On the coldest weekend of the year, more than 200 Elvis fans showed their Burning Love for the superstar as they made their annual pilgrimage to Prestwick.
A special bash was held at the Adamton Country House Hotel to mark what would have been Elvis Presley’s 90th birthday at the venue of the call he made to speak to his future wife Priscilla during what turned out to be the King’s only visit to the UK after he landed at Prestwick Airport in 1960. And a replica phone can be found behind the hotel bar.
More than 200 people from across the UK and Northern Ireland converged on the venue for the two-day event which ran on Friday and Saturday and was organised by the Elvis Touch fan club.
Irvine man Paul Downie, the fan club press officer, helped run the event along with wife Linda, the secretary.
He said: “We are proud of the fact that Elvis was here and it’s great for the area. On Saturday night we had 243 attending, aged from 18 to 82. And a lot of teenagers who have discovered his music through the likes of streaming came along.
“We had a big dance in Irvine in 1994 and all these years later we are selling out dances. Elvis was really charismatic and so versatile. It was great seeing people out on the dance floor.”
Elvis movies were shown and videos to accompany songs over the two days and the Saturday night headliners were Memphis Lee & The Creepers, who performed a selection of Elvis numbers and their own songs.
Among those attending were David Harvey and his wife, Debbie and friend Eliece Irvine from Darnley near Glasgow.
David said: “I’ve been an Elvis fan since the early 90s as he’s the original rock ‘n’ roll star, I play a lot on Spotify but have some vinyl in the house. It doesn’t matter what age you are, his music is really good.”
Eliece’s mum saw the star in concert in 1977.
She said: “Mum said seeing him was fantastic and that’s how I got into him. She was only 16 at the time and had to really save up. It was a great experience.”
A cake was presented on Saturday night to longtime fan club member, Sydney Buridge in memory of his 70th birthday.
Pix by Stewart McConnell and Linda Downie.
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