Thursday 20 August 2015

Ta-ra Chuck

Hello. I've been to a funeral today, well not quite, I didn't make it to Liverpool, but the funeral came here into my living room via yooootoooob. I still can't quite believe that Cilla has gone, such a terrible tragedy. I'm feeling so sad. She played a big part in my teenage years, I grew up with her. I adored her. I copied her fashions and her hairstyle, I bought the teen magazines and stuck her pictures all over my bedroom walls. I was so thrilled when she came on Top of the Pops on a Thursday night, or Ready Steady Go on a Friday night, I never missed those programmes.

The sixties pop scene was magic for an ordinary shop girl like me. I went to a Youth Club in a Village Hall where we played records and drank bottles of pop. I dressed up, back combed and laquered my hair Cilla style, black eye liner with false eye lashes and lots of pan stick, and went to discos. I made my own dresses, sixties style, because I couldn't afford to buy them. Short skirts up to my backside, I had a good pair of pins.

I used to hang around on street corners chatting and laughing with my mates, or go and get a hot dog off the man in his van in the Market Place. I used to go to the 76 Club in the High Street when I was 17, said I was 18 so they let me in. A long dark, smoked filled room where you were squashed up to everyone else because it was so popular. I imagined that I was in the Cavern Club, I felt dead cool, hanging out with the in crowd. And of course Cilla was always there in the background.

And now she is gone, it's hard to believe.

This is how I remember her.


Sir Cliff Richard sings his own personal tribute, Faithful One. It was beautiful.


God bless you Cilla, you brought a lot of joy to my life. Rest in Peace. Tarra Chuck

19 comments:

  1. Bless her...she's irreplaceable.
    Jane x

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  2. I saw part of it on the news - Paul O'Grady - wonderful, funny tribute :)

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  3. She was lovely, wasn't she, and stayed that way, so warm and friendly? Made you feel that she'd be a great pal to have. I found it so difficult to see those selfies which folks took of her at the airports just the day before she died. Who could have imagined it?
    JanF

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  4. My story is very similar to yours. Church youth club - dancing to records, coffee bars, making big skirts with net petticoats starched with sugar, then onto mini skirts, listening to music in music booths in the local record store, innocent times before we became adults. I grew up in a Liverpool 'dormitory' town, across the Mersey and worked and played in Liverpool all through the 60's. It was a fun time to be young and Cilla was part of that. She will be missed.

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  5. Kind of like saying good bye to a really good friend, right?

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  6. Cliff Richard makes my skin crawl, same club as Jimmy saville and Rolf Harris!.

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    Replies
    1. Hi. Do you know something we don't? Maybe you should report him to the police.

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    2. Just to add, Jaqueline, your comment is totally inappropriate to this post, which is about Cilla, not Cliff.

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  7. It is hard to lose singers who meant a lot to us over the years.

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  8. A Liverpool great, a fabulous scouse send off and a sad day all round.

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  9. I grew up in the 1960's too with the familiar sounds of Cilla and the Beatles. My parents wouldn't allow me to wear make up but I made my own clothes too with skirts the shorter the better :) Cilla is now with her beloved Bobby and baby daughter. Rest in peace, my lovely.

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  10. Yes, I agree that this lovely down-to-earth pro is irreplaceable for sure(growing up I loved Surprise Surprise* & I was fortunate to be in the audience of her pre-recorded tv shows. I feel her humble Liverpool upbringing shaped the devoted(adored her manager hubs Bobby)wife, mother & hard-working pro that we all came to love today. 72 is no age to pass away these days, so sad. RIP Cila you done good:)

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  11. * She was made for that aforementioned show I loved her singing at the end(sang from the heart for sure:).

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  12. Part of me thinks she died of a prolonged broken heart as she never really did get over losing her beloved Bobby. He was the real love of her life. At least she'll be reunited with him now.

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  13. Hello.After reading everything and watching the videos,it strikes me that she was quite a influence in her day and left a wonderful musical legacy.Enjoyed the comments."Back in the day" memories are precious.I bet you all looked so cute back then :) I was a little younger but was allowed to go to "patrol dances" at the local rec hall with my older brother and sister as chaperones.I do recall the sisters(nuns)measuring our hair height and skirt lengths every day before class started,and dress codes being enforced for extra curricular activities such as the dances and bus trips etc.Times were very different then,Bye for now,D.

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  14. One of the reasons I like to read your blog is because we are about the same age and I love to hear about what the 60's were like for you. For me it was all about England and the wonderful talented singers from there. I love the music from that era! Thank you!---Martha from Kansas

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  15. Can we have a pic of you dressed in aCilla type outfit please.

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