The early days of the Beatles in Liverpool have been well-documented - but the wider region also played a key part in the band's history.
An unassuming West Lancashire site is among many places which form part of the band's story - and especially that of John Lennon, who was murdered in New York City 42 years ago today.
Today Mill Brow Water Treatment Station in Scarisbrick is operated by United Utilities, and villagers would be forgiven for being unaware of its small but significant role in the career of one of the world's best-known musicians.
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The story begins in the summer of 1959, when John’s Aunt Mimi had agreed for him to buy his first electric guitar - but only on the condition that he would pay for it himself. So, when an opportunity to work as a general labourer through art school friend Tony Carrick appeared, Lennon jumped at the chance.
The job involved working as a general labourer on a building site on Southport Road in Scarisbrick, near Ormskirk, where a new waterworks was being constructed by R.J. Barton and Sons, now known as the Mill Brow Water Treatment Centre.
John would have to commute to Ormskirk by taking the bus from Woolton into the city centre, where he would then catch the train from the former Exchange Station out to Ormskirk, where Tony’s dad, Frank would take them to the site to start work at 8am.
The job involved using a pickaxe and shovel to prepare the ground for construction of the site. John and Tony were paid £5 a week, which would be around £111 today. However, John would later complain about the job and even confessed to Tony that every morning he would pray for the train to crash.
John lasted six weeks on the site before he was sacked after being found "unsuitable", which was apparently due to him burning a hole in the bottom of the kettle. But the wages John earned allowed for him to take Mimi to Hessy’s music shop in Whitechapel to buy his first electric guitar, a Hofner Club 40, which cost around £30, or almost £700 today.
A few days later, John's first band the Quarrymen would open the Casbah Coffee Club, where John debuted with his brand-new Hofner - before changing the course of musical history.
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