Ann and Dave remember the story of Barry, Reg and their meetings with John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Their memories were recorded separately and reflect their own perspectives of events that took place in 1963.

Photographs mentioned in this interview are held privately and will not be reproduced online. Selected images will form part of the FABS exhibition with the owners’ permission.

Ann – sister of Barry

[Looking at photos]

“So they’d be 17/18 at the time. This was Reg’s car. It even had a Venetian blind. Barry ended up with that car – he bought it off Reg. [Interviewer – Did he keep the blinds?] Probably.

That’s Barry with his ciggy on. Reg’s dad was a scrap dealer and used to spoil him with money. Reg used to end up living at our house probably two or three times a year because he’d had a massive row with his dad and always came to my mum.

So he used to pay for the lads to go to the City Hall. If there was anybody on there- we’ve got photos of Cliff Richard, Brenda Lee, The Shadows, all sorts of different groups from the 60s. And he used to pay for them to go and see them at the City Hall, and then he’d pay for them to stop in the Grand Hotel, which is where all the stars stayed.

Consequently, they used to sit in the bar and obviously meet up, and that’s how it all happened, because John Lennon and Paul McCartney were in the bar, and that’s where they met him. They’d obviously got chatting and they said to The Beatles, ‘we’ll take you home tomorrow to Liverpool, you can catch a lift with us. We’ll take you back.’ So they took John Lennon and Paul McCartney. I don’t know what happened to the other two. They must have bobbed off at some point.

But this is the funny story. We didn’t have house phones at that time, back in the 60s, and Sunday was religion in our house. Everybody had to be there for Sunday dinner. There was only me, my brother and mum and dad, but you got to be there for Sunday dinner.

The Sunday dinner was on the table at half past two, the Yorkshire puddings were very important. They used to go in the oven at two o’clock to give my dad time to get from the pub home, ready for the Yorkshire puddings to go on the table. Because we always had Yorkshire puddings first as a starter, which we still do now.

If you weren’t there, you were in serious trouble. So consequently, Barry wasn’t there that Sunday because he was over in Liverpool, unbeknown to my mum and dad. His dinner went on a plate, probably sat on top of a saucepan and boiling water all day until he eventually came home about six o’clock and got the roasting of his life.

Because they didn’t know where he was. You know, anything could have happened. ‘I’ve been to Liverpool.’

Because I remember he was home for about six, seven o’clock. If you think, in those days, we didn’t have all the motorway connections and all – they’d have been over the Woodhead Pass at that time.

But that’s the backstory. Reg’s dad used to pay for them. They’d all toddle off.

[What were Reg and Barry like?]

“Well, they were both really personable. They were best, best friends. And they were just good lads. You know? They were just nice lads. Both worked hard for a living.

[The car] it was something like a Ford Zephyr or a Zodiac or something.

Barry was 17. He worked, at that time it was called the Corporation, which is now the council. He was a joiner. It started off as an apprentice joiner, and he never worked anywhere else.

He were there right up to when he passed away when he was 40. But he ended up in management, so he was sort of an overall manager of all the joiners. So he did well.

Reg stopped in the scrap and lorry driving. His dad had Hawley Haulage and Scrap, so he stayed in that and he was driving, and then looking after the scrap yards and things like that.

Barry always enjoyed his music. Barry went to concerts. Because as he got older, obviously, they had the kids, married, but he always bought records. I remember him one year having Elkie Brooks and playing it in the car, and then we bought the album.

Dave – friend of Barry & Reg

How it started with me, I was 16. Reg came from a wealthy family. He had a nice new car.

So what we used to do on a Friday night or a Saturday night, we’d go down to the Grand Hotel in Sheffield and Reg knew the night porter, they called him Bill. He’d let us sleep on these loungers in the dining room, so we got to meet everyone who came to the City Hall – Gerry and the Pacemakers, Cliff Richard and the Shadows, Brenda Lee.

I was only there every other week as I worked every other weekend as a mechanic. One night when I couldn’t go it was Helen Shapiro. The following morning, a knock comes to my door and it was Barry saying, ‘Come on, get ready, we’re going to Stoke-on-Trent. The Beatles were the supporting artist.’

They’d not met The Beatles, but they’d met Helen Shapiro and been talking at length to her manager, who was a lady, and she’d invited us to Stoke-on-Trent for a bit of drink and a bit of lunch. Well, I’ll come – and we never got to see Helen Shapiro or her manager. We got The Beatles.

All in the van, so we got in the van and we’re chatting, and they say, ‘Oh, we’re coming back to Sheffield soon, Pete Stringfellow has booked us.’

Peter Stringfellow had a nightclub called the Black Cat and he booked them for £70. They had to move venue to the Azena.

Barry and I were on the side and John Lennon goes, ‘Lads…’”
[Dave mimes supping a drink]

“And we met them later at the Grand Hotel and we spent most of the night drinking and talking, and then we went our own way. We were back in Sheffield whatever date it was and we’d meet again – which we did.

The funny story that night, there was someone else with us, a guy called Robbie Brown. We were sat at a table and there was a married couple, both actors, Doris Hare and John Roberts – she was the mother from On the Buses.

So this couple came over to us and she came up and said, ‘Excuse me boys, but are you Beatles?’ We said no, but you know, four young lads and they’d heard all about them.

So we saw them that night, you know, just having a laugh. Well, three of them. Ringo not so much – he was withdrawn, as though he didn’t want to be there.

I recently read George Harrison’s book but only got halfway through it. I got fed up. He did nothing but moan how much he hated being in The Beatles and how he loved driving around Monaco in a coupe car, and you think, well, if it weren’t for The Beatles…

The third occasion – and I have to say my memory isn’t what it was – but the photos with the car…”

[Emma: “With the Venetian blind?”]

“Ah yes, the Venetian blind. Reg was a bit of a poseur, he was. That photo was taken outside a pub in St Helens. But my mind’s blank on how we got there and what the circumstances were, what happened to George and Ringo.

I think Ringo had a car then and he drove, I think so.

So in ’63 I was 16. Yes, I worked as a mechanic. That’s why I could only ever go every other Friday night. I worked for a breakdown company, for the AA, and every Friday night I was on my job.

So what Reg would do is push the car to the end of the road, pull a wire off and ring the AA – and I got the call-out! They never cottoned on they had a breakdown on Psalter Lane every Friday night.”

[Emma: “So did you like the music of The Beatles? I mean, it must have been fun to meet them and hang out with them. Were you fans as well?”]

“Emma, you need to realise they weren’t megastars in them days, they were just a band. When we saw them play they were amazing.

The first time we saw them play we didn’t know who they were, they were just four lads in the back of a van.

By the time we saw them up Ridgeway Road they’d had a couple of hit records. But we were just a group of lads, it were fun.

Ringo was a bit reserved. George was quiet, as you can imagine. McCartney was OK and Lennon was funny.

We took a couple of girls with us – not girlfriends, just friends from school – and John Lennon had taken a bit of a shine to one.

They were just young lads and were having a ball.