In the wee small hours of June 16, while the others were entertaining guests, as in Melbourne, George made a hush-hush foray out of hotel confinement to reunite with a family of Liverpudlians who had emigrated to New Zealand in 1961.
Pauline Snelgrove (nee Hughes): "My parents Jim and Josie Hughes lived at 102 Little Heath Road, Speke. The Harrison family lived at 25 Upton Green, a close about six minutes' walk away. Our home and where the Harrisons lived were identical, they were corporation houses. My mother was very good friends with Lou and they were often in and out of each other's homes for cuppas and chats. George and his brother Peter would come to see my father as he was an electrician - my dad would help fix an electric guitar or such. I remember that George and Peter "babysat" us kids once. That's what George was to us, Lou's son, no more no less.
"When we left Liverpool, my mother gave the Harrisons our lounge suite and TV - Lou sent my mother a photo of her sitting on the settee. We'd known about the group George had joined, and for years after we came to New Zealand my mother and Lou wrote to each other; letters all about family, Speke, and "the Beatles". Lou's letters always included news of George and the group, it was part of her normal correspondence. Unfortunately my mother didn't keep them - as she said to me once, she had the start of the group in those letters.
"When the Beatles came to Auckland I wasn't that interested but my 14-year-old brother Ray had tickets and we sat in the back seats at the Town Hall. Before we left, my mother got a phone call saying George would call round and visit after the show. I'm not sure but I assume that Lou had given George our address. From being 'ho hum', I remember screaming 'Beatles' during the show!
