Ringo Starr is now Executive Honorary Member of Beatles Ireland

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Be sure to check out the Photos below

We realized that by now we were actually in the same building as a real Beatle! The Bodhran was attracting interest at this stage and one of the security men remarked that he could play it better than Christy Moore! Our nerves were shattered by this time - we could still be turned away!

Lyle (from The Conrad) took a long look at us and beckoned us to follow him down a long corridor - lambs to the slaughter? Pat was in front; we heard her say; "Hi Ringo, it is a real pleasure to meet you." YES! YES! YES! We had made it. I felt as if I had been left in Santa’s Grotto - alone with all the presents!

"Hi Pete," said Ringo. Someone must have introduced me. This was Ringo - talking to me! I was on a high from that moment on, but we all managed to keep it together enough to present Ringo with our gifts - a very proud moment for our club. When we gave him the Bodhran Ringo looked at it and said "I bet this is a drum - but where is the stick?" Pat told him that the security men wouldn’t let us bring that in; Ringo said he would have to have a word with them!

Many things filled my head; all those great songs, ‘With A Little Help From My Friends’, ‘Yellow Submarine’, ‘Boys’, and still I remembered our mission – to ask Ringo to sign our letter asking him to become an Executive Honorary Member of our club. When he saw our list of celebrities Ringo was most impressed, and even read them out loud, pausing fondly on Julian’s name, "ah, Jules", and swiftly passing over Pete Best’s name with a mention that the original Quarrymen were before his time!

Starr Logo
It was the pinnacle of our club's achievements to watch Ringo sign his name to our letter; the famous Ringo signature with the Starr logo, and he even added RINGO to the list at the bottom of the page. You could feel the genuine warmth and affection in Ringo when he spoke to us. Incidentally, for a drummer he has remarkably soft hands! He was delighted with the flowers and suggested that we give them to a hospital or a charity and that we could come back to collect them the after show. We thought this would be an ideal opportunity for other members to get backstage afterwards and perhaps meet him too. Of course we didn’t mention that to security! (Alas, that didn’t work out, the flowers were gone when they were called for, and no-one could get past security after the show.)

The manager called time - and all too precious and limited was our time with Ringo. We were all elated, but upset that we had been unable to achieve a meeting for all our club members and friends. However, this was not to be. There are many people in the club who deserved the reward of meeting Ringo, and we felt for them. Nevertheless, we also felt a huge sense of satisfaction that our perseverance had paid off and that we had achieved our goal. This was also the response of most of our members. One person summed it up very well. He said; "I’m gutted, but delighted for the club." Thanks to that person - he made us feel a bit better.

This was the story that hit the head-lines in the Beatles News section of our magazine. A review of the concert follows - so read on.

People from all over Ireland had kept doctors busy with their sore throats and inability to speak. At first doctors could not understand and were baffled as to why so many people had come down with laryngitis. It was about two days later that somebody went back to his doctor and told him what had happened.

After the doctor had done a bit of checking he found that everyone who had laryngitis was from Beatles Ireland, and finally things became clear!

Ringo Started It!!
It was discovered that this epidemic had started on the night of August 20th when Ringo Starr and his All-Star Band played at the Point Depot in Dublin. Beatles fans couldn’t get enough of him and screamed the night away as Ringo played to a packed house. After the concert had finished Beatles fans discovered that they had lost their voices - but that wasn’t the end of it!!

One week later was when the trouble really began - most of the Beatles Ireland members went to Liverpool for the Beatles Convention where they enjoyed themselves so much that they all came back minus their voices, and it was a few days later before anyone started to recover. They then began telling us how great and wonderful the convention was and that they will all be going again next year. (Personally I think they – the members – were better when they had laryngitis; because now they won’t stop talking about either the concert or the convention! Ed)

We saw a BEATLE on stage! We all enjoyed the whole experience, and so did he. It was obvious that Ringo was having a party ‘With A Little Help From His Friends’ in Beatles Ireland; and during his performance he recognised many of these new friends. Andrew was particularly delighted when Ringo told him to sit down and when the bouncers approached, Ringo said "Aw, come on, I only asked him to sit down, there’s no need to throw him out." Ecstasy!

Georgina had a wonderful surprise for Ringo. When she showed him the lovely portrait she had drawn of him he took it from her, looked very carefully at it, showed it to the audience and said "Well, the face is a bit thinner now but this is very good"! Praise from a Beatle!!!

Magical
Ringo had some tremendous musicians in his entourage. Peter Frampton threatened to steal the show - where is your lovely hair, Peter? It was a magical feeling to be in the presence of so many musical legends gathered in one place.

The show ended with ‘With A Little Help From My Friends’ and it was good to see so many happy faces, of all ages, leaving The Point. Our next stop was The Castle Inn where, thanks to Keith and to all the staff, we had a nice and relaxing finish to a glorious night talking Beatles and taking pictures, and indulging in a little drink - or two!

It was really good to meet up with so many of our members from all over the country again, and to see them all enjoying themselves so much. We will be holding each and every one of you to your promise that you return in November to the Capital for our celebration of '35 Years Since The Beatles Played In Dublin'. We will be celebrating Beatles Ireland’s 5th birthday and holding the first ever 'BEATLEMANIA' - our own Convention on November 7th 1998. How many days away is that?

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Pat and Pete meet Ringo

Ringo with Beatles Ireland members

Ringo with Beatles Ireland members

Ringo with Beatles Ireland members

Ringo Starr

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