John Lennon would have been 80 years old on 9 October 2020 and my Dad would have been 95 on the same day! I wrote this song after a chance meeting with a fox one wet night on my way to Mark Reader’s songwriters night at The Victoria Pub, Woolton.

Strawberry Field, Liverpool is just around the corner. Reopened just 12 months ago, they have introduced a feature called Strawberry Lane where the border of the path to the front gates is laid with commemorative stones which can be purchased from the website.

My brother Peter and I wanted to have a small memorial for Mum and Dad following Dad’s death in 1993 and Mum’s last year, and with our love of The Beatles and fascination with the John Lennon story in particular, and the fact that we both went to school 100 yards up the road, we agreed to have a stone laid on Strawberry Lane. One of the photographs I’ve included in the video is my (very) tenuous link to the Lennon story! In the 1960’s our next door neighbour was John’s best friend Pete Shotton’s brother, Ernest. He was a merchant seaman and went to live and work in Peru. Ernest went first and his wife, Pat, and daughter Carol, sold the house and followed on later. Once they’d sold the house, they couldn’t leave straight away so they came to live with us, Mum and Dad giving up their bedroom in a 3 bed semi for Pat and Carol for a few months I think although I can’t be sure. That’s the kind of people they were!The photo at 1:13 shows Mum and Dad and me, with Carol, aged 5, in 1966, at Liverpool Airport while we saw them off on their journey. Carol did say that she was going to come back and marry me, but so far, no sign! If you’ve got this far thanks for reading, I hope you like the video! Thanks to Val Colvin for the photo of Ronnie and me! Strawberry Fields Forever! Happy Birthday John and Dad! xxx