Friends at the Ye Cracke

 October 1958

Swimming in Wales

 Summer of 1958 

Early Liverpool

Photos taken by Mike McCartney 

 Mike McCartney has announced that he has a new book of photos coming out in April 2021 called Early Liverpool.    It will be full of photographs of his hometown as well as his family and friends from the 1950s-1960s.    Sounds like a great book, however, it is being published by Genesis.    That means that it will be a beautiful quality book, but will be limited in numbers and expensive.   Unless a cheap version is also published, most fans won't be able to own it. 

In releasing this news, Mike has released this new photograph of Paul, John and George from March 8, 1958.    He had published the posed photo of JPG  (and Dennis Littler) in his other photo books in the 1980s.   He never ever mentioned that there was an "outtake" photo from the same roll of film!    What other photos did Mike take with this color film?    

Those guys look so young and adorable!   

Val the Cavern Coat Girl

It was 58 years ago today -- on August 29, 1959 that the band known as the Quarrymen first played the Casbah.    You are all familiar with the photo --- John and Paul are rocking it out.  John's head is down and Paul is looking loving into the eyes of Cynthia Powell.   Next to Cyn is a girl and on the end is a fellow.  

The girl next to Cyn is named Val.   No one seems to remember the name of the boy on the end.  But Val had quite a time in Liverpool in the late 1950's and into the early 1960's.   She worked as a coat girl in the Cavern during those days and so she had the opportunity to see the Cavern turn from a strictly jazz club into a beat club.


She explained in an interview in 2014 with the Montreal Gazette:  “All the Cavern girls who were working would take turns coming out to watch and listen from the middle cloakroom,"

Val liked the guys in the Quarrymen/Beatles, Gerry and the Pacemakers (she briefly dated Gerry) and her favorite band was the Blue Genes.     She started to date John from the Blue Genes after he dedicated the song "Oh you Beautiful Doll" to her at the Cavern one night.  

She continuted to work at the Cavern, watch the bands and date John until he told her the news that his day job was taking him to Canada and he was going to leave Liverpool.      After some consideration, Val decided to follow him.    There was a little "goodbye" to Val at the Cavern and Paul McCartney dedicated and sang "Til There was You" for Val as a final goodbye.

The couple was married shortly after this and have been married ever since!     Just a little aside--do you know who was hired to take Val's place in the coat room?  A girl named Cilla White got the job, but she soon was to be known as Cilla Black.

Run Paul Run!

Here is a photo of Paul McCartney at age 16 running for a school sporting activity.   The photo was taken by one of Paul's classmates and is being sold on ebay right now.