The granddaughter of a late Tom Jones superfan will bring her kickers to Saturday's concert in Cardiff in the hope they will land on stage with him. Kirsty Graham from Caerphilly was extremely close with her nanny Helen Gauntlett who died in February 2021 and wanted to bring her along to the gig in spirit.
The 34-year-old said she dug out a pair of her nanny's best knickers to throw towards the stage when Sir Tom Jones appears for his set, just as Helen would have done. Kirsty wrote on the pants in capital letters: "These are my nan's (clean) knickers. She is watching from heaven but left these to throw at Tom. Get them to him please." She said she also wants to start the hashtag #GetNanasKnickerstoTom to encourage people in the crowd to help her out.
In a Facebook post, she urged anyone in front of her to "pass them as far down the front as possible", writing: "I know if she was here, she would be swinging her knickers for Tom ... she loved him and snogged him in a phone box in Ponty when she was 14."
Kirsty said she was Helen's first grandchild, before she went on to have 10 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren altogether. The pair had an inseparable bond, with Kirsty describing her as the "best woman who ever lived".
"My nan was a massive fan of Tom, she passed away sadly in February 2021 and it shattered my whole world," Kirsty told WalesOnline. "She had just turned 75 when she died. She was the bravest lady ever. She had lung cancer and she didn't even moan, she took it all in her stride and she passed away in my arms.
"She always called me her little princess and I'm the furthest away from a princess that you can imagine, but to my nan I was a princess and I wasn't going to argue with her. She was a bugger. She loved a rollie and loved watching the soaps, she was just so funny and cheeky. She was the best woman who ever lived and I miss her so, so much."
Although Helen never watched Tom perform live, Kirsty said she would regularly sing along to his hits, with her favourites being Delilah and You Are My World. But Kirsty said aside from Tom's iconic music, there might have been a more personal reason why her nan was such a hardcore fan.
She said: "She always told me that when she was 14 she snogged him at a phone box in Ponty. I've always believed her, but many didn't because you know what nans are like with their stories. She upheld that though, she was adamant."
Kirsty said throwing a pair of her pants towards Tom Jones is exactly what Helen would have wanted. Kirsty even believes that her nanny gave a sign to show her approval at the plan.
She said: "I took all her clothes when she passed and kept them. When we booked Tom back in December when it was cancelled, I went to her grave and told her all about it. I just know that if she was here with us she'd be there, shaking her hips and swinging her knickers and she'd want to throw them at Tom, so that's my aim today. We had his song Green Green Grass of Home played at her funeral and then when I was writing on her knickers, it came on the radio."
Kirsty will be attending the show tonight on Saturday, June 18 at the Principality Stadium along with her fiancé and cousins. The Stereophonics will headline the show along with Tom and other welsh performers.
"I'm not even bothered about the Stereophonics, we're just going down to see Tom for my nan," Kirsty said. "I'm up in the top block As soon as Tom comes on, I'm going to throw them as far as I can and hope that people keep throwing them and that they get to Tom - or at least Tom gets to hear about it."
Kirsty said she wants to assure Tom Jones she has picked her nanny's best pants to throw his way. She said: "Out of all the knickers she had I had to make sure I picked her best Marks & Spencer ones, otherwise she'd be smacking my bum. She was quite particular about her knickers."
