New Shop Item: 'Once Upon a Liverpool' by Maria Saunderson

Fabulous new item available in our SHOP

Once Upon A Liverpool by Maria Saunderson

£5.99

P&P: £3.00 UK, £6.00 EU and £8.00 ROW

We are delighted to announce the latest edition to the BBFC shop: Once Upon a Liverpool by Maria Saunderson.  

This fabulous children's book was written by Liverpool textile artist Maria Saunderson to introduce and explain to a new younger generation, who the Beatles were and charts their rise to fame and eventual break up in an easy to read and understandable format.

It has something for all ages, very young children can look for Rigby the little flying submarine and enjoy the bright colours, older children will learn and understand who the ‘Beatles’ were and adults can enjoy seeing iconic moments reinterpreted in a unique way with subtle images from the history of the Beatles in the background.

Through beautiful and colourful images, each one a photographic reproduction (by Wing at Wings Studio) of Maria's fabric collages of the major moments in the Beatles' hectic career, the book re-tells the Beatles story in a way that is both fun and interesting for children. Each of the 12 scenes was crafted using at least 150 pieces of fabric as well as beads and sequins. The project took Maria two years to complete and was a labour of love.

Some of Maria's beautiful art on display
at the official book launch in 2012

Managing Director of The Beatles Story, Jerry Goldman, said: “This book is beautiful. It will help parents and grandparents tell the story of the Fab Four to their children and grandchildren. It really is something for all the family and the images are something else.” 

Nothing seemed to sum up this sentiment better than than two of the guests at the official book launch at Liverpool Town Hall in July 2012.  Colin Hanton attended, along with members of his family.  As the original drummer for the Quarrymen, Colin was there when musical history was made and today he was sharing his story, with the help of Maria's images, with his grand-daughter, ensuring that the story of the Beatles, and the legacy that he helped to create, was being passed on to future generations.  

The past and the future of the Beatles legacy:
Colin Hanton, with the artwork depicting the Quarrymen's
performance at St Peter's fete on July 6 1957. Beside him,
his grand-daughter proudly shows the picture of her grandad
and his mates in her signed copy of Maria's book.

The book begins, ‘Once upon a Liverpool’ and documents famous events such as when the Quarrymen played on an outdoor stage at St Peter’s church fete, the Beatles trip to Hamburg, The Sergeant Pepper album and the last performance at the Cavern. 

Heading for Hamburg!

Maria from New Brighton, said: “The Beatles’ story is epic and it’s ongoing. It was difficult to know where to start and where to end. It wasn’t until I was invited by Jerry Goldman to have a look around The Beatles Story attraction that I was able to choose specific points to focus on and most importantly where to end the book. I continuously researched it while I was stitching the illustrations, as I wanted to make sure that the details were right which on occasion has proved difficult, as facts about them seem to change on a regular basis."

“There’s one scene where the Beatles are playing on the rooftop of Apple and Ringo was wearing a red, PVC Mac. I recreated this scene for the book and noticed that the buttons on his coat were on the wrong side. After even more research, I found out that Ringo had borrowed his wife’s coat as it’d started to rain and John had borrowed Yoko Ono’s fur coat.” Maria also confessed that she would 'raid' her husband's wardrobe when she needed a certain button, or piece of material.  George, at Abbey Road, is wearing pieces cut from her husband's jeans!

This book is a must-have for Beatles fans for all ages!  Buy now for only £5.99 (+ P&P) from our shop!