Berwick business owner in the spotlight as BBC documentary brings back memories of being The Osmonds' European Fanclub band in the 1970s

Louise Marsden, who was the guitar player in Fanfayre, and Leo Roberts. Picture by Sarah Jamieson (Pictorial Photography).

Fanfayre was a band made up of two sets of sisters – Ali and Bev, and Louise and Anne. They played songs by The Osmonds and when an opportunity to audition to be their European Fanclub band arose in the mid 1970s, they applied and won.

Although they were in the limelight for a fairly short period of time, the mainly teenage girls who lived in Middlesbrough at the time travelled to London on quite a few occasions and got to record their single, Donny's Girl, in a studio. It was a top 50 hit in the UK, top five in Australia, and they performed the song in front of the family.

They have been put back in the spotlight as a documentary has been produced for BBC Radio 4.

The members of 1970s band Fanfayre with an 11-year-old Jimmy Osmond.

Louise Marsden, owner of Repas7 on West Street, explained that Bev’s son Dom Brown produced something as part of his studies at the University of Sunderland and it impressed the judges for the BBC’s New Storytellers initiative so much that a 14-minute documentary including his interviews was made for the national station.

She added: “This led to an interview on BBC Look North last week and it was nice to reminisce about those times. Locals who saw it have popped in to Repas7 and light-heartedly asked for my autograph.

“After being chosen to be the Fanclub band, we were in London quite a lot over the following months and we appeared on TV and radio to promote the single.

“We got to meet The Osmonds backstage at a show and we performed the song in front of pretty much the whole family in a manor house they were staying at – it was a fantastic experience.”

Louise has been in Berwick for 25 years and after starting out with a couple of smaller businesses, Repas7 opened in 2019 providing a continental style bistro/bar.

This was followed in 2021 by Repas7 By Night for Friday and Saturday evenings after teaming up with Leo Roberts, who had experience of running a bar and creating cocktails. Local bands and those from further afield feature.

Louise said: “We effectively have two venues in one place and things are going very well. We are now getting musicians asking to play here.”

For details of upcoming performances, go to the Repas7 By Night Facebook page.