John, Paul, George and Ringo played a number of times at the Memorial Hall, with Tommy having befriended the band in his native Liverpool.
John James Chambers, Liverpool Beatles Appreciation Society founder and president, wants to hear from anyone who remembers Tommy’s work with the band, their shows in the town, or even their surprise appearance at the Northwich Carnival in 1963.
He said: “There are such a lot of people who knew Tommy in Northwich.
“Reporters asked Paul McCartney recently who Father McKenzie was, but he said he just picked a name out of the phone book.
“I knew Tommy quite well. He looked after the band on stage so much that they called him ‘Father’.
“He served in the army with Charlie Lennon, John’s uncle, and used to tell John about how he would darn his socks in the night during the Blitz.”
Articles in the Guardian from years gone by recall the impact Tommy had on the band and the town.
In 2000, commemorating 40 years since the Memorial Hall first opened, a friend from Lostock credited Tommy as being responsible for The Beatles, The Kinks and Ken Dodd coming to town.
bered by those who knew him.
Each year the society marks the birthdays of the band members, and – more recently – the anniversaries of John and George’s deaths with a gathering at ‘The Four Lads who Shook the World’ statue in Mathew Street.
