Billy Fury Story - Lisa Voice interview

It was another memorable day at Mill Hill. The sun shone down for our Billy and lots of fans old and new turned up, here are a few memories of the day.

Arrived at 12.50 to find a handful of people chatting around the grave, it was obvious that someone had spent some time tidying up the grave as it looked wonderful. (sorry Moya your flower pot was missing)

By 1.30 a lot more people had turned up and lots more flowers had been laid down on the grave. we stayed until about 2 pm and then made our way down to the hall, the place was quite full by now with Cecelia and Linda on the memorabilia stall and Billy singing on the cd player. The lady making the tea done a great job and there was plenty to eat including Rita's world famous home made cakes.

The raffle prizes were laid out on the table, some nice pics of Billy and chocolate etc, then a disaster struck, there were no raffle tickets, with some hard work from some fans some homemade tickets were made and the raffle went ahead.

A clock that Pat had donated went for auction and it was won by George and Barbera from Southend, money donated to go to Johnny Red's Horses Charity.
Chris Eley made some speeches about the new DVD and mentioned fans who could not attend through illness, he then asked me if I would supply the entertainment, this I was proud to do and had brought along my small P A (just in case)

It was great to see my mate Pierre turn up, and also a policeman and woman, who Pat thought was going to give her a parking ticket, but were only looking at the stickers in her car window.

I got everyone going with a few of Billy's hits, Then asked young Joey Frescoe if he would sing a song for us, he is only eight years old but already a big Billy fan, he sung "It's Only Make Believe" note perfect and got a well deserved reception from the fans, well done Joey.

It was great to see Kevin there and after his suprise performance at the Sunnyside, I asked him to sing a song for us, he obliged with a stunning version of "Maybe Tomorrow" well done Kevin and thanks for the cd.

I then noticed that Chris Eley was itching to give us all a song and turned in a great performance of "Fools Errand".

Time was getting on and it was soon time to go we finished off with " Forget Him" and everyone on their feet and holding hands for "Halfway To Paradise"
We said our goodbyes and made our way home, sorry we missed you Bruce. maybe we will see you in October.

Top: Floral tributes.
Centre: Jenny Warwick auctions a portrait.
Above: John Allison with Mrs Jean Wycherley.

It was a glorious day as usual for the trip down to London for the meeting at Billy's resting place in Mill Hill.

Jean, Marie, Sophie and myself left in plenty of time to get there early until we hit the holdup on the MI at Luton. We were at a standstill for over half an hour.

When we arrived we went straight to Billy's resting place.

As usual all the wonderful friends I have met over the years where there and it was nice to see Billy's grave looking so clean and cared for.

While we were getting the flowers for Billy out of the boot of the car a gentleman walked up and said: "I am John Allison from The Allisons."

Well, I was chuffed to meet him as only last week I had bought the 45 record from Ebay of Are You Sure, a song that I remembered from the Eurovision song contest in 1961 and had once owned.

We paid our respects to Billy and then Jean Wycherley arrived with Ray and Jeannie.

Then off to the hall for our usual get together.

The first person we saw as we walked into the hallway that I had not met before was Pierre playing his usual jokes and pretending to be someone else (Michael).

The hall was full and Margaret Dewick was busy making the tea and coffee.

I stood in while Margaret had a break, It's hard work in the tearoom.

There was an auction of a lovely painting of Billy's face and I went in late and had a limit. Sadly I didn't win it but was thrilled it went to a younger couple. They said they would hang it over their fireplace with love and pride.

Jean signed the back. What a lovely piece of memorabilia for them.

There was plenty of lovely food on the table - enough to feed an army.

There were the usual memorabilia stalls and Vic had his Billy CD stall.

John Allison did a questions and answers session and played his guitar.

We joined in with Are You Sure.

Plenty of friends to chat to and before we knew it the lovely day was over, so back on the M1 for home.

Only a month before Sophie and I go back for the next meeting.

(Reproduced from the billyfury.com message board, which was reproduced in turn from the BFITOY website.)

Around 60 fans gathered at Billy's statue remember Billy on his 66th birthday and many placed flowers on the plinth. Billy's mum Jean and brother Albie were there and thanked all the fans for coming and for keeping Billy's name alive.

A reporter and photographer from the Liverpool Echo was there and interviewed Jean.

Jean announced the new BFITOY charity Nobody's Child. Everyone sang Happy Birthday before leaving the windswept waterfront for the sanctuary of The Pumphouse where BFITOY held it's 1st birthday meeting in a private room upstairs kindly supplied free of charge.

The room was decorated with balloons and BFITOY provided a memorabilia stall with CDs, photos, and many more Billy Fury goodies' which was very popular. Billy Fury songs were played all afternoon by VIc who had brought along his CD player.

Jenny Warwick welcomed everyone to the meeting and people chatted to old and new friends before the auction of a picture kindly donated by a fan which raised Ł40.

This was followed by Jean Wycherley's raffle which raised a good sum of money (to be advised) for the fan club charities.

Jean and Albie were presented with Billy Fury decorated plates as a thank you for their input into BFITOY in their respective capacities as Honorary President and Patron. They are both greatly loved by the fans and were happy to supply autographs and have photos taken with them all afternoon.

Frankie Connor from BBC Radio Merseyside came along directly after his show wearing a Billy Fury tee shirt, he's a great fan of Billy playing his songs regularly on his shows. He's a real character and added to the friendly atmosphere.

The meeting was declared a huge success by all and the venue was ideal, where people could get food and drink and socialise in a very pleasant environment.

Special thanks to Di Vickers who stayed by the statue, telling people about Billy, attempting to recruit new fan club members and directing fans to the meeting place.

(Read more in the fan club newsletter)

JANUARY 28, 2006. (BFITOY CLUB)

The photographs below, by Mags Cummings, appear on the BFITOY website, thebillyfuryfanclub.com

A few of us gathered at Billy's statue to pay our respects on the 23rd anniversary of his death. Jean Wycherley was there along with John and Mags, Jean Todd and Di and Ann Vickers.

There was a beautiful display of yellow roses already there, left by Veronica and her friends.

Jean T left flowers on behalf of Cathy and Sophie, Babs and Marguerite and also brought along a beautiful poem written by Marguerite. I left some red roses on behalf of the BFITOY fan club.

During our visit many people who had come to see the museum also came to look at the statue and were thrilled to find that Billy's mum was there. All of them said how much they loved Billy and his music and were interested in hearing how his fans had raised the money for the statue.

We went to the Pumphouse pub for lunch and I can highly recommend it as the venue for our meeting together in April after seeing Billy on his birthday on Easter Monday. - Mags Cummings

OCTOBER 16, 2005, MILL HILL (SOUNDS OF FURY CLUB)

About 40 people attended, on a very sunny day. Among them were Rob Dee and Chris with Pat, Bob Paskins and his wife, and Clare and Maureen, former members of the SoF syndicate. - CD

SEPTEMBER 26, 2005, MILL HILL (BFITOY CLUB)

It was touch or go in deepest darkest, rainy Derbyshire, but in the end I saddled up the Deauville and headed south on the dreaded M1 superslab.

I spent an hour or so walking around the Battle of Britain hall at the RAF Museum and then on to Mill Hill.

I did not count, but there must have been around 30 of us at Billy's resting place to pay respects along with Jean and Albie.

After introduction, chats and photos, I wandered around a little looking at other memorials, a mini-cab stopped and the driver asked me where Billy's grave was. He then proceeded to drop off a couple and their luggage.

This turned out to be Jean Luc (Lucky) and his wife making a special visit to the grave on their way to Luton to fly back to their Paris home. Lucky has been a

fan of Billy since he first heard him despite being only 13 when Billy died. He tells me that Billy has always had (and continues to have) a great following in France.

They were both made most welcome by everyone including Jean and Albie and must have gone home with fond memories (and lots of goodies) of Mill Hill.

I managed to avoid the rush to the Church Hall and Cathy's welcome cuppas saved me from complete dehydration (thanks Cathy).

The new fan club and its budding constitution dominated the early proceedings but there was an overwhelming feeling of willingness to make it work to the good of the fans, for the fans and by the fans (apologies to the US constitution for that one).

There was an auction which I'll leave someone else to write about but I think it realised over Ł100 and Jean's raffle eventually raised a similar amount, all for the usual excellent causes.

There was an unusual presentation to Albie and Jean and sympathies over both their recent health problems. I can relate to Albie's kidney problems myself since the loss of a kidney put paid to my engineering and motorcycle racing careers in the mid 70s.

I subsequently did several charity bike rides in support of kidney charities so Jean's announcement that she had made substantial donations to those was also poingant.

I took the leisurely route back in lovely Autumn sunlight (apart from it being in my eyes that is) until the inevitable rain belt above Northampton - which is where I came in.

I've said this before and I'll say it again (and probably again) there are so many nice, friendly people around Billy's fan-scene, it's an honour to know you and to meet with you. Looking forward to more of the same at Evesham.

On a very special day, which in fact would have been Billy Fury’s 65th
Birthday, the fans gathered once again at Paddington cemetery, Mill Hill in
order to pay their respects to a much missed artist.

Perhaps due to the simultaneous celebration of Billy’s life taking place over the weekend in Liverpool and culminating with a gathering at the statue on the Sunday, attendance at Mill Hill was modest for such an occasion.

About 44 fans were present at varying times throughout the beautiful sunny afternoon but the friendly atmosphere and sense of dedication was remarkable.

The grave was covered in flowers and dotted with 65th birthday cards containing very personal and extremely poignant messages.

Perhaps surprisingly in this day and age, a porcelain plate and laminated photos from previous gatherings still featured in the display.

Despite the problem of a lack of chairs, which to my knowledge is the first and
I do hope the last occasion it will happen, everybody piling into the hall was
full of the joys of spring and, as it transpired, generous to a fault.

The auction raised a nice little sum to be shared between the Stone Fund and the children’s ward of Alder Hey Hospital. Special thanks are due to so many fans present who generously contributed in some way to either the raffle, auction or otherwise helped the Fan Club on the day.

This included Joan Bilham, Janet Noyce, Bob Paskins, Pauline Barker, Tracey and Anthony Grist and Daniel Heeney (whose van lit up the street with the display of Billy, Elvis and Rock’n’Roll memorabilia).

Sadly Mary Burton was not well enough to travel down and help out as
always, with husband Dave, and we wish her a speedy recovery. It was nice to
so many familiar faces such as former friends and devoted fans of Billy’s,
Peter and Brenda Basnett, plus someone who never seems to miss, that mine of Billy information Roy Harvey.

Ken Hills, who spent some time with Billy, turned up for the first time I believe. It was also nice to see Mo Bowden who has done so much for Billy’s legacy as a former member of the Sound of Fury syndicate.

The highlight of the day was unquestionably the acoustic set by Bob Paskins,
former leader of The New Tornados during part of 1975 (not to be confused
with Fury’s Tornados performing today with Colin Gold and also backing
Billy around this time.)

Bob is a very generous and friendly no-edge guy who did such a lot to help the Bronze Fund.

The tribute, which included That’s Love, Once Upon A Dream, Last Night Was Made for Love and I Love How You Love Me was well and sincerely delivered with Bob’s humour and openness endearing everyone to him. He closed with his personal favourite, When Will You say I Love You.

It was extremely well received and followed by Danny Rivers, who, despite being unwell at present, accompanied by Bob delivered his usual, gutsy rendition of Little Sister. As an aside-Danny’s fine single, Can’t You Hear My Heart, was one of the first 45s that my other half, Linda, ever bought. Get well soon Danny and great to see you and Emily there.

Also present was Billy tribute artist Rob Dee, his wife Chris and their friend and Evesham’s biggest Billy fan, Pat Young.Rob joined Bob and delivered A Wondrous Place and It’s Only Make Believe, all of which went down well.

A pleasant surprise was Peter Basnett’s unaccompanied rendition of Nobody’s Child, which again was enjoyed by the fans present.

It goes without saying that every number was sung along to by just about everyone.

Some folk, on leaving, said that it was the most enjoyable Mill Hill event they had ever attended, and this from persons attending since the early 1980s was heart-warming.

It probably won’t happen every time, perhaps devaluing the special feel of it were it to become habitual, but it’s possible that once a year at least it may occur.

Thanks are also due to the "kitchen staf’, Rita Smalley and friends and to Ken and Cecilia Darvell and anyone and everyone else who significantly contributed to the day and whom I may have missed.

This is the sort of warm and friendly atmosphere that should exist wherever Billy fans gather. - Chris Eley. Picture by Ken Darvell.

JANUARY 30, 2005. Superb pictures by Mags from the meeting at the statue in Liverpool.

JANUARY 23, 2005: About 30 fans met at Billy's grave at Mill Hill to commemorate the anniversary of his death.

APRIL 17, 2004 Statue meeting: About 100 fans met at the Museum of Liverpool Life on Billy's birthday, Saturday April 17 at 2.30pm. Billy's mother, Mrs Jean Wycherley, and brother Albie were among those who attended. Later, at a meeting at the Maritime Museum, representatives of the Sound Of Fury fan club presented Mrs Wycherley with one of the bronze miniatures of the statue that have been produced by the sculptor, Tom Murphy. The pictures (left and below) are supplied by Ray and Jean Shenton.

APRIL 18, 2004 Mill Hill meeting: About 40 fans met as usual at Billy's grave in Mill Hill on Sunday April 18 at 1pm.

Fans gathered at the grave side from midday onwards and flowers gathered.

It was good to see Peter Davies who has volunteered his services to help the
Sound of Fury team. Two ladies arrived just after one o'clock who had not
visited the grave before. They asked what they should do and if they could
attend the meeting at the church hall around the corner. They were welcomed
and driven to the meeting. It was later that they told of their "previous
lives'"as backing singers - sorry we did not get your names but you were
very welcome and hope to see you again.

Everyone made their way to the hall before the two most important ladies
bringing the tea and coffee arrived.

Having all queued up for hot drinks everyone began to feel a little warmer
as the heating in the hall was something to be desired. Promise to get this
sorted by the next meeting.

Sadly, Jean Wycherley and Albert could not make it due to poor health but we
were later to find they were doing their own thing in Liverpool. Well
done - a fantastic idea.

We were very pleased to be joined by Hal Carter who also has not been too
well lately.

During the afternoon Hal sat and chatted with several fans and
bought one of the bronze busts made by Tom Murphy (bronze statue sculptor).

We were also joined by Bob and Sue Paskins who are now in the Legends band
and used to be the leader of The New Tornadoes backing Billy in 1975.

Thanks to all who attended - if only we had known there was another
gathering in Liverpool happening at the same time. Maybe we could have
arranged one of those TV link-ups.

Report and pictures 1, 2, 3 and 4 by Ray and Jean Shenton. Pictures 5 and 6 by Jean Todd.

This was the weekend of the annual gathering at Mill Hill and Jean and I were going to escort Billy’s Mam.

Things could not go to plan as Mrs Wycherley was just getting over a very bad chest cold and on this occasion she did no feel quite well enough to travel to London so we chatted to her and Albert about it and Albert came up with the excellent Idea of holding an informal meeting at Billy’s statue in Liverpool for anyone who was unable to make the gathering in London.

Bear in mind that this was on Friday and we were to visit the statue two days later on the Sunday.

We then set about trying to let people know and first of all put it on Harry’s message board.

Quite a few people answered the call to say they thought it was a smashing Idea and would be there to pay our respects to Billy.

We would like to personally thank those people for attending at such short notice. Mags, Chris, Kat, Andy, Babs, Colin, Marie, Jean and Allen.

We also sent e-mails to Radio Merseyside and Radio Lancashire and would like to thank both stations for their numerous mentions of the last minute event.

We arrived at the Museum of Liverpool Life at 1pm as planned and were very pleased to see lots of people gathered in the entrance hall. J

ean and Albert arrived shortly after that with some friends, Lynne, Pete and Brenda and set about mingling and chatting to everyone.

Billy looked magnificent as usual and Jean and Albert placed some flowers on the plinth.

That was the cue for everyone else who had brought flowers and cards to do the same. We placed some flowers from Moya and from Pat.

In total there were around 40 or 50 people in the courtyard, which made it look quite full.

Albert then made a short speech thanking everyone for attending to pay tribute to "Our Kid". This was followed by applause from the crowd in appreciation.

Then Jean said a few words, pointing out that at the same time there were fans gathering at Mill Hill and that it was nice for the people who could not get to London to meet at the statue and in a way be united in their remembrance of her Billy.

Both Jean and Albert were very accommodating with people wanting photographs with them and there was plenty of snappers there enjoying the chance of a rare photograph for their albums.

After all the pics were taken we were milling around the courtyard chatting and thanking people for coming and I looked around to see Billy’s Mam alone staring up at the statue.

A wonderful private moment and I was glad that no one had photographed that moment as it was so special and private.

Then we went inside again and some of us signed the guest book with heartfelt memories of a great man.

Most people started drifting away shortly afterwards and the ones who were left decided to go to The Britannia pub down the dock road for a pub lunch etc. This is the pub where Billy’s star is outside on the dock walkway of Liverpool Legends so it was a very fitting end to the day.

Both Jean and Albert would like to pass on their gratitude and thanks to all the people who attended especially at such short notice. We thoroughly enjoyed the day and hope that it happens again sometime. They both hope to be well enough to attend Mill Hill this April for Billy’s birthday.