SHORTLY after George Formby died in 1961 the George Formby Society was formed.

This devoted collection of Formby fanatics and ukulele enthusiasts has kept the comedian’s memory alive for almost 60 years now.

Its membership includes and has included many famous people, among them George Harrison and comedian Frank Skinner.

In 1991, Warrington Museum staged a fascinating exhibition about George Formby.

Fan Andy Bibby – himself a devoted member of the George Formby Society – pointed me in the direction of the excellent page about the exhibition on the georgeformby.co.uk website.

There’s a fascinating video taken at the exhibition in 1991 by Andy, well worth a look.

During a three-month period, more than 35,000 people visited the display, which had been set up to mark 30 years since the comedian’s death and also the establishment of the society bearing his name.

Apparently, among those visitors was George Harrison. Anyone who has seen The Beatles Anthology will know how much the ukulele and Formby meant to him. Does anyone remember seeing him there?

Much of the memorabilia on show had been loaned by Formby impersonator and fan Alan Randall, who had acquired the material from the late comic’s fiancee Pat Howson.

Frank Skinner made a fascinating documentary about Formby a few years back. There is a very touching scene where Frank plays his own banjolele at the grave.

More recently, the Stockton Heath home of George Formby and his parents, George senior and Eliza, Hillcrest, was the recipient of a blue plaque commemorating the property’s history.

George’s mother – widow of the original George Formby – outlived both of the comedians. She lived to the age of 102. I’ve heard stories that she spent her final years living on Wilderspool Causeway, but have been unable to confirm this. Does anybody know?

There’s a wonderful short clip on YouTube of an interview on the occasion of her 100th birthday. The TV interviewer is a very young Judy Finnigan. In the clip, Eliza still has her sense of humour, talking affectionately about her late husband and son.

Also present is George Formby’s sister Louisa De Hailes, who looks the spitting image of her brother. If you dig around on YouTube you will also find an interview with Louisa at the time of the Warrington Museum exhibition in 1991.

Eliza Booth died in 1981, having been the great woman behind two of the 20th century’s most famous British comedians. Not a bad legacy. She was buried in the family grave in Warrington Cemetery.

I’d like to thank everybody who has contacted me with their memories and George Formby facts over the past few weeks.