As a schoolmate of John Lennon,
I created a newspaper called Mersey Beat, and began chronicling the early career of
the Beatles. Over the years I continued writing about them and in my research, have
discovered that John had many associations with the Blackpool area.
Contrary to what a number of writers have asserted, John
Lennon actually had a happy early life because he was part of an extended family. Many of
his memories of happy experiences were of his regular holidays in Fleetwood and Blackpool.
Although his mother, Julia, became estranged from his
father Alfred, and went to live with John "Bobby" Dykins, with whom she had two
daughters, John received a lot of love and attention.
From the age of five he lived with his Aunt Mimi and Uncle
George. This was a matriarchal situation, as the five Stanley sisters were strong women
who formed a close-knit family group. There were John's mother Judy (often called
Julia), and her sisters May (known as Mimi), Elizabeth (known as Mater), Anne (known as
Nanny), and Harriet (known as Harrie).
Elizabeth had married Charles Parkes and they had a son,
Stanley, who was to become the equivalent of a big brother to his cousin John. Stan is now
the eldest member of Lennon's family in Britain, and was able to relate to me details of
John's early life and his love of the Blackpool area.
Incidentally, Stan was the toddler who Julia and Alfred,
John's parents, used to wheel around in a pram in Sefton Park, Liverpool, during their
courting days.
When Stan was nine, his parents enrolled him in Rossall, a
public school in Fleetwood, Lancashire. After the death of his father, his mother,
Elizabeth, couldn't afford to keep him on as a boarder, but enrolled him as a day pupil,
and they settled in Fleetwood. Stan recalls that the first accommodation was at 33
Galloway Road, Fleetwood. "My mother and I lived at a Mr. Hodson's home in Fleetwood.
He was a solicitor who'd had a special extension built onto his house for a
professional-sized billiards and snooker table to be installed. He was a great
friend of Joe Davies, the world famous snooker champion. Davies would come to his house
and stay a few days, playing snooker."
"John and I would watch him," says Stan.
"Mr. Hodson taught John and I snooker and billiards on this super table. He would let
us play on it by ourselves and how the cushions weren't ripped to ribbons, I don't
know!"
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