Rod fan Barry Holden was secretly nominated to appear on the hit ITV show Surprise Surprise by his granddaughter Daisy who wanted the world to know about the Ā£45,000-plus he has raised for childrenās charities and other causes in the past 30 years through his annual Live Aid gigs in North Walsham.
Believing he was just one of the audience, Barry was stunned to be called to the stage by show host Holly Willoughby who then recounted his fund-raising feats which began following the Ethiopian famine in the 1980s and resumed annually following the 2004 Asian tsunami.
A major feature of the Live Aid concerts is an auction of rock memorabilia which Barry persuades stars to sign whenever he is at one of their gigs.
He had expressed his disappointment to his family at missing the chance to get Rod’s signature when he went to his Carrow Road gig in Norwich in 2011.
Tears flowed when Rod walked on to the stage, and embraced Barry and then sat and chatted. He signed a guitar for him and Barry was also presented with a signed platinum disc of Rod’s āTimeā album then Rod did a special performance of ‘can’t Stop me now’ and dedicated it to Barry.
Barry told SMILER the story,
What a fantastic surprise , as you know I constantly attempt to obtain signed memorabilia for charity auctions at my gigs in Norfolk and tried to get info to Rod when he performed in Norwich a while back, but no joy , imagine my shock when he walked on stage that night . Of course his offer to guest at one of my shows is enormous and canāt wait to try and set this up ,and the auction in April should prove very interesting ,the highest prices so far have been for guitars signed by Eric Clapton and one from Brian May which raised Ā£1,200. I recon this one will top that price . Rod was kind enough to stay behind for a chat after the show ,we talked about his first appearance with Long John Baldry in Norfolk as I was in the audience. and the band I played in around 1962 supported the Small Faces so we had quite a chat. Following the show we met up again at the O2 and were guests backstage . The Next gig is on 19th April 2014 but Rod is in Las Vegas so he will not be able to attend this one but I will keep you informed of progress .
Anyone interested in the gigs, please take a look at the website www.northwalshamliveaid.co.uk all the past gigs are featured and items for the auction added as i get them ,plus pictures of my artwork (blatant plug) .
Many thanks to SMILER and it’s members for your kind comments and looking forward to hearing from you in the future.
On the subject of his amazing granddaughter Barry added I agree Daisy is brilliant , on her way to a future on the stage we hope, thatās her dream, she was so cool and relaxed on the show everyone was so impressed.