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| Deidre Gribble (Aukland Regional Queen) gives Ringo a greenstone Maori tiki |
Remember the Beatle fan sister Jeannette and Sally? Jeannette worked at the hotel as the receptionist and she helped her sister meet the Fabs.
Jeannette Reid managed to sneak her sister up to the Beatles floor. "Because we often worked split shifts, the receptionists had to have, by union regulations, a small rest room which was up on that top floor. So I smuggled Sally and her friend Robyn up there to try and see them."
Sally Reid: "We met Derek Taylor, who was very lovely and he took us to meet them. We saw John and Ringo; we were told Paul and George were asleep. John was reclining in his dark glasses, he was very tired actually. But they were so nice. I wrote it all down in my teenage diary of the time."
At around 4pm the Beatles met with more fans whose pleas had caught Derek at the right moment. Said one then Auckland Girls' Grammar student: "Some invited Beatle fans were there, along with photographers from Candid Studios and the Auckland Star. The Beatles were pleasant, courteous and appeared more than happy to be meeting people during the half hour we were there. I think they picked up on that I was somewhat irreverent towards their fame and not like the hyperventilating majority of teenage girls they met ... I had a small taste of what the Beatles had to endure when I left that afternoon. I was asked if I had met them and when casually replying yes, I was instantly mobbed by crying, hysterical girls clawing at my clothes and gripping my ankles. Not an experience I would wish on anyone.""I went back after the shows it was more of a wind-down soiree than a party. I recall tea and sandwiches being delivered to the room. "
Here is what Sally (age 16) wrote in her diary about her meeting with Ringo and John:
I met Ringo and John! Ringo shook hands with me and winked at me! Just me! Robyn and I took our lunch hour later and went to the hotel to see them returning from the civic reception. When we got there, we had missed them, and the police wouldn't let us cross the road, but in the end we did. Robyn was feeling vile, so we went up to the receptionists' room. Jeannette took us along to see George who was evidently lying on his bed reading, but we looked into the wrong room and the security guard came and made us go. Then we got talking to the compere of the show and one awfully nice person who we asked if he could get us a Coke and told him we were feeling vile. He said he bet he knew what would make us feel better, and we said yes, and he said 'would two minutes satisfy us?' We said half a minute would satisfy us! He said "Come with me." He said George and Paul were asleep but the other two were there. We went into the suite and there was Ringo! Lying curled up on a pillow and he sat up looking tired and depressed. He first shook Robyn's hand and then he shook mine! honestly, I thought I was going to cry. There were tears in my eyes! When I shook hands I could feel his rings in the way. He said "hello" and Robyn went across to John. Ringo said hew as feeling very tired and I, in a fit of bravery said, 'You look it.' Robyn asked John to take off his sunglasses, but he wouldn't. She said she wanted to see his eyes and he said they were closed anyway. We were told we had to leave the hotel; we didn't. We went down to the Bristro where we met on of the Sounds Inc. who invited us to a party later that night.