Finally it was time to cross the sea again for a 5 day stay in Thame. From October 4 to 6, 2024 the Fan Weekend was planned to take place. Hundreds of fans were arriving in Thame like me and my husband, to celebrate The Bee Gees musical legacy, Robin’s life ( he lived for many years in beautiful Thame until his death) and the Gibb music in total. Also like we, more fans had decided to stay a bit longer in Thame.
Fans had come from all places in Europe and even from Canada and the USA to celebrate during these few days, to join for the special events where they even had a chance to meet several members of the Gibb family….. what a surprise!! and to visit the resting place of Robin and the memorial stone of Andy Gibb, as well as to see Thame and surroundings, to have nice and very long chats with each other, to join for lovely dinner and lunch parties, to buy nice Gibb souvenirs or to exchange precious Bee Gees items and even to sing together to the music of The Bee Gees etc. etc.
The start of the Fan Weekend was on Friday early in the evening at the Thame Museum. The people of the museum, all volunteers, together with their Patron Mrs. Dwina Gibb had again organized the yearly get-together for the fans. A new exhibition started that evening of special Robin / Bee Gees items, as well as some of the work of artist Dwina Gibb was shown and Dwina came to this openings evening herself as well to chat with the visitors and the mayor and his wife were present too.
Also the museum had created a “fan wall of photos” from previous visits to the museum and there was extra merchandise available for fans, plus like earlier mentioned the museum was running a Silent Auction for a Derek Witchell oil painting of the Prebendal & Robin’s resting place in the foreground.
All the fans at this event started in the museum with a journey…a Bee Gees themed wine tasting journey of sumptuous fizz and wines from Australian, British & USA. All set to a Bee Gees playlist selected by the fans via their GSI website and Facebook group as also the Official Bee Gees Fan Club cooperated again in this fan get-together 2024. Well and….. we were all Jive Talkin’ after a few glasses that first evening!! I can tell you that!!
After this wine tasting many fans went to the lovely restaurants of Thame to enjoy a nice dinner, sometimes in large groups together and talked and had fun until:…. late!!
On the Saturday if you’d got up early, you could walk into the (always free of admission) Thame Museum again where BBC television rocked up to film and interview the fans, ( The people of the museum say: “thank you to everyone who was on camera, you all looked fabulous!” ). The same evening BBC aired the Fan Weekend item. See link below.
In the afternoon we had a wonderful surprise at The Prebendal. Robin John drove out in his father’s Rolls Royce Corniche, “Primrose” to park that beauty in the front yard. Shortly afterwards he and his mother Dwina walked out of the gate of the Prebendal mansion to get filmed by the BBC and to take all the time to join the fans who could visit for a few hours and came to see the beautiful Rolls Royce of Robin and to chat and take pix with RJ , Dwina, the Primrose with in the back ground the Prebendal, the place where Robin lived so many wonderful years in Thame. Dwina also spoke during the BBC filming about a road trip which Robin and herself took in the “Primrose”.
We had also walked the short way from Thame center to the Prebendal to join the groups of fans there and other passers-by and locals of Thame who came to watch the beautiful car, taking pictures and chat with RJ and Dwina and…. saw Robin’s navigation system lying on the back seat: a beautiful atlas 😊 and even RJ found Robin’s umbrella and a special hat with pin of the Bunbury’s in the back of the car !! Nice stories were told and this way for a few hours people could come and visit there.
Left: Gibb family members, RJ, Heather, Dwina, Hazel and Justine Gibb, Oct. 5
Right: Me with Robin John and Dwina, Oct. 5
What a fantastic way to spend the afternoon! Thank you to Dwina and RJ for allowing us to see this stunning car and taking time out with us all. And how lucky we were these few days after all the rain and flooding Thame had suffered ( and there are still parts flooded with water) now we were enjoying a number of days with lovely sunshine and good temperatures. You could also this weekend pay a visit to the small French Market and Street Food in the center of Thame which was there on Friday, Saturday and Sunday morning.
Later in the afternoon Gerard and I were invited to join RJ and Megan to sit down somewhere on a nice terrace to have a drink etc. and a nice talk. That was great.
Afterwards we joined again a group of fans in a restaurant before leaving all to the next event that day: Dwina’s Evening of Poetry and Storytelling with music and by candle light and a glass of wine, in the romantic and beautiful setting of the St Mary’s Church.
Adrian Dite, Chairman of the Thame Museum opened the evening .
An amazing evening with Dwina sharing poetry, Irish tales, wonderful anecdotes and heartwarming stories including special memories of Robin and the Gibb family and even…… several special poems by Robin, she had recently found in between the pages of his books.!!! That was so touching.
Dwina was accompanied by renowned harpist Becki Luff who also included a selection of Bee Gee music in her repertoire It was truly perfect!
Dwina was joined of course by family: RJ, Megan and some of the children as well as good friends.
Halfway the evening there was time for a drink and a chat with the family again.
Another emotional moment was when RJ’s cover of his most beloved Bee Gees song was played through the speakers: I Started A Joke.
At the end of the Poetry, Story and Music part Adrian Dite invited me up to give our bunch of flowers to Dwina to thank her for everything, Fowers from us and two of our friends: Anja and Detlef. Then everyone stayed for a while to chat with each other and taking pictures.
Left: Dwina’s Evening in the church. Me and friend Anja giving Dwina flowers to thank her, Oct. 5
Right: Me and Megan, Oct.5
All in all it was a beautiful but also emotional evening.
The early birds on Sunday morning went to St Mary’s Church for a service and….. the Gibb cousins from Manchester: Hazel and Justine rang the church bells of St. Mary’s and if you’d liked you could go and climb in the tower to see the bells and also to watch and enjoy the beautiful landscape of Oxfordshire from there.
During the rest of the day fans had time to enjoy Thame, The French Market and Street Food near the town hall, or go for a walk or a drive around. Many later joined for having an early dinner before going to the theatre for The Saturday Night Fever Evening, with the movie on the big screen in the Theatre.
Host of the evening in the Players Theatre was well known Greatest Hits UK Radio legend: Ken Bruce MBE.!
Ken announced the person who’d won the oil painting in the auction and chatted about this iconic Saturday Night Fever movie before we heard a few more wonderful anecdotes from Dwina Gibb who had arrived as well to join us all watching the movie on the big screen.
It was nice to see the film again after so many years. It showed very well the situation in the big city for young people and the music……. that made it all an iconic movie and now we also know how successful these songs became after the movie was released and…… still are iconic today.
After the movie ended there was time again for a chat, photos, presents, saying goodbye etc. etc.
The movie evening in the Players Theatre, Oct. 6
Many fans afterwards went for a drink in a pub to end this day and weekend.
Quite some fans stayed another day or even two more days to enjoy Thame and surroundings.
Me and my husband Gerard also had some time left to join with other fans and see the Gibb family some more times the next 2 days. We also went for a visit to Oxford on the Monday ( thanks Louise James for guiding us around through Oxford in the early morning) and on Tuesday we went to the museum once more to say goodbye to the people there with some bunches of flowers and to say goodbye to the last remaining fans as well.
Last but not least we were again invited to see Dwina during lunch so we could sit down and talk also a bit about some fan club matters and future plans etc.
Later that day it was also goodbye for us and hopefully until soon again as it were again some very special few days where fans met again or finally learned to know each other and became true friends.
So let’s hope to see you again next year and maybe there are again new fans who will also decide to travel to enjoy the 2025 edition of the Fan Weekend in Thame and visit the wonderful Thame Museum, the resting place of Robin and memorial stone of Andy and……. lot’s more?!
Keep following GSI for more news, details, plans about everything concerning The Gibb Family and of course to here as soon as possible again about the next Fan Weekend.
( more info about Dwina’s new Tarot Box and official release in November, her plans about the upcoming special Robin biography, about the Bee Gees Biopic, The new Bee Gees merchandise and the new plans, music and ideas from Robin John and possibly from other Gibb Family members etc……. soon via GSI.)
Some photos are posted here on the website, lots of more photos from all the fans you can find as always on our GSI Facebook group: GSI, Brothers Gibb and Bee Gees info at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/487431924619924
Some more links:
BBC radio, about the fan Weekend. Aired on October 4th.
At 1.41.25 interview with Yvonne Maxwell of Thame Museum
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0jpgm37
BBC TV South October 5th. covering of the Fan Weekend.
https://www.facebook.com/thamemuseum/videos/449868841443285
BBC article: Bee Gees fever at Robin Gibb fan event
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3dv0yv2xe4o
Exclusive: Robin Gibb’s Never-Before-Seen Life & Legacy @ Thame Museum | Bee Gees Icon Remembered
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=YzZxAU-CBmY
The start of the Event in St. Mary’s Church on Oct. 5th.
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/P9vkt4VHCPgzvut6/
Hundreds of Robin Gibb fans descended on Thame over the weekend to celebrate Robin’s life and legacy.
Thame Museum: https://thamemuseum.org/__trashed-2
Thanks to Dwina Gibb, Robin John Gibb, Thame Museum
Marion / President Official Bee Gees Fan Club