My name is Yvonne Schuiveling, I live in Helmond and I’ve been a Bee Gees fan for years.
They are my biggest hobby and that’s why, earlier this year, I went to the mini-meeting in Leusden.
There I joined a table with two other huge fans, Rosalien Beks and Monique Wuurman and their husbands from Hendrik Ido Ambacht.
We immediately got on great and after a very nice day we decided to keep in touch.
During one of our visits we came up with the plan to go to London for the weekend to take a look at the places the brothers were living.
Of course we reflected on the idea we would maybe be able to meet them in the flesh.
Eventually two of my friends, Marian van Engelen and Ria Kuijpers, completed our group and together we decided on which weekend we would go so we would have the best chance the brothers would be staying in England.
Robin with Marian van Engelen (left) and Yvonne Schuiveling
Hi I`m Robin
On a parking lot near Antwerp we met up with our friends from Hendrik Ido Ambacht.
The boat trip was nice and we had no trouble finding our Bed & Breakfast accommodations. Saturday it was going to happen.
We left for the place Barry lives.
Soon we were standing in front of the gatekeeper house.
Sadly we were told that all members of the Gibb family were staying in Scotland to be present at the burial of Linda’s dad.
Of course we were disappointed.
After taking a couple of pictures of the house we left.
We didn’t deliver the gifts we brought with us, because we decided to try again on Monday.
We went to Robin`s place. It was afternoon. In front of Robin’s house there is a cemetery and the first thing we did was visit the memorial stone for Andy at which we left a very nice plant.
We kind of assumed Robin would also be in Scotland.
Imagine our shock when one of his bodyguards told us he was actually at home.
We told this guy we brought gifts and we wanted to give them to Robin in person. “No way”, this guy told us.
It would be best to give the presents to him and he would see to it that Robin received them.
But we didn’t want to do that!
We decided to get out our folding-chairs and settle in front of the door. We had coffee, bread and fruit, played the CD This Is Where I Came In and soon we were chatting with each other having a good time.
The bodyguards, who were driving in and out of the gate, couldn’t help laughing seeing us sitting there.
Suddenly Rosalien cried out: “There is Robin!” We jumped up.
Despite our disbelief we were all looking at the gate and sure enough Robin came out.
In jeans, black T-shirt, sunglasses and with a friendly smile on his face he came walking towards us.
He was very friendly talking to us although we had some trouble finding the right words in English being suddenly confronted with this Bee Gee.
Alexandra Everybody got the chance to take a picture with him.
We offered him our gifts (traditional Dutch candy and bulbs) which he accepted and of course we asked him when we would be able to see him in the Netherlands.
“Next Spring”, he said and he told us they were planning a tour on which they would also perform in the Netherlands.
After about ten minutes he left telling us he would come by in his car and that he would stop to give us some autographs.
Needless to say we were all very enthusiastic. We were talking to each other excitedly and laughing, we all were very impressed with his kindness.
A little while later the gate opened again and there he was in his car just as he promised.
After giving us autographs and saying goodbye his driver started the car and Robin left.
Alexandra
Linda Gibb
Despite the fact that Robin told us Maurice was in Miami we stopped at Maurice`s house too.
Meanwhile the rain was pouring down on us.
Indeed, Mo wasn’t at home but we took a couple of pictures of his place anyway.
Sunday we took a day to get some rest and we needed it too.
Monique and Adrie celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary that day which we celebrated with a lovely English diner.
We even arranged that the song Wedding Day be played at the restaurant so we had some music to fit the occasion.
Monday we said our goodbyes to our hostess at the B&B after which we fully packed left for Barry again.
On the way we bought some flowers for Linda.
After waiting for not even a minute at the gate of Barry’s house we saw his car driving up.
The gate opened and Barry was sitting behind the wheel with Dick Ashby next to him and Michael, Ashley and his fiancée sitting in the back. Of course he stopped seeing us.
However he immediately told us he couldn’t stop and get out because he was in a hurry.
We got the chance to take some pictures and give him our presents.
He was very friendly and clearly regretting not being able to have more time to talk to us.
After we waved goodbye we decided to go for a drink before travelling on. Suddenly we saw Alexandra driving what looked like a golf cart from the house to the gatekeeper’s house.
We called her and offered her some chocolate.
She approached the gate very carefully telling us: “Daddy won’t let me go to the gate”.
We shook her hand and asked her if she would tell her mother we were here and would like to offer our condolences to her.
Actually we didn’t expect Linda to come to us and we totally understood.
To our big surprise we suddenly saw a car out of which Linda stepped.
She greeted us very friendly.
Clearly she was surprised when she heard we came from the Netherlands and she regretted not having much time for us.
She did take time for us to take pictures and answer our questions and she was very friendly and hearty.
Totally satisfied we drove to Dover.
We had a great weekend.
The next day I read in the newspaper that during our stay the Tower of Big Ben had a thorough cleaning.
Funny isn’t it, spending a weekend in London without seeing anything of the city?
