Celebrating Paul's Birthday at Penny Lane, Liverpool

On June 20, beneath the "blue suburban skies" (and yes, the sun really did shine!), the Penny Lane Development Trust hosted a very special celebration.

The PLDT invited the Mersey Beatles, Liverpool's Number 1 Beatles tribute band, to perform a set for the unveiling of an Abbey Road style zebra crossing in Liverpool’s most famous street.

The Mersey Beatles once again, (having played a set at the real Abbey Road studios in 2007 for a Visit Britain event) recreated the famous album cover to officially open "Abbey Road at Penny Lane".

After the photoshoot, the band played a special set - sending 70th Birthday wishes to Macca with a rendition of the 1968 song “Birthday” from the Beatles’ White album.  They followed this with “Penny Lane” in recognition of the very special way in which the Penny Lane Development Trust is preserving the original feel of Penny Lane and the surrounding area.

A couple of songs from the “Abbey Road” LP including“Here Comes The Sun” and “Come Together” acted as a nod to the new crossing, before the very appreciative audience was taken on a magical mystery tour through some of the best loved Beatles songs, including “She Loves You”, “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds”, “I Want To Hold Your Hand”, “All You Need Is Love”, and, of course, a rousing finale with everyone singing along to "Hey Jude".

The special guests at the event were a group of disabled war veterans from Israel; Julie Gornell, who organised the event, explained that this was why the event was held on the 20th and not on Paul's birthday.  Given the absolute joy on the faces of the veterans as they sang and danced to the music of the Beatles, Paul would surely have approved!

Other guests had the party at travelled from around the UK specifically to join in the celebrations.  But whether from near or far, everyone agreed that it had been an amazing event, full of love and laughter and great music.

'Paul' (Steven Howard) in the Mersey Beatles said, "It was a privilege to be involved in this event, and to be able to play the best music in the world for such great people. This should be an annual event.  Hope to see you all next year!"

Steven Howard, on behalf of Paul, blowing out the
70 candles on the birthday cake!

For more information on the Penny Lane Development Trust, visit the website by clicking here