BEATLES' TRUSTED FREDA KELLY WAS 'knocked out' THE FIRST TIME SHE SAW THEM

In the early 1960s, Freda Kelly was just another starry-eyed music fan, spending her days at Liverpool’s famous Cavern Club.

At 13, she had moved to Merseyside with her parents from Sandymount, Dublin, and quickly immersed herself in the city’s vibrant music scene.

Just four years later in 1962, her life was turned upside down when she was asked to become a secretary to a band who would become the most celebrated group the world has seen.

The Beatles played the Cavern Club around 300 times and Freda estimates she was at 200 of those shows.

But she got a much closer look at the Fab Four over the following 10 years.

Freda, 70, told the Irish Sunday Mirror: “When Brian Epstein had signed the Beatles up, he started his own firm.

“He had worked for his father, so he took the secretary from NEMS Ltd and started NEMS Enterprises.

“He wanted another secretary, so he offered me the job. I was also helping the fan club secretary Roberta Brown, because I had secretarial skills. She didn’t want to do it any more. This was when The Beatles started to become a little bit famous in Liverpool.

“Then Brian asked me to take it over. So for both jobs, I didn’t apply for them. I was very lucky, I was offered them.”

Freda, who speaks today at the Dublin Beatles Festival, was the subject of the 2013 documentary Good ’Ol Freda, examining her role with the band.

It was a task she took very seriously, even when confronted with the most unusual requests.

She said: “People were asking for various things connected to them. Things like pieces of their shirts or a tie or a bit of a drumstick or hair.”

Freda went to extraordinary lengths to respond to each request as best she could – even going to the band’s barber to collect clippings.

She had initially given her family home as the fan club address but with the release of the band’s first single Love Me Do, up to 800 letters a day began to arrive.

Her father, who was opposed to her taking the job, was not best pleased with the avalanche of mail arriving and directed the mail to be sent to the office instead.

She recalled: “My father didn’t want me to take the job. He actually went down to see Brian Epstein and he came back and told me I wasn’t taking it, there was no future in it.

“It would only probably last a year if I did take it. So in the end I persuaded him to give me the year, that year ended up being 10.” At the height of Beatlemania, newspapers described Freda as The Most Coveted Girl in the World.

Once, after being snapped out walking with Paul McCartney, rumours circulated in the press they had wed.

However, Freda is very coy when asked if she had any romantic ties to any of the group.

She said: “Pass. There are stories but I don’t want anyone’s hair falling out.”

Freda, who said the only downside of the job was being “snowed under with work”, added she knew The Beatles were special from the start.

She said: “When I first saw them I was just knocked out by them.

“I just wanted more. Everything about them, their music, they themselves and the way they acted on stage.

“It was just the whole atmosphere around them. I wanted more of that. I’ve got quite a lot of happy memories. A lot of things went on, like premieres and breaking America, which was fantastic.

“There wasn’t just one. I’ve got a lot of good memories. A lot happens in 10 years, so naturally I would have.”

Freda remains very loyal to the band, and has frequently brushed off offers to write tell-all memoirs.

Indeed she kept most of her life with the Fab Four quite private until a few years ago when her daughter asked her to record her memories for her grandson Niall.

She said: “That’s the reason I did the DVD. I wouldn’t have done it otherwise. People had asked me over the years to do something and I kept shoving it off. I just wanted to get on with my life and enjoy what I was doing.

“But then when my grandson came along, my daughter asked me because I didn’t really talk about it.

“She just said, ‘Oh mum, come on. You’re getting old and your memory-box could be going. Dementia could set in. Can you just do something for Niall?’ So the timing was right, that’s why I did the documentary. I didn’t want to write a book or anything. I’m very good at talking so I thought, ‘I’ll stick it down on tape’.”

Now though, Freda is just looking forward to returning home to Dublin and recounting some fond memories.

She added: “I can’t wait. I come home on a regular basis every year. I’ve already been over twice this year.

“And I was down in Waterford last year for a family wedding. I’ve never lost my Irish roots. I’ve got a lot of relations in Dublin.”

Today, as the Dublin Beatles Festival enters its final day, the Grand Social will screen Good Ol’ Freda followed by an interview with Newstalk’s Tom Dunne.

Earlier there will be a screening of the short film Lennon V McCartney and a performance of the play Pete Best of The Beatles. Both events are free

The festival finishes with a gig by Beatles tribute act The Newspaper Taxi Men.