney was due to
appear at the gates of Castle Leslie later that afternoon. From then
on I knew, today would be no ordinary day.
First I had to find a baby-sitter, drive to Portlaoise
to collect a wedding present for Paul & Heather, pack some food,
grab my cameras, some album sleeves, and meet Pete, Damian, and his
two daughters Katie & Amy in Dublin.
The Long and Winding Road
We
set off at 1:00pm on the 90 mile journey, and while passing through
Slane we couldn’t help but think "wouldn’t it be nice
to have Paul play here within the next year". From Meath to Louth
and into County Monaghan.
As we approached our destination, the rain continued to fall
but it didn’t dampen our spirits. In Glaslough a huge banner that
hung right across the streets greeted us.
GLASLOUGH WELCOMES SIR PAUL, HEATHER & GUESTS.
Expecting
to see crowds of people gathered at the gates, we were surprised that
the majority of the people there were reporters and cameramen. Each
one trying to get a better position than his or her rival. We walked
straight up to the barriers and positioned ourselves a few feet away
from where Paul would be standing within half an hour.
At
4:05pm a Land Rover, driven by Paul pulled up just inside the gates
and Paul & Heather emerged to rapturous applause. Paul presented
her with a red rose and kissed her twice for the cameras. He then spoke
briefly about their wedding tomorrow "but it’s a secret"
they joked.
From Me To You
As
they preceded to leave, we caught Heather’s attention with the
framed coat of arms that we had for them. We shook hands with them and
I presented Paul with the framed picture from all his Irish fans. He
looked at it, smiled and began to read about the origins of both of
their surnames.
I told him that we’d been chasing him for 10 years and
in the same breath I added that "Thirty-nine years is a long time
to wait for a concert, will you play a gig in Dublin ?" He looked
at me intently, gave me his trademark ‘thumbs up’ and said
"Yeah ! I’m working on that", so hopefully that means
an Irish date added to the European Leg of his ‘Driving Rain’
Tour.
Pete
immediately put a letter in front of Paul asking him if he’d like
to become Honorary Patron of Beatles Ireland, to which he replied "I’m
not signing anything here, but I’ll sign this". I think when
he saw the name ‘Beatles Ireland’ written on my T-shirt,
and the letterhead, he remembered our previous gift to him in Liverpool
a few years ago.
Heather
also looked at the letter and said "Yes ! this is a worthy cause,
I’ll sign it also" and she did. A local girl presented them
with some flowers and before they left, Paul held up our wedding present
for all the media to see. His PR guy Geoff Baker said he’d take
items for Paul to sign so we all handed him some album sleeves.
Paperback Writers
With
nothing left to report on, various reporters swarmed around us to find
out what present we’d given them, what they’d said to us,
and spotting my T-shirt, they wanted to know all about our club. We
spoke to Russian, German & French TV Networks as well as Sky, BBC
and CNN.
When Geoff returned with our album sleeves, we were delighted
to see that Heather had also signed them – in her maiden name,
probably the last time she would do so. I reminded Geoff again about
an Irish Concert, to which he smartly replied "Yes ! tomorrow night
here". Unfortunately that was one concert I couldn’t get
a ticket for.
Doing
interviews is thirsty work and so we had one in the adjoining pub where
all the journalists had assembled to file their stories. We spoke to
one reporter from The Irish Times who told us where we could find the
Mohan grave, where Paul’s relatives are buried, so we dropped
in on the way back.
The journey home felt a lot shorter as we reflected on the
days’ events and listened to the various radio reports. That evening
we saw Paul & Heather on the news, with their wedding present from
Beatles Ireland.
It was only then that it began to sink in. This wasn’t
a dream, we had met Paul McCartney and life for Damian, Pete and I would
never be the same. It really was ‘Heaven on a Monday’.
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.
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