While John and Stan were at Fleetwood, they would go over
to the Isle of Man to watch the famous T.T. Motorcycle races. They were very keen on them,
and used to collect the autographs of famous racers.
After Charles Parkes died, Bertie Sutherland, who had
originally met Stan's mother, Elizabeth, in Preston during the war, came to Fleetwood and
began courting Elizabeth. They were married in 1949 and moved to Edinburgh. Cousin Leila
remained in Fleetwood, where she attended a girl's boarding school at Lytham. So when Stan
got homesick, he would spend his school holidays in Fleetwood and Liverpool with John and
Leila.
Blackpool would also feature large in John's life later
on. After Alfred and Julia Lennon were estranged, "Freddie", as he was
known, continued his career at sea. On arriving home from a voyage he went to see
Mimi, who told him that Julia had been neglecting John. Freddie decided to take John for a
brief holiday in Blackpool at the house of his friend, Billy Hall, while he decided what
to do.
He sent John to his brother Sydney while he went to
Southampton with a friend to help him sell nylons on the black market. Sydney and his wife
Madge were childless and wanted to adopt John. When Freddie returned he took John back to
Blackpool and discussed immigrating to New Zealand. On Saturday, 22 June, 1946,
Julia, together with Bobby Dykins, turned up at the Halls' house, saying they'd tracked
Freddie down via the post office. Julia said she wanted John back, and turned down
Freddie's suggestion that they try to patch up the marriage.
John was asked who he'd like to stay with. He took his
father's hand and said he wanted to say with him, but when Julia began to walk down the
street, John ran after her, so Freddie collected John's things and they were handed to
Dykins.
Once the Beatles began their rise to fame in Britain, they made several
appearances in Blackpool, making their debut at the ABC Theatre on Sunday, 14 July, 1963.
They appeared again in August, and September.
Stan tells me "John, Leila and I had quite an exciting
childhood, and what I have told you about Fleetwood and Blackpool is just a snippet - I
could write a book on those memories alone!"
In fact, Stan Parkes in working on a book on the history of
the Stanley/Lennon family.
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