THE BRITISH BEATLES FAN CLUB TEAM
Craig Smith - Magazine Publisher/Designer, Co-editor
Craig Smith, a lifelong Beatles fan and collector, once guided the BBFC through troubled waters and took over the reins as Designer/Publisher of the BBFC magazine in 2000. Previous writings have appeared in the fanzines Revolver, London Beatles Fan Club Magazine, Tokyo Beatles Fan Club Magazine and Beatlefan.
Now relocated in the good old USofA, Craig is still active in the club. His writings grace the pages of our magazine, which he still designs. Recently made poorer by purchasing tickets for Macca's upcoming tour in the US. "It killed me paying those prices, but what can you do if you wanna see your hero in concert, eh? He won't be around forever".
Michele Copp - Co-editor, Membership Liaison, Communications (website/social media)
Michele lives on the other side of the pond in a suburb of Washington DC and works for a large finance company when she isn’t indulging in her passions of travel and the Beatles. Michele discovered the Beatles in her early teens after the Beatles had already broken up, so unfortunately she never had the chance to see them perform live, but once she was bitten by the Beatles bug, there was no stopping her. In 1982 while at Uni, she visited England for the first time and she has returned nearly every year since making many pilgrimages to Liverpool, Henley on Thames, the Mull of Kintyre and even Peasmarsh and other Beatles related locations. In 1983 she was lucky to be in London when Abbey Road Studios was opened to fans for tours.
On July 4, 1990 she finally got a chance to see Paul (her favorite Beatle) when The Paul McCartney World Tour came to Washington DC. It was a night she will never forget. She is still hoping to meet Paul in person someday, but so far he has proved to be elusive. However, she did meet Leslie Cavendish one summer at The Beatles Café in London so she’s getting warmer! Many of Michele’s friends and family are not avid Beatles fans (GASP!) and so it was amazing to reconnect with an old friend in England in 2010 and get actively involved with the BBFC. She keeps our Facebook page, Twitter feed, and Yahoo group active and contributes articles to the magazine. She is willing to pitch in and help wherever help is needed.
Ernie Sutton - Treasurer, Membership Coordinator
Ernie works in the finance department for a leading company involved in the movement of valuable artefacts in London, and is responsible for the running of the BBFC's finances as treasurer of the club.
He has been a Beatles fan since Love Me Do in 1962 and has amassed a large collection of records and memorabilia ever since.
His first concrt was to see Wings in 1976 and he saw them again in 1979, as well as Paul in concert 1990, 1993 (including the Docklands Arena rehearsal) 2003, 2008 in Liverpool and 2009 in London and took part in the Take It Away video with Paul, Ringo and George Martin in 1982. He has seen Ringo live at Hammersmith in 1992 Shepherds Bush Empire in 1998, and in Liverpool in 2008.
Ernie has visited the inside of Studio 2 at Abbey Road and has travelled to see Beatles sites across the world, including Hamburg and New York.
In 2004 he visited the Tate in London to see Yoko Ono perform Whispering Piece and in 2005 met Cynthia Lennon for the second time at her book at Foyles in London. He has also met notables such as Pattie Boyd, Leslie Cavendish, Victor Spinetti, Tony Bramwell and Rod Davis.
poppy - Internet officer
poppy is a qualified musician and has performed on flute and piano in venues including the Royal Festival Hall, Purcell Room and Queen Elizabeth Hall, as part of an orchestra in Hungary and Czechoslovakia, and as part of a choir in the church on Marylebone Road in which Ringo Starr married Barbara Bach and Paul McCartney married Linda Eastman. These days, however, she works as an Internet Engineer, doing complicated things with Unix to keep web servers working.
poppy has been a Beatles fan for around 20 years and, as a keen fan of live music, has traveled all around the UK and Europe to find the perfect Beatles tribute band. She has been interviewed by the Observer Music Monthly magazine as a Beatles mega-fan.
Pete Nash, a former Beatles Monthly news
columnist, is a consultant. He is a leading authority on Beatles memorabilia and keeps us
all up to date with Fab Four developments.
Pete Nash - Consultant
Pete Nash, a former Beatles Monthly news
columnist, is a consultant. He is a leading authority on Beatles memorabilia and keeps us
all up to date with Fab Four developments.
Pete
is a 'second generation' Beatles Fan (since 1975), former staff writer
for The Beatles Book Monthly and contributor to magazines such as Record
Collector, Mojo, Q, NME and various music journals, as well as
contributing to The Beatles Anthology book and film. He is an expert on
worldwide Beatles releases.
Pete is a Beatles memorabilia specialist. He has an online shop on eBay under the username horizontalman. Why not visit Pete's shop right away to see his Beatles 'For Sale' list?
