This was a nostalgic trip down
memory lane and an afternoon of pure enjoyment for those in the audience who
had the pleasure of living through the 1960’s and experiencing the phenomena of
The Beatles. The icing on the cake is
that Freda Kelly was recounting her personal experiences with The Beatles. At the tender age of 17, Freda Kelly had the
job all teenage girls wanted at that time, she was secretary of the Beatles Fan
Club, and she was editor of The Beatles fan magazine. As fan club secretary she
managed the club's correspondence and interacted closely with the band. Her job
gave her exclusive insights into the band's early years, and she developed
strong relationships with John, Paul, George, and Ringo. She also provided a
newsletter in The Beatles fan magazine, keeping fans up to date with tour news
and events in the personal lives of the Fab Four. Initially she did everything from home at her
own personal expense and even listed her home address as a postal address for
fans to send their letters. Her dad
put a stop to this once the number of letters became too much, somewhere in the
region of nearly one thousand per week.
Freda was later secretary to Brian Epstein working at the NEMS store in Liverpool and ran The Beatles fan club for ten years until she retired from the role to concentrate on family life, her retirement coinciding with the demise of the fan club and The Beatles going their separate ways. According to Paul McCartney's stepmother, Angie, The Beatles saw Freda as a sister and their families saw her as a daughter. Freda would visit the homes of the Fab Four regularly and she was particularly close to Ringo’s mum having lost her own mum when she was just 18 months old.
Now in her 80th year, Freda related her memories of her time with The Beatles prompted by questions from Roag Best, brother of Beatles ex drummer, Pete Best. They sat on the small stage together and after the interval Freda answered questions from the international audience who treated her to a rendition of ‘Happy Birthday’ to commemorate her birthday which she celebrated last month. For ardent Beatles fans, the memories Freda related may not have been particularly exciting as they may have heard them before as most of the stories she related were documented in the film about Freda’s life with The Beatles entitled, ‘Good Ol’ Freda’ but her reminiscences were met with due appreciation and reverence by the many fans who attended.
The events room at the Beatles Museum may not be ideal for an event such as this as due to the set-up of the seating, views of the stage and the people on it is very restricted for those sitting in about row five backwards. Additionally, the hard, plastic seats are crammed together, six to a row; for those seated far left by the wall it is extremely difficult to manoeuvre from the seats across the row of seated people to get to the bar. Additionally, the room has a very low ceiling making it rather claustrophobic and oppressive. This event was held on a particularly hot day, and the room was airless and extremely hot even though the back door was open to the street. This being said, the event was enjoyed by those attending and Freda was given the respect and appreciation she deserved for her insights of her time with The Beatles.
Further events at The Beatles Museum may be found via https://liverpoolbeatlesmuseum.com/
Reviewer - Anne Horne
On – 23.08.2025
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