Stan Parkes was a cousin of John Lennon and kept in close touch with him both before and after he become one of the world's most famous musicians.

Stan has fond memories of family summer breaks in Durness.

He made the trip up from his adopted home in Largs to attend Saturday's launch of a novel inspired by Lennon's link with north Sutherland.

Stan posed for photos outside the crofthouse, overlooking Sango Bay, with author Mike Russell and four local musicians, dressed in Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band costumes.

Stan's mother, Elizabeth, and John's mother, Julia, were sisters and their offspring used to make regular trips to Durness in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

They stayed at the croft home of Stan's stepfather, Robert Sutherland, at 56 Sangomore.

"We had some wonderful times there," recalled Stan. "We'd go fishing and swimming in the sea and walking over the hills.

"John would like to up to the hills and write poems and draw pictures of the local crofts and the mountains. He absolutely loved it here."

Stan revealed that many years later John expressed an interest in Durness Estate when it went on the market.

"He was keen, but when it went up for sale – as was typical of John – he missed the boat and it was bought by people from the continent," said Stan.

John's last trip to the Far North was in 1969. Stan, who was then working in Edinburgh, was invited but was unable to accompany John, Yoko Ono and their respective children Julian and Kyoko.

After three or four days staying in Durness, the break ended abruptly when they were involved in a car crash during an outing to Tongue.

Both John and Yoko needed treatment for facial injuries at Golspie's Lawson Memorial Hospital.

Stan said: "Apparently, a tourist came towards them quite fast on the single-track road and John panicked and let go of the steering wheel, causing the car to go into a deep ditch."

The smashed white BL Maxi car ended up an offbeat feature of their garden.

Stan explained: "When I visited them, I asked what the devil they were doing with the car, which was mounted on a concrete plinth in the middle of their garden.

"John said it was Yoko's idea as she said the accident had been a 'happening'."

Stan, who grew up near Penny Lane, has no doubts Lennon's musical career was influenced by his childhood memories of Durness.

The classic track "In My Life" on the Rubber Soul album is credited with being heavily based on his trips to the north-west Highlands.

Stan used to listen in to the recordings made by the Beatles during the 1960s in the Abbey Road studios.

He has kept up his friendship with Paul McCartney, who invited Stan to a party to mark the end of the ex-Beatle's latest world tour.

They then reminisced about John's early tuition in playing an instrument.

Stan said: "It was John's mother who was the musical one. Julia taught John the basic chords of the banjo and ukulele.

"When John first met up with Paul, he was playing banjo chords on a guitar. Paul then taught him proper guitar chords."

Appropriately enough, there was a Liverpudlian among the four musicians who performed Beatles numbers at Saturday's book launch.

Thirty-five-year-old Tim Bleasdale liked Durness so much when he came up on holiday three years ago that he decided to settle there.

He was accompanied on the "Sergeant Pepper" set by father-and-son John and Malcolm Morrison and Martin Mackay.

The book, The Next Big Thing, was written by SNP politician Mike Russell, who is a regular visitor to the Durness area. Russell first came up to the village's Highland games 10 years ago when he was told about the Lennon connection.

"Frankly, I didn't believe it," he said. "But it stuck in my head and, after I found it was entirely true, the idea germinated to write a novel about it.

"It starts with the true story of his childhood stays at Durness, then goes on to explore what he might have left behind, and then it's a sort of 'what if'."

Russell is certain the visits made an indelible effect on the musician.

"I think he was undoubtedly profoundly affected by his experiences of Durness, a place of tranquillity and beauty so different from the Liverpool that he was growing up in," said the author.

Russell believes there can be major tourism spin-offs for the area from the current initiative to promote the Lennon link.

He said: "There's talk of having a series of Lennon events and a Lennon festival, and I think the area will get a lot of benefits."

A stone memorial to Lennon, produced by local mason Neil Furness, is sited at the front of the village hall.

The connection is at the centre of a promotional drive spearheaded by North Highland Tourism Ltd, which is part of the North Highland Initiative set up by Prince Charles.

The Next Big Thing is published by the Durness-based Balnakiel Press, which is run by Kevin Crowe and Simon Long.

iain-grant@ukf.net

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