WINGS FUN CLUB - recollections?
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cyrille17:
Was it the fanclub in the Sussex? I'm not sure if i understood. Was it directed by Linda?
The Wings Fun Club was mainly London based until the very later years when its mailing address changed to Westcliffe in Essex. Its origins can be traced back to 1972 when it was an unofficial fan club (based I think in Merseyside,but I'll need to check my old newsletters to confirm that) and as such went through various name changes based around the titles of Wings / Paul McCartney & Wings and the words fan club/fun club. By 1973 it had become official and London based. A lot of fans think that the Club was formed at the time the 'Club Sandwich' newspaper issues began in 1977 but in reality the Wings Fun Club had already been successfully active for four years before then.
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Yes I was a member. Didn't join up until 1990 when I got an application form in the World Tour programme. We got reduced rate tickets to tours, plus quite a few freebies. My daughter was a member as well, so having two memberships we did really well as sometimes we got different invites to stuff and opportunites to get more tickets. I guess living in London helped as well. Events we went to for free included the Mean Fiddler in 1992 (televised for New Year's Eve), we were extras in the Hope of Deliverance video, the Docklands 'dress rehearsal' for the New World Tour in 93, the Town Hall Meeting at Bishopsgate in 1997. We also got tickets to the Run Devil Run launch party in Leicester Square, even though the Fun Club closed just before that. Those were the days!
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Fiona M:
Are there any more Club Sandwich members here?
Here! I'm one
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Vale!! Anyone else? Any great recollections to add to this thread?
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I was a member from 1978 onward, I still have all the membership cards in storage someplace. I remember the goodies, the russian album, etc. I looked forward to the paper everytime it came. One memory, I did get concert tickets in 1989-90 thru the Fun Club...New York and Montreal, you were only allowed four tickets total, I got two tickets for two shows. It was a great time! In February Paul came back to the States and played in Worcester Mass, at the Centrum. My friends who lived near me got their Fun Club offer for tickets, but I waited and did not. I wrote a letter to MPL in NY, and Eastman and Eastman. Surprisingly, within days of sending the letter I got a phone call from Lee Eastman's Secretary offering me tickets to the Worcester shows. I never forgot how generous and caring that was. I had tickets to both Worcester shows. In the summer, when Paul came to Foxboro again they let me have tickets for one of the two shows...they were awesome tenth row center field seats. An awesome show! I was also able to attend the filming that was between the two shows, Paul's shows were on the Tuesday and Thursday from what I remember, and the special filming was on the Wednesday night. The filming was terrific! We had to all sign acting forms, and were given penlight flashlights as compensation. Someone afterwards said they were required to compensate us. I remember the filming went on from around 7pm till around 1am...they would film a song, then there would be about 15 minutes for them to change reels on the camera. Paul would joke around, at one point doing a Scottish accent short bit. It was very fun. A great moment was after the filming leaving the stadium, a small car passed us (only a few feet away as it passed) as we were walking, not a limo, just a regular small car. As it passed, Paul was leaning out the front passenger side window waving to us! It was a surprise, and very memorable. Podgie (aahhhh...the Fun Club Days!) Monkey
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What lovely memories Podgie!!
You are so lucky to have had all those experiences via the Fun Club
We went to see Paul in Birmingham via the Fun Club in 1990 and we were about 12 rows from the front, it was great because it was the first time we had seen him
those were the days
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On one of my first trips to London in 1977, I went to the old MPL office in London. Didnt know what to expect...there wasn't any internet in those days. I knew the address..walked up to the building about 8am. The MPL office was on the 2nd floor in this old building, so I walked upstairs..saw the door with the address and knocked. Nobody answered...I tried the handle..the door opened and I walked in...wow...nobody was there...I could here a vacumn running in a distant room. So i walked around...lots of desks...lots of Linda's photos on the walls...since I could hear the vacumn on the left, I walked to the right...saw a door..opened it..it was the boardroom...a long table...about a dozen chairs...a big black leather chair at the end...all of Paul's Gold Record awards on the wall..amazing!!...went back to the office area...saw a table by the door with a cardboard promotional display for the Wings Over America album..oops...the cleaning woman came out...a look of shock on her face...told her i was there to see Sue(fan club sec)...she told me to come back at 10am...so i did...Sue said fans werent allowed in the office...she gave me some old Wings/McCartney buttons...and I left...COOL!!!!!
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can we start a campain to bring back club sandwich and the fun club
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thatsmytoy:
On one of my first trips to London in 1977, I went to the old MPL office in London. Didnt know what to expect...there wasn't any internet in those days. I knew the address..walked up to the building about 8am. The MPL office was on the 2nd floor in this old building, so I walked upstairs..saw the door with the address and knocked. Nobody answered...I tried the handle..the door opened and I walked in...wow...nobody was there...I could here a vacumn running in a distant room. So i walked around...lots of desks...lots of Linda's photos on the walls...since I could hear the vacumn on the left, I walked to the right...saw a door..opened it..it was the boardroom...a long table...about a dozen chairs...a big black leather chair at the end...all of Paul's Gold Record awards on the wall..amazing!!...went back to the office area...saw a table by the door with a cardboard promotional display for the Wings Over America album..oops...the cleaning woman came out...a look of shock on her face...told her i was there to see Sue(fan club sec)...she told me to come back at 10am...so i did...Sue said fans werent allowed in the office...she gave me some old Wings/McCartney buttons...and I left...COOL!!!!!
I bet security was tightened after that - if the cleaning lady confessed to what had happened
I'm sure that couldn't happen nowadays. Martin
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Kestrel:
Its origins can be traced back to 1972 when it was an unofficial fan club (based I think in Merseyside,but I'll need to check my old newsletters to confirm that) and as such went through various name changes based around the titles of Wings / Paul McCartney & Wings and the words fan club/fun club.
Paul and Linder started the Fun Club as a result of getting lots of fan mail without having the time to answer it. They gave the job to Angela and Ruth (Paul's stepmother and -sister), who answered mails and sent out newsletters until it bacame too big for them to handle. So it was relocated to a London office, the address was printed on Red Rose Speedway and the rest should be well known.
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^ I do have a letter dated February 1973,sent from a Merseyside PO Box address and signed by Lucy who I guess was part of the chain which began with Angie/Ruth and eventually led to London. Thanks for the info,I hadn't realised the club pre-dated even Lucy's involvement.
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I didn't join until around the end of 1982, at which point it was Sue that dealt with all the communications. And she was really helpful
I've got quite a few messages she wrote to me when I enquired about various things.
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I was a member....I think we had decimel currency at the time.....I remember earning a tidy sum running a little racket, sorry enterprise at school drawing Wings symbols/backgrounds etc and pictures of Paul onto people's art folders and haversacks etc .....got a few groats for that.
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I have the last 15 issues of CS. It was exciting to receive the magazine in my home every season...I didn´t receive tickets or gifts because I live in Buenos Aires; anyway I felt happy every time the magazine came to my hands
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david mitchelson:
I was a member....I think we had decimel currency at the time.....I remember earning a tidy sum running a little racket, sorry enterprise at school drawing Wings symbols/backgrounds etc and pictures of Paul onto people's art folders and haversacks etc .....got a few groats for that.
I remember perfecting drawing the Wings symbol
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anyone else remember Club Sandwich?
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What you said about Sue is so true, (((((((((Fi))))))))))
I dashed off a letter to the Club asking for tickets to Live Aid knowing I'd be in London anyway on the date of the concert. I had little hope as the show had been reported as being sold out and it was only one week until the concert of all concerts. A couple of days later Sue called, offering two tickets. I was so shocked that I couldn't make up my mind at once. She told me she'd call again a day later. As soon as I had hung up the phone I panicked; I was sure I had blown my chance. I needn't have worried though as she called exactly 24 hours later and this time there was no hesitating!
ops:
It was too late to send the tickets so it was arranged for me to pick them up at MPL. The staff there was very helpful too, explaining this fan from Switzerland how to get to the Wembley stadium. I still have the ticket stubs in my collection.
I'll always be grateful to Sue and the staff at MPL for making a dream come true.
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That was brilliant of Sue for looking after you so well ((((((((((((((((Liz)))))))))))))). She was always so helpful
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Thanks to the Wings Fun Club, i was able to see Wings at the City Hall in Newcastle in 1979. Because i lived a fair distance from Newcastle, i was sold 2 tickets for five pounds fifty pence each,and didn't have to get tickets from the venue.I think in those days credit card sales over the phone were rare,so you had to get them from the box office in person. Seeing Paul in such a small Theatre is something i'll never forget. Having only a laptop since September, i missed out on tickets for the small gigs last year. The frustrating thing last year was the Roundhouse gig.I was trying to get tickets while on a coach travelling to see Brian Wilson in London.Impossible on a mobile to get anywhere,signal kept coming and going,very annoying.
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Loved Wings Fun Club. I joined quite a bit before Club Sandwich was produced and remember a lovely girl who wrote the newsletter called Claire who came from Kingswinford. Through the club I got tickets for the filming of Big Barn Bed for the James Paul McCartney TV special and also managed to get second row centre seats at the Hammersmith Odeon for Wings first proper tour. May 25th 1973 - exactly 35 years ago
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