Freda Kelly has been announced as a star attraction at the Beatles Festival, which opens in Dublin during the first week of November.
Freda ran The Beatles' fan club and was the secretary for their legendary manager Brian Epstein for over 11 years. A 17-year-old typist when she took up the role, she had become friends with The Beatles through attending 180 of their lunch time gigs in Liverpool’s Cavern Club.
All these years later, Freda remains down to earth, humble and as loyal to the band as she was 50 years ago. She had refused to speak about or profit from her account of the time she spent working for the band for decades, a rarity in itself, but with the arrival of her grandson grew a desire to share her experience of being at the heart of pop’s most iconic group, and caught up in the whirlwind that became Beatlemania.
The 3rd annual Dublin Beatles Festival runs from Friday 6 to Sunday 8 November in celebration of the 52nd anniversary of the iconic performances of The Beatles in Dublin on 7 November 1963.
As part of The Beatles Festival there will be a special screening of Good Ol’ Freda, the documentary about her life with the world’s most iconic four-piece. It will take place at the Grand Social on Strawberry Sunday, 8 November at 3:15pm, following which Freda Kelly will be interviewed by Tom Dunne.
Good Ol’ Freda has been described as a funny, charming and insightful documentary. It is considered, as Paul McCartney's stepmother said, "one of the last true stories of the Beatles that you'll ever be able to hear." It won Cinema Eye Honors Awards (2014); and was nominated for the Audience Award at SXSW Film Festival (2013), and for Best Sound Editing at Motion Picture Sound Editors (2014). Tickets are €14 and available now on [link]dublinbeatlesfestival.eventbrite.com[/link].
Also travelling from Liverpool to Dublin for the Festival, are The Rockits, one of the UK’s most acclaimed live bands and a resident group at The Cavern Club. The Rockits perform on Sadie Saturday, at the Big Gig in the Workman’s Club. Tickets are €18.
Other highlights of The Beatles Festival 2015, which runs from November 6 to 8, include:
– Fab Friday | The Beatles Session at the Cobalt featuring Festival favourites Jonathan Ward, Vyvienne Long, Biggles Flys Again, Enda Reilly, Keith Grogan, Pearse McGloughlin and Duncan Maitland.
– Sadie Saturday | The Beatles Table Quiz at 2.15pm at the Workman’s Club; followed that evening by The Rockits who will pay homage to the greats of the 60s including the Rolling Stones, The Kinks and The Who, as well as The Beatles.
– Strawberry Sunday | Free afternoon events including a screening of short film Lennon v McCartney, and a performance from the new play, Pete Best of The Beatles; and The Finale Show with the fantastic Newspaper Taxi Men, supported by The Sex Beasts.
– Art and Memorabilia | Internationally acclaimed Irish artist Georgina Flood will exhibit her stunning Beatle portraits; Beatle Days travel from Liverpool in their yellow submarine van to offer their quality range of Beatles and 60s memorabilia and merchandise, and free valuations (same venue).
In 2013, the inaugural Dublin Beatles Festival celebrated the 50th anniversary of The Beatles in Dublin, attracting fans from Austria, England, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Poland, Scotland and across the USA. The Festival, which is "self-funded and powered by passion", continues to attract fans from across Ireland, the UK and Europe. "Programming top quality acts while keeping ticket prices as low as possible is part of its ethos,” a spokesperson said.
Dublin Beatles Festival tickets are on sale now on [link]www.dublinbeatlesfestival.eventbrite.com[/link].