Paul's parents, Mary & Jim
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St Swithins Church (Roman Catholic), Gillmoss, Liverpool. Paul's parents were married here on April 15, 1941. The parish closed in 2004, and was combined with the Our Lady Queen of Martyrs parish. The old Swithins church building is now used by the Alt Valley Skills Centre as vocational training for the young people of Gillmoss and Croxteth in Liverpool.
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Another view of the church
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Altar of the St. Swithins Church
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The opposite end of the sanctuary/altar area as it looks today.
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A certain Beatle boy has a birthday one week from today. (Photo posted by NancyR on Beatles Son & Daughters thread)
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Was watching the documentary "Good Ol' Freda" about Freda Kelly, the Beatles' Fan Club secretary. She shared memories of knowing the Beatles' parents, and how she became friends with them and was the link between them and the Beatles when they were on tour, giving messages, and looking in on the parents for them while they were away. She also helped them with answering fan mail, etc.
She shared a memory of Paul's father, Jim. She called him "Uncle Jim." She always had Wednesday afternoons off, and she and Paul's father would go to the Bassnet (spelling?) Bar and order cheese and crackers and cured meats, and he educated her about the different varieties, and also about different types of wine and coffee, so she'd know about them for parties, etc. Then she'd get in a taxi and go home.
In this interview, she also shared an anecdote about calling Paul's father once, after certain rumors were circulating
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/nov/17/beatles-secretary-freda-kelly-story
There was an urban legend at the time that McCartney had died in 1966 and been replaced by a lookalike. Kelly received so many enquiries about this that the phone started ringing off the hook. "It really got to me," she says now. "I remember I rang Mr McCartney [Paul's father], who I called Uncle Jim, and I had to ask 'When are you seeing him next, when is Paul home?' and he was like: 'He was here last night!'"
Anyway, enjoyed hearing her share her memories. She was closest to Ringo's parents... Elsie, his mother, was like a mother to her, and she'd spend an entire evening with them every week.
She said she had to mind her Ps & Qs with John's Aunt Mimi, but once she got to her know her, she trusted her, and let her in through the front door, which she usually didn't do... most fans or people she didn't know well came in through the back door.
She also loved George's parents and spent time with them as well. George's father tried teaching her ballroom dancing but she said she was just too shy and would always laugh too much.
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^ Great article! I met Freda several years back at AROTR. Super nice lady.
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Nancy R wrote:
^ Great article! I met Freda several years back at AROTR. Super nice lady.
That's great you got to meet her! She seems like a very sincere and genuine person. She probably has a lot of stories she COULD tell, but have to admire her for respecting the privacy of the people she worked for, and her own as well. That's probably why they trusted and appreciated her so much.
Paul's stepmother said in the documentary that all the Beatle parents thought of her as a daughter, and the Beatles treated her like a sister. (She did say she got crushes on all of them of course, lol, but that's as far as she'll go on that topic, lol)
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LadyLeslie wrote:
Nancy R wrote:
^ Great article! I met Freda several years back at AROTR. Super nice lady.
That's great you got to meet her! She seems like a very sincere and genuine person. She probably has a lot of stories she COULD tell, but have to admire her for respecting the privacy of the people she worked for, and her own as well. That's probably why they trusted and appreciated her so much.
Paul's stepmother said in the documentary that all the Beatle parents thought of her as a daughter, and the Beatles treated her like a sister. (She did say she got crushes on all of them of course, lol, but that's as far as she'll go on that topic, lol)
Yeah, she wouldn’t “kiss and tell!” Lol!
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Nancy R wrote:
LadyLeslie wrote:
Nancy R wrote:
^ Great article! I met Freda several years back at AROTR. Super nice lady.
That's great you got to meet her! She seems like a very sincere and genuine person. She probably has a lot of stories she COULD tell, but have to admire her for respecting the privacy of the people she worked for, and her own as well. That's probably why they trusted and appreciated her so much.
Paul's stepmother said in the documentary that all the Beatle parents thought of her as a daughter, and the Beatles treated her like a sister. (She did say she got crushes on all of them of course, lol, but that's as far as she'll go on that topic, lol)
Yeah, she wouldn’t “kiss and tell!” Lol!
Yes, and you have to respect her for that. She genuinely seems very private. Jane Asher is very private about her memories as well, but I think that could be because there's no way she could talk about the Beatles without bringing up her past relationship with Paul, which may be uncomfortable to talk about even after all these years. And also she has always wanted to be a serious actress, and may not want to be remembered just because she was his girlfriend at one time... but that former connection will always be there. She has a right to keep her memories private if she chooses. Patti Boyd and Cynthia Lennon both wrote books, but doubt Jane ever would.
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Very cool that Paul's mum was a Catholic Nurse. Many Catholics sure Love...LET IT BE!!!
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LadyLeslie wrote:
Nancy R wrote:
LadyLeslie wrote:
Nancy R wrote:
^ Great article! I met Freda several years back at AROTR. Super nice lady.
That's great you got to meet her! She seems like a very sincere and genuine person. She probably has a lot of stories she COULD tell, but have to admire her for respecting the privacy of the people she worked for, and her own as well. That's probably why they trusted and appreciated her so much.
Paul's stepmother said in the documentary that all the Beatle parents thought of her as a daughter, and the Beatles treated her like a sister. (She did say she got crushes on all of them of course, lol, but that's as far as she'll go on that topic, lol)
Yeah, she wouldn’t “kiss and tell!” Lol!
Yes, and you have to respect her for that. She genuinely seems very private. Jane Asher is very private about her memories as well, but I think that could be because there's no way she could talk about the Beatles without bringing up her past relationship with Paul, which may be uncomfortable to talk about even after all these years. And also she has always wanted to be a serious actress, and may not want to be remembered just because she was his girlfriend at one time... but that former connection will always be there. She has a right to keep her memories private if she chooses. Patti Boyd and Cynthia Lennon both wrote books, but doubt Jane ever would.
I agree, but if she did, say after Paul’s death, and she told the truth, it would be a doozy! 🤯 (in case you can’t tell what that emoji is, it is the top of the head exploding!)
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SurSteven wrote:
Very cool that Paul's mum was a Catholic Nurse. Many Catholics sure Love...LET IT BE!!!
The person who wrote that has no idea that Paul was writing about his birth mother, named Mary, not the mother of Jesus!
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June 7, 1968 at Paul’s brother Mike’s first wedding:
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Nancy R wrote:
LadyLeslie wrote:
Nancy R wrote:
LadyLeslie wrote:
Nancy R wrote:
^ Great article! I met Freda several years back at AROTR. Super nice lady.
That's great you got to meet her! She seems like a very sincere and genuine person. She probably has a lot of stories she COULD tell, but have to admire her for respecting the privacy of the people she worked for, and her own as well. That's probably why they trusted and appreciated her so much.
Paul's stepmother said in the documentary that all the Beatle parents thought of her as a daughter, and the Beatles treated her like a sister. (She did say she got crushes on all of them of course, lol, but that's as far as she'll go on that topic, lol)
Yeah, she wouldn’t “kiss and tell!” Lol!
Yes, and you have to respect her for that. She genuinely seems very private. Jane Asher is very private about her memories as well, but I think that could be because there's no way she could talk about the Beatles without bringing up her past relationship with Paul, which may be uncomfortable to talk about even after all these years. And also she has always wanted to be a serious actress, and may not want to be remembered just because she was his girlfriend at one time... but that former connection will always be there. She has a right to keep her memories private if she chooses. Patti Boyd and Cynthia Lennon both wrote books, but doubt Jane ever would.
I agree, but if she did, say after Paul’s death, and she told the truth, it would be a doozy! 🤯 (in case you can’t tell what that emoji is, it is the top of the head exploding!)
Instead of writing a tell all book, would be nice if Jane was able to just answer a few questions now and then, in interviews. I can imagine if an interviewer were to ask "What was it like to be Paul's girlfriend, at the height of Beatlemania?" She could reply "Oh, he was a very good kisser" (I'm sure there would be audience laughter) "and he was very sweet. Just didn't work out I'm afraid." She could state the obvious and just leave it at that. Freda Kelly has been able to answer questions about the Beatles very tactfully without revealing too much of their private lives.
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Jane would never allow herself to be put in the position of being interviewed. They would ask some blunt questions I’m sure she wouldn’t want to answer! Back in 1968, they never would have done that. When she gave that interview on July 20, 1968 announcing that their engagement was off, they never really asked her why. The press was totally different back then!
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Nancy R wrote:
Jane would never allow herself to be put in the position of being interviewed. They would ask some blunt questions I’m sure she wouldn’t want to answer! Back in 1968, they never would have done that. When she gave that interview on July 20, 1968 announcing that their engagement was off, they never really asked her why. The press was totally different back then!
Yes, she probably wouldn't put herself in that position. For some reason she's chosen not to discuss anything about the Beatles, which is sad, because i'm sure she has some insights about them that would be interesting to hear, for history's sake, but have to respect the fact that she's going to keep any memories of that part of her life buried.
A few more photos of Paul's brother Mike's first wedding in 1968..
in first photo, Paul's father Jim at center.... with step-mother Angie and step-sister Ruth holding bouqet at right.
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with father Jim and brother Mike, 1974
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Nancy R wrote:
SurSteven wrote:
Very cool that Paul's mum was a Catholic Nurse. Many Catholics sure Love...LET IT BE!!!
The person who wrote that has no idea that Paul was writing about his birth mother, named Mary, not the mother of Jesus!
Ambiguity...is the WORD! It's not hard to see how the Creator of The Universe can accomplish many things...with things that appear to be...only one thing. This was posted below the article...
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I remember hearing on the radio that let it be was inspired by a dream that Paul McCartney had about his mother whose name was Mary saying to let it be this problem with the Beatles break up which was causing him great pain would go away and the further said that he got drunk for 2 days because of the pain and realize this was not the right thing to do so the song was inspired by a dream he had about his mother by his mother who spoke to him in a dream I further think that this is the perfect anthem for the Med j u g o r j e apparitions of Mary and so inspired by heaven in a dream and so has a sort of double meaning or double source. Let It Be is the Fiat of the Virgin Mary and she gives messages at Medjugorje which are speaking words of wisdom. Only time will tell."