Norwich 1963

Jill Daynes and Sally Sistern were just teenagers when they met the Beatles backstage at the Grosvenor Rooms in Norwich on May 17, 1963. A plaque is erected to commemorate that concert at the venue.


Smiling for the camera, Jill Daynes and Sally Sistern could hardly believe their luck. They’d just seen the Beatles play – and they finished the evening on the laps of two of the musicians.


The office girls were regulars at gigs in the Grosvenor Rooms, Norwich. It was concert promoter Peter Holmes, who worked with Sally at a city furniture shop, who arranged the meeting with the Fab Four after the show.

“Peter came and found us on the dance floor. We were taken into the room where they were sitting,” Jill recalled.

“We couldn’t believe it. If we’d have known, I’d have had some paper ready for the autographs but there was no time.”

Jill sat on the lap of her favourite Beatle, George Harrison, while Peter took a picture.

“Paul and Ringo were talking to us but John didn’t really say anything,” she remembered. “We had seen Ringo the year before at Butlins at Skegness with Rory Storm and the Hurricanes so we talked about that.”

Jill, who worked in the planning office at Bally’s shoe factory in Queen Street at the time, added: “The atmosphere was fantastic. When they did Roll Over Beethoven everybody was singing. It was just magical. They looked so lovely in their Beatles suits. It really was a wonderful night.”

Jill and Sally, who still live in Norwich, have been friends since they were 16 and have never forgotten the concert.

“They were brilliant on stage,” said Sally.

"There was a heck of a lot of screaming. All the girls were at the front and all pushed forward.”
Sally’s younger sister Linda King (nee Gosling) also posed for the photo in a yellow dress and stood next to Ringo. Sally sat on the lap of her favourite Beatle, Paul McCartney, and he kissed her cheek.

“I grabbed him because I had a crush on him at the time. He was chatty, bouncy and bubbly, but I can’t remember much of what he said,” she recalled.

“Afterwards we were full of excitement, making everybody else jealous. It was a topic of conversation for a long time afterwards.”

She added: “We had been to several concerts at the Grosvenor – Johnny Kidd and the Pirates, the Searchers. But the atmosphere was nothing like it was that night – and I don’t think I’ve ever been anywhere since where it has been. It was absolutely amazing.”