On July 9, 2022, St Peter’s Church Hall hosted a very special concert by John Lennon’s Quarrymen to celebrate the 65th anniversary of the day that John Lennon met Paul McCartney at the Church fete (July 6. 1957).

This is your chance to own a UNIQUE piece of memorabilia from that anniversary celebration! (Well, two chances!)

The audience for the anniversary concert was limited to 65 ticket holders plus some invited guests, including John’s sister, Julia, and all guests received a small anniversary gift as a memento of the occasion.

The gift was a piece of the stained glass from the windows that were part of St Peter’s Church Hall from the time the hall was built in the 1840s until they were removed because of safety concerns in 2020. The stained glass panels were all carefully removed and dismantled and each piece of glass saved.

Much of the glass has been made available for sale via the St Peter’s ebay shop or to visitors who visit the hall in person. However, the edge pieces (small yellow/gold pieces approximately 2.5cm (1″) wide) were not been offered for sale. Instead, we decided to give them to the guests who attended the anniversary party.

After the anniversary party, TWO gift boxes were left over, and these are being offered for sale via our eBay shop in an auction format.

One of the auctions is very special indeed (link here: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/394290735076

The highest bidder in this eBay auction will recieve:

1. A gift box containing a piece of stained glass from St Peter’s Church Hall. This piece of class is slightly curved and came from the top ‘arch’ section of the window
2. A signed copy of the set-list from the 65th anniversary concert, which also has a unique doodle by Colin Hanton!
3. A reproduction print of the front, back and centre pages of the programme from the St Peter’s garden fete on July 6. 1957

All income from this listing will be donated to Parkinson’s Research!
(Confirmation of the donation will be sent to the winning bidder if requested.)

The second listing (link here: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/394290734571?hash=item5bcd8f25eb:g:VDAAAOSwCvJjTCfr ) is for one of the anniversary gift boxes only.

We’re happy to answer any questions about these listings (or any of the items in our eBay shop). Email us at heritagestpeters@gmail.com

The Beatles/Heritage team at St Peter’s is made up of a very small group of volunteers and we could do with some more help, particularly with our social media.

If you regularly use facebook or twitter and could spare a few minutes every now and then, we could really appreciate your help.

All we’d ask is that you post/share on our facebook or twitter accounts when you can. It doesn’t need to be every day – just as often as you can! And because this is all online, it doesn’t matter where you are in the world!

If you think you can help, or would like to know more, please email us on heritagestpeters@gmail.com

Thank you!

A huge congratulations to everyone in Liverpool for winning the bid to host Eurovision 2023 on behalf of Ukraine! We’ll have the Church Hall open during the day on Friday May 12 and Saturday May 13 and we’re hoping to welcome Eurovision fans – and musicians!! – to the place where the Beatles began!

St Peter’s Church Hall will be open to visitors on Saturday October 8 in honour of John Lennon’s birthday on Sunday. We’ll be open from 10am. Entry is free!

You’ll be able to stand on the spot where Paul auditioned to join the Quarrymen on July 6, 1957, and we have a range of exclusive St Peter’s and Quarrymen merchandise for sale.

This is the first year that St Peter’s Church has taken part in the events for Heritage Open Days, 2022. We had a full day of events and tours planned but, under the current circumstances and, out of respect for the late Queen, we have decided to change our programme slightly.

We will be participating this year but our priority will be to offer the Church as a place of peace for anyone who would like to share in the beauty of the building and reflect on the Queen’s long life and years of service, and to pray for our new King, Charles III, as he begins his reign. There will also be an opportunity to light a candle if you wish, or sign a Book of Condolences.

The Church will be open from 10am to 1pm; full details can be found here: https://www.heritageopendays.org.uk/visiting/event/heritage-stpeters-woolton

The Church Hall will also be open to visitors from 10am to 1pm as it is a very important part of the history and heritage of St Peter’s Church.

Entry is free and everyone is welcome.

We hope you understand why we have made this decision, and look forward to welcoming you to St Peter’s for Heritage Open Day in 2023 for a full programme of events and celebrations!

Len Garry of the Quarrymen is a real friend to St Peter’s and has helped us so much over the years, but now it’s our turn to try to help him.

Jackie Spencer sees him quite often as a special guest on her tours, and she shared this: “I know I’ve shared a few fundraising things in the past, but this one is very personal and dear to my heart. Anyone who has enjoyed meet and greets with Quarryman Len Garry lately will realise that he is struggling with mobility, and to keep getting out there to see and perform for Beatles Fans he now needs support in the form.of a mobility scooter. If anyone can help with a donation please do. Len Garry is a legend.”

This cause is very dear to our heart too, and we agree that Len is a legend. We completely understand that times are tough right now, but please help if you can! Even a pound or two can make a difference to a truly lovely man.

You can donate here: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/len-garry-3?utm_id=2&utm_term=qvqXwYA8N

We’re looking forward to welcoming the world to St Peter’s Church and Church Hall during International Beatle Week!

You can stand on the spot where Paul ‘auditioned’ for John and the Lennon-McCartney partnership began. Visit ‘our’ Eleanor Rigby and John’s Uncle George!

You’re also welcome to join us for our regular services in St Peter’s Church:

• Thursday August 25, 11am – Holy Communion
• Sunday August 28: 8am Holy Communion at 8am and Morning Worship including a Baptism Service, suitable for all ages, at 10.30am

If you’d like to visit outside these hours, please email us on heritagestpeters@gmail.com and we’ll make special arrangements to open if we can.

On Saturday July 9, St Peter’s Church Hall rocked to the sounds of skiffle and Merseybeat as we celebrated the 65th anniversary of the day that John met Paul!

There are lots more photos to come but first I need to say a massive thank you to everyone involved in a memorable and very special evening:

— The Quarrymen – Rod Davies, Len Garry, Colin Hall and Chas Newby

— The Shakers, the Cavern’s resident Merseybeat band who, for one night only, left the most famous club in the world and returned to the place where it all began.

— The Titanic Hotel, The Cavern Club, the Liverpool Beatles Museum and Cavern Mecca – for donating some fabulous prizes for the raffle.

— Perfect Platters – for an amazing buffet!

— Alix Brown – our official photographer for the night (photos coming soon!)

— Karen Allen – our shop/sales manager

— Chris Campbell – especially for all the hard work in preparing the surprise gifts for our guests on the night

— Graham Paisley – who came out of retirement for the night to oversee everything

— Jo Kneale – for the wonderful flower centrepieces on each table

— The St Peter’s Team – Rachel and Nick Chevis, Joanne and Gary Barwise and Dom Abba

— Julia Baird and Freda Kelly – for partying with us

— The support from our local councillors, Barbara Mace, Kris Brown and Malcolm Kelly, Jean and Charles Davies from the Woolton Society; and representatives from the Beatles industry in Liverpool, especially Jean Catherall, Kathy and Alistair Versfeld from Strawberry Field, and Colin Hall from Mendips.

— And last, but certainly not least, each and every person who came on the night to celebrate our very special anniversary and made the night the wonderful and memorable occasion that it was!

A huge THANK YOU to you all from everyone at St Peter’s Church!

Looking forward to celebratiing the 65th anniversary of the day that John met Paul at St Peter’s Church! Hope you can join us!