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The Origins of The Brian Jones Fan Club and
Website
In the early 1980's Father John Heidt, priest of
Saint Philip and Saint Stevens Church in Up Hatherley, a prosperous
suburb of Cheltenham conceived an annual requiem mass for one of
Cheltenham's most misunderstood son's, Brian Jones.
Many of Brian friends and admirers attended this
annual event which became tradition for almost a decade, but
unfortunately the tradition ceased on Father John's return to his native
America in 1993. However, a few devotees, knowing of Father John's
eventual departure and not wishing Brian's life and achievements to be
disregarded, decided on forming a Fan Club to ensure at least from their
perspective, Brian's spirit would live on.
In July 1995 and on the twenty-fifth anniversary of Brian's passing,
three hundred devotees - some from as far away as Japan and California
paid £25 per head to enter Cheltenham Racecourse for twelve hours of
music from Noel Redding, Dick Heckstall-Smith, The Downliners Sect,
Brian Knight and many other artists once associated with the spectral
central figure of the 'rock masses' - conducted during the previous
years by the vicar of St. Philip and St. James.
One person who attended almost all of these
celebrations was Pat Andrews, Brian's early girlfriend and the mother of
Julian Mark. In 1995 Pat was asked and agreed to support a dedicated
group of Brian's admirers to promote a more positive image of Brian than
had previously been seen by the general public. In the Spring of 1996
and along with the team running the newly formed Brian Jones Fan Club,
Pat finally achieved - albeit small - recognition for Brian in the form
of a fanzine. The name aptly chosen for the magazine was to be 'The
Spirit' and subsequently provided the fan club a medium for sharing
information with members around the world. In July 2003, on the thirty
third anniversary of Brian's death the fan club achieved, against the
wishes of many of the more staid population of Cheltenham, the
unthinkable, an official Blue Plaque for Brian mounted at the entrance
to his childhood home 'Eldorado'. The local Member of Parliament, Nigel
Jones, a supporter of the BJFC officiated and drew the tasselled velvet
veil revealing the Blue Plaque - permanently honouring the rebellious
young Cheltonian who didn't quite fit the image that the town so
desperately wanted to maintain. Plans for a street on a new housing
development to be designated 'Brian Jones Crescent' met stiffer
opposition and were eventually scrapped. A bronze statue in the Parade
of the multi talented musician is hoped for but again, opposition is
anticipated and the weight of opinion will surely be against Brian. But
the Blue Plaque, quietly tucked away in a suburban street, is a lasting
testament, not only to Brian but also to the persistence of the Brian
Jones Fan Club.
Pat Andrews and her friends have achieved a lot
over the past years and Brian, way back in those seemingly
uncomplicated, heady days of the sixties would never have imagined that
technology would develop to such a degree that his image and music could
be transmitted in an instant over the medium that we now take for
granted – the internet. The Fan Club has progressed too, a professional
website and a brand new format fanzine AfterMath replacing The Spirit –
and drawing kind comment from many quarters, including probably the
Rolling Stones 'most official' fan magazine, Shattered, whose editor Jaap Hoeksma wrote to us after receiving issue #1 commenting "I just
want to say what a wonderful job you've all done! The layout, the print
job, the colour photo's and of course the stars of any magazine – the
articles, so, praise all around, which we will also give in the next
issue of Shattered".
Pat has become Brian's champion and the Fan Club
has steadily increased in size and stature since 1995 with a number of
well known celebrities supporting the ideals of the Club. Over the past
eight years, more and more people have come to learn the truth about
Brian Jones, his life, his loves, his incredible talent, the stories
behind the myths and the controversy created by his death.
Pat and her friends are determined to ensure that
Brian's memory will live on and the recognition that he so richly
deserves, being the stylish and charismatic founder member of probably
the greatest band in the world, will continue to be recognised, and
thereby more greatly appreciated. We have established The Brian Jones
Memorial Fund, the aim of the Fund being to control all monies raised to
finance projects that will ensure the preservation of Brian's memory.
Our in-house magazine, AfterMath, shows a side to
Brian not often reported in the press, a side that shows compassion, a
love of the arts, a general willingness to help others and above all, a
talent for music that was sadly cut short with his untimely death. We
all appreciate that Brian had his faults but the often reported negative
aspects of Brian's life are far outweighed by his positive gifts.
This web site is an extension and progression of
the work achieved previously by Pat Andrews, David and Maralyn Reynolds
and the volunteers within the Fan Club and our aim now, is to promote
the world of Brian Jones to a wider audience over the World Wide Web.
Our editorial team and article contributors come
from a wide variety of backgrounds and have vast experience in recalling
and researching the truth. As well as Pat Andrew's personal experiences
of Brian, we can draw on Richard Hattrell's wealth of knowledge, having
been another close and personal friend of Brian in the very early days
and more sadly, at the end of his short life. We will have regular
articles penned by John MacGillivray and our many
friends, researchers and writers from around the
world, written with the knowledge and
enthusiasm that reflects their dedication to Brian's memory.
We are also hoping to bring you interviews with friends and
acquaintances of Brian's who knew him best, people like Gered Mankowitz
and Graham Ride who, both professionally and personally saw aspects of
Brian's life that the public never saw.
In our quarterly magazine AfterMath, we aim to
bring you news of upcoming events, special promotions, copies of past
article's from the Spirit and obviously brand new articles, we aim to
bring you interviews with celebrities together with the wonderful
memories of fan club members who met Brian or saw at first hand those
early, raw performances of the Stones. We intend to share those memories
and experiences from the 60's that will show how Brian Jones re-shaped
the music world and influenced some of the greatest names in the music
industry. We will bring you the truth - the truth about the young man
from Cheltenham who, through sheer guts and determination, became one of
the greatest influences in the world of popular music and fashion of the
day but died such a tragic death under the most mysterious
circumstances. We will bring to you the facts, the truth, the spirit of
Brian............
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