Try to pick a song that truly conjures up the pride and passion of the people of Liverpool and it would be hard to better 'Ferry Cross the Mersey' or 'You'll Never Walk Alone'. The man who took both classic songs high into the British charts is Gerry Marsden, with his band The Pacemakers, writing the former and plucking the latter from the Rodgers & Hammerstein film, Carousel.

The second group to be signed by Brian Epstein, the first three singles by Gerry & the Pacemakers allmade number one in 1963, a feat not repeated for over twenty years. 'How Do You Do It' and 'I Like It' were both catchy, up-tempo pop songs, so I wondered why a show tune like 'You'll Never Walk Alone' was chosen as the third single. Gerry explained: "Well, I loved Laurel and Hardy films and when I went to see one at the cinema, the film on with it was Carousel. Halfway through, this song came on and I thought, that's a lovely song, I'd like to try that with the band. So I told the boys, they said OK and we recorded it. After our first single did so well, I asked Brian Epstein and George Martin if 'You'll Never Walk Alone' could be the third one and they both said, no no, it's much too slow. Eventually they said OK, but let it be on your head. So when 'Walk Alone' got to number one, I was over the moon. Most of my own songs are ballads and I thought that if I could get a ballad into the charts, it would help open the door for more of my music, 'Ferry Cross the Mersey' and 'Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying', songs like that."

Even Gerry must have been surprised when it became such an anthem with the Liverpool football fans atAnfield, especially hearing a capacity crowd singing his song. He laughed: "If I have a weekend off, I'll always go to a match and it still gets the hairs standing on end and I sing along at the top of me voice. The thing was, the Liverpool DJ would play the top ten records of that week, from ten down to one, so when 'You'll Never Walk Alone' was number one, it came on just before the kick off. Once it fell outside the top ten, he stopped playing it and the crowd would chant, "where's our song!" So he had to reinstate it and that's why, just before the kick off at every home match, you'll always hear 'You'll Never Walk Alone'.”

Gerry and the Pacemakers, The Searchers, the Fortunes and Chip Hawkes return to the Fairfield as part of the Sixties Gold tour on Friday 21st October.