The woman directed her daughter down to Liverpool's dockyards and gazed across the cool waters of the River Mersey with regret and sorrow. Her daughter couldn't have been more happy, as she walked with a skip in her step to the tour bus waiting for them.

As the bus drove on, filled with an array of people wearing tinted Lennon glasses in a whole rainbow of colours, music from a distant era floated through the space, but the woman shut it out. By the end of the tour the girl was in a daze - loving every breath of air she breathed. They were the last to step from the bus when the driver beckoned.

"Would you like to see the cavern?" he whispered to the girl. She stared pleadingly at her mother who gave in to her and climbed back onto the bus.

The driver lead them down an old street that seemed to have a magical air to it. The cavern was closed that day, but the driver had taken a liking to the enthusiastic young Beatles fan and decided to give her a treat.

The girl gasped in amazement with a glitter in her eye as he opened the cavern doors. A cold draft of dry air floated up, as the three of them descended the steep steps. The woman trembled and felt faint as she fought against past memories that would cause heartache and deep sorrow if she let them take a hold of her.

With each step they took below the busy streets of Liverpool, it felt as though the years were dissappearing into the past. Years of hope and energy before anyone south of the Mersey had ever heard of this place. You could almost feel ghosts from the past brushing against you as they hurried down excitedly towards the music which you could hear floating on the dusty air. Rock and Roll, pure and harsh as it could be, played by the Liverpool youth to it’s own kind.

They reached the bottom step and the man flicked on a switch, lighting every corner of the dark cellar. The woman had shut her eyes tight, but a gasp from her daughter prised them open. Straight in front of her was a tiny stage that had been the beginning of so much. A single lonely tear trickled down her face as she felt herself weakening to the past.

"Oh mum!" the daughter gasped breathlessly, "isn't it wonderful!!"

The woman smiled as tears ran down her face in rivers.

"Yes Pauline! It's amazing!" she cried. "It's the best thing I've ever seen in my entire life!"

The tears were now unstoppable. Tears of sorrow, pain and joy mingled together as the woman reached out to her daughter.

Pauline ran to her mother. "What's wrong mum?" she whispered as she hugged her mother tight.

"I've got a whole lot of things to tell her, when I get home" Susan sang in her mind with a memory of a once beloved song.

"I've a story that I should have told you a long time ago about a group I once went to see with your Auntie Jill." Susan said smiling at her daughter and wiping the tears away.

As the two walked hand in hand back up the cold stone stairs of that old little cellar, a long absent sparkle shone in the mothers eyes. Those tired eyes remembered now oh so very well how they had shone with happiness that first night here long ago. She could see each one of them now, with their funny hair and leather suits, staring at the world as if it was their own.

Susan turned round to take one more look at that stage, and a warm thrill ran through her as she thought of those deep brown eyes she knew so well, winking at a smiling young girl in the audience. Yesterday.