BEATLES AMPLIFIER RETURNED TO HALEWOOD

A Beatles fanatic who was good friends with the group has got his hands back on a historic amplifier almost certainly used by the band.

Halewood man Stan Cargill has spent years collecting Beatles memorabilia and owns hundreds of autographs - some worth thousands of pounds - as well as original photos of the band.

And now he is the proud owner of a 55-year-old Vox AC30 amp which had been donated to The Beatles Story more than five years ago. 

Stan Cargill, 75, from Halewood,says his 55 year old Vox guitar amplifier was George Harrison's. Stan with the Vox amplifier & a Sennheiser microphone from the same period.

The amp was found by one of Stan’s relatives in 2009 in a shed a few streets away from George Harrison’s old home in Woolton.

Stan then got in touch with Sam Leach, who promoted the band in the early 60s, and said he had “no doubt” it was used by the Fab Four.

John's autograph

But now the former promoter has given it back to Stan, who also owns a Sennheiser microphone from the same period which he believes was used by John and Paul.

He told the ECHO he is considering selling some of his signed photographs and cuttings.

He said: “I’ll be very sad to sell some of them, they are treasures.

“The Beatles were all brilliant, they were my heroes and I have met them all too many times to count. I used to live just up the road from George, on Mackets Lane, and he was great.

Stan bought a guitar just like John Lennon’s and has been playing it for 55 years in classic Beatles venues like the Cavern Club and the Casbah coffee club.

And although he is ready to sell his amazing collection of signed photographs, that guitar is going nowhere.

He said: “I have been playing that for so long, and I want to keep it. That’s going in my grave - I will play it in heaven.”

Stan Cargill, fourth right, meeting Paul 

Stan, who worked for Knowsley Council before retiring, was born in the same year as John Lennon and has countless photographs and autographs of the legendary musician.

He also knows Yoko Ono and is good friends with former drummer Pete Best.

He said: “No one will ever have a Beatles collection like mine.”