IT WAS exactly 50 years ago today that a group of four Liverpudlian musicians first put their rock and roll stamp on a Northwich stage.

An army of fans and loud cheers welcomed Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, John Lennon and George Harrison, otherwise known as The Beatles, to the town’s memorial hall in 1962.

The concert was to be one of six visits made by the Fab Four to mid Cheshire between 1962 and 1963, when the band’s profile was rocketing.

To mark the historic milestone, Tracks, the world’s market leader in Beatles memorabilia, will host a Beatles and pop music valuation day on Sunday, at the same venue where the group made its breakthrough into mid Cheshire.

Organisers are appealing to residents to raid their collections and hunt out pop music memorabilia, including concert posters, flyers, programmes, tickets and lyrics, especially as no items from the group’s debut performance in the town have been found.

All valuations will be free, and Tracks will also be purchasing selected items on the day.

A spokesperson for Tracks said: “Beatles signatures have risen the most dramatically in price out of the whole range of pop memorabilia.

“The group’s autographs have risen steadily and in some cases quadrupled depending on the nature and condition of the items.

“A set of four Beatles signatures from an autograph album would now bring up to £2,000, compared with £1,000 five years ago.

“But prices have risen most significantly in respect of signed albums, singles, photos and programmes.

“A signed copy of the Please Please Me LP could bring between £6,000 and £8,000 depending on condition.

Beatles fan and music archivist Chris Hewitt, who lives in Wincham, discovered the signature of George Harrison on the chassis of his 730 guitar amplifier last year.

“I am undecided at the moment whether to sell it,” he said.

“It had it valued and it is worth £70,000.

“I have collected everything the Beatles ever released and their subsequent solo stuff.

“I have got some picture discs, they’re foreign picture discs, and they are quite rare.

“I have got things like a cup and saucer from way back whenever, when they were in their heyday, in the sixties.

“I am always looking for new stuff all the time - the problem is, now I’m a music archivist, I collect so much stuff from every band in the world and every music event.

“I don’t just collect Beatles stuff anymore and you can always end up spending more than you have got.”

He added that he would visit the valuation day, which runs between 10am until 4.30pm.

“I wouldn’t mind finding a George Harrison or John Lennon guitar,” he added.

“They would probably sell for about £50,000 to £100,000 something like that, if not more.”

Tracks can also provide valuations prior to the event.

For further information, call 01257 269726 or email jason@tracks.co.uk .

Share your views of the concert at northwichguardian.co.uk.

BREAKOUT NOT even a hefty £5,500 bid was enough to clinch the sale of a rare Northwich Beatles poster at Christie’s in London, on June 12.

The poster, measuring 30in by 20in was produced for The Beatles concert at the Memorial Hall,Northwich, on April 27,1963.

It had been expected to sell for between £6,000 and £8,000, but in the end it failed to reach its reserve price - a figure not disclosed by Christie’s.

So it remained unsold, despite the impressive £5,500 bid.

It cost just seven shillings and sixpence - about 38p - to see The Beatles perform live in the town in 1963.