Rockin' On Like Fury in New Zealand 6
Below are the first few pictures of Moya's unveiling of Billy's statue on the 1st of Februrary 2004. There will be more to follow plus a report from our Moya when she has recovered.................................................................................. Our Moya has now recovered (SLIGHTLY!!!!!) & written a fantastic report e.t.c. of the day. You will find it below the pics.
Scroll down for Moya's report.
Billy was there of course Jean & Albert Made it too
Michael & Moya do the honours Seeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
Billy Being Blessed My Hero
The Gathering I told you he was there !!!
The Absent friends board
Unveiling
Celebration Of The Bronze Statuette
of Our Billy.
As I carried Our Little Billy into the venue where the unveiling was going to take place – I’m sure ‘He smiled at me and angels sang’.
At 4 p.m. 120 invited
Fans’n’Friends arrived, all wearing their Billy badges to meet’n’greet
with Billy’s voice coming thru the speakers as he sang some of his most
popular songs. Everyone took to their seats armed with the programme, candles
& a list of ‘Good Times – Guaranteed’ upcoming events.
The ceremony commenced
at 4.30p.m. with my predictable ‘YOO HOO’ followed by a chorus of ‘YOO HOO’
in reply.
I gave a short speech, during
which we saw Billy’s Mam & Brother Albert standing at the big statue in
Liverpool being interviewed on the North-West Tonight programme back in April
last year – projected on a gigantic screen. At the end of my speech we stood
and sang our ‘National FANtham.
I then introduced
Michael Cox who was going to share the pleasure of unveiling Our Little Billy
with me. Michael reminisced about his friendship with Billy. As bubbles
surrounded us, Michael cut the bronze ribbon and I removed the blue silk cover
from the ‘focus of attention’. To much applause Michael then sang ‘I
Will’.
Our Robbie (Robson)
then did a sincere & BILLYant job of speaking about ‘The Life & Times
of Billy’ during which we listened to a recorded interview with Billy ‘in
his own words’ ~ just to hear his voice amongst us was awesome. We then
watched & listened to Billy sing on the big screen in ‘glorious’ black
& white. It was ‘Like He’d Never Been Gone’.
We then lit our candles
for a few minutes silence as we faced Billy & listened to Iris Williams’
rendition of ‘He Was Beautiful’. A very moving moment.
Time then for our guest
tribute singers to (in Billy’s words) “stand on the boards & warble”.
Robbie returned to the
stage and sang his beautiful version of ‘All My Hopes’ with such feeling
that brought a lump to my throat.
Next up came Ross. Ross
played Billy’ in our FANtasy Nite
last year and I’m sure we’ll be seeing him in future Billy do’s.
He enthralled us with
Billy’s unreleased ‘I Must Be Dreaming’.
I was then proud &
honoured to introduce Tom Sharplin ~ New Zealand’s King Of Rock’n’Roll to
speak about Britain’s King Of Rock’n’Roll and sing for us ‘A Thousand
Stars’.
Our Robbie returned and
delighted us with his version of ‘It’s Only Make Believe’ adding a little
humour by changing the line ‘my life I’d give for you’ with ‘my wife
I’d swap for you’ – well, he is a comedian!
He’d been banned from using some of the lines he usually changes!!!
Lin, Billy Fury Fan
No.2 in N.Z. spoke about the time she met Billy and a little about our club and
our friendship.
Rose, spoke about her
uncle who worked on the docks with Billy – How he came home one day and said
to Rose’s dad ~ “There’s a lad on the docks who thinks he’s F(bleep)in’
Elvis”. As Billy became famous, Rose’s dad told his brother – “He’s
better than F(bleep)in’ Elvis” !!!
Jackie spoke about how
privileged she was to have been at The Essoldo, Birkenhead in 1958 when she went
to see Marty Wilde and this shy guy made his first public appearance and stole
the show. Jackie is excited about her forthcoming trip ‘back home’ in April
when she will be visiting ‘Billy’ in Albert Dock.
A tape message was
played from Jean & Albert Jnr., which was
really special. I thanked
Jean & Albert Snr ~ without them, there would be no Billy Fury.
I acknowledged our
‘Absent Friends’ before Gordon Fordham (a celebrant friend) stood by Billy
and blessed him with a prayer as we bowed our heads. He also blessed
fans’n’friends in attendance, Billy’s family and friends who were unable
to be with us.
The ceremony was
concluded with ‘Hands Across The Sea’ as we all joined Jean & Albert on
the big screen as they cuddled at a Billy weekend in Blackpool with
fans’n’friends and sang along with them, united in our love for Billy ~ ‘Halfway To Paradise’. I’m sure Billy was watching
over us and smiling.
After shared ‘munchies’ we danced the nite away with a set of Billy related songs: Legends Never Die – Laura./ One More Star – Hot Rockin./ Suspicion – Albert./ If You Only Knew – David Broadley./ Endless Sleep – Marty Wilde./ Billy Boy – Janis Martin./ Last Night Was Made For Love – My Little Ray Of Sunshine./ Angela Jones – Michael Cox (Mike sang along with his own song)./ Slipin’n’Slidin’ – Dickie Pride./ Break Up – Billy./ Everything I do, I do It For You – Our Robbie – who also sang along with his song. Half an hour of pure Good Old Rock’n’Roll and a boogie to some of the latest dance music to please all ages. Guests with us to celebrate this special occasion aged between 2 and 82. So there was something for everybody.
Where is ‘Our Little Billy’ going to be placed??? Well, I have given this a great deal of thought…..not outside in the cold for the birds to poop on him (as much as he loved birds)…..not concreted on anything as he has to come with us to every future event in his name……I thought about various places, then decided that NO ONE loves him as much as I do so he is going to reside in the hallway at our Wondrous Place.
Yoo Hoo!
Can you please take a seat – that was posh wasn’t it ?
I usually say ‘Park
Yer Bums’.
Thank you for being here today to share this special occasion amongst
friends……and to the overseas friends who may get to see the video – I know
you are with us in spirit – especially Jean & Albert – Billy’s Mam
& Brother. I’d like to say to them both – Thank you for your friendship
and most of all Thank You Jean & Albert Snr (who I’m sure will also
be watching over us today) Thank You for Billy.
Billy Fury, in my eyes,
was the greatest star & Beyond The Shadow Of A Doubt Britains Gentle King Of
Rock’n’Roll.
They say you
never forget your first love ~ I was 14 when I met mine, so it’s true, 45
years later, still remembering coz I’m the one who told him I WILL love him
till forever – and I WILL.
Once Upon A
Dream, when I first saw that ‘Wondrous Face’ belonging to Billy Fury on a
T.V. programme called ‘Strictly For Sparrows’ in 1959 ~ little did I know
how he was going to affect my life in so many ways – or yours for that matter!
Through my association
with Billy I have made some incredible friendships both here and back ‘home’
where Billy still has an amazing bunch of fans who remain loyal to his memory.
It took
6 years for Billy’s
fans’n’friends with no help from corporate sponsorships to raise 44 thousand
pounds which ensured that the 7 ft. statue of Billy stands for eternity in
Albert Dock, in his hometown of Liverpool.
I felt like Cinderella when I couldn’t attend the unveiling ceremony in
Liverpool on 19th April on the
20th anniversary
year of his becoming an angel.
I’d like you to see a
small snippet from North West Tonite.
That’s why I am so
proud to have our own ‘Little Billy’ here in New Zealand which was carefully
carried over to New Zealand by my God-daughter Kate & boyfriend Andy. Ours may be small but it’s nonetheless
sincere. It’s not the size that counts!!!
To each & every one
of you here today who’s been a part (no matter how small – but nevertheless
important) in our efforts over the years to raise a lot of money for charities
and having fun whilst doing it to ensure the memory of Billy Fury lives on – I
thank you from the bottom of my heart. He’s not dead ~ His heart just stopped
beating. My loyalty & devotion to Billy will live forever ~ In Thought’s
Of You Billy.
Meeting Billy, after I
threw my first weeks wages on the stage at the Manchester Hippodrome ~ instead
of the rose, was the start of a beautiful friendship which led me to meet a lot
of luvly people ~ one of whom has been ‘In My Dash’ since those early days
of Rock’n’Roll.
When I started to
plan this unveiling – there was no hesitation in my mind as to who I was going
to ask to ‘do the honours’ ~ It had to be Michael Cox, now known as Michael
James.
Billy & Mike were
both from Liverpool. Mike was a star in his own right with numerous hit songs in
the 60’s and a good friend of Billy’s in those ‘good old days’. ….and
that’s why I have invited him to this auspicious occasion today to say a few
words about his mate Billy, and to share with me the pleasure of unveiling
‘Our Little Bronze Billy’.
Please welcome….Michael
Cox.