Selkirk 3

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Saturday we went to see an Abbey at Melrose. while the abbey was built first around 1130 AD, the Romans were known to have been in this area (and most of great britian) as far back as 67 AD. Whats left of the abbey was very well presented.

Sunday we went to a donkey sanctuary. They currently have 56 rescued donkeys. Johnnie knew it was there and wanted to see it. Eleanor had not been there before.

Sunday night we drove to Edinburgh to see the firework presentation. the fire works are set off from the Edinburgh castle and last for an hour. They are timed to accompany a live orchesta. Over 200,000 people watched. The finale was the Halleuliah Chorus from Handel's Messiah. It was magnificant.

Monday we went back to Edinburgh and toured around. We stopped at Holyrood House, the Queen's Scottish palace. We wandered around looking for her but I think we just missed her by a few days! Once when they were walking down the street Eleanor asked Johnnie what she was listening to on her IPOD... It was The Beatles singing Auld Lang Syne written by Robert Burns. Graham chuckled when he heard about them singing that Scottish classic. We also went to the art museum and saw some classics. Johnnie liked seeing a painting of a Nativity with a bagpiper playing for the Baby Jesus.

Today we are going to visit Graham at work then go out for supper. Tomorrow we will pack up early & head for Glasgow to catch the plane home.

Johnnie has really enjoyed staying at 34 Kilncroft in Selkirk. It is where Eleanor lived 50 years ago when they started writing to each other. Her father, John even lived there as a child. Graham and Eleanor live up the hill on Victoria Crescent. Johnnie is very sad because we have not been able to see Eleanor & Graham's daughter Michelle. She lives in Aberdeen and weather conditions are making it hard for her to drive to Selkirk. Johnnie did had a nice visit with her on the phone.

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Photos

Woolton Church
This is St. Peter's Church in Woolton. The first place John's group sang in public. They played at garden parties etc.He sang in the choir here too. In her book his sister, Julia revealed that they also performed at a local golfclub.

Rigby
This is the gravestone of Eleanor Rigby at St.Peter's Church in Woolton. The Father MacKenzie they sing about in that song was someone John knew and he even hung around The Cavern Club once in awhile.

Abbey Road
This is Johnnie on Abbey Road. They were going to call that album Everest. That is the brand of cigarettes they smoked. They talked of going to Everest for a photo shoot but changed their minds after they saw the classic photo that many recognize.

Jacaranda Club
Most people think of the Cavern Club when they think of The Beatles. John & the boys played at this club before that & one called the Casbah. the Casbah was built by Pete Best's mother. Johnnie got a trivia question about that one night, and was one of the few who knew the answer. On her last night in Liverpool Johnnie had a taxi driver take her by so she could see the Casbah. There is a photo of it on one of her films that need to be developed.

Blue Angel Club
This too is a club they played at before The Cavern.And also The Star Club in Hamburg,Germany but it burnt down. There was some talk that maybe one day the National Trust will manage some of these properties. They manage and run the tours at the homes of John & Paul. They perserve history, hertiage and culture in Great Britain.Johnnie saw a Victorian museum at the spot where she had to catch the tour bus.

Melrose Abbey
Almost 1000 years old.This is where the heart of King Robert the Bruce is buried . It is about 7 miles from Selkirk.

donkey sanctuary
Graham & Eleanor took us to Donkey Heaven. It is a sanctuary for donkeys. They operate on funds donated by various sponsors.They had many donkeys there of all sizes, even a little foal called Oliver. His mother was Coco, from France. His arrival was a surprise as they did not know she was in foal.

fire works
sponsored by the royal bank of scoland. i quess they are not as broke as they claimed to be.

watching the fireworks
We had front row seats as one of Elly and Grahams friends is partially blind and had access to a special area. While partially blind, walking with him to and back to our car was a race. He could really move. He recently had lens replacement surgery that improved his eyesite vastly but he still uses and requires a white cane.