Iron Maiden remembers Jersey chamber maid on her 90th birthday

Thursday 19 July 2018

Iron Maiden recently made a 90-year-old Jersey lady's birthday celebrations extra special by sending her a card signed by all the band.

Josephine Fairhead had looked after them at the Emeraude Hotel while they were "Strangers in a Strange Land" and recording an album in Jersey in the 1980s.

They were working on their fourth album, Piece of Mind, and were the only guests in the hotel over winter.

Josephine, who was the only chamber maid in the hotel, found herself very busy during that time as the band had brought along their entourage. Nonetheless, she has very fond memories, which she shared with Express.

Pictured: Josephine with her special birthday gift.

"They were all very nice and kind. It wasn't just the band that was there, they had also brought their tour manager and other crew. There were a lot of people and some of them even brought their kids!

"They were able to make as much noice as they wanted in the hotel, they were the only ones. I was tired, there were no lifts and I was like a yo-yo going up and down but it is a nice memory. They were all so nice!"

Josephine sadly never got to say goodbye to the band. She left two days before the band, to go on holiday in Portugal with her husband, Frederick. "I didn't want to bother them and go say goodbye, they would have wondered why I did!" she explains. "We had everything planned, everything was booked before they arrived."

However, Josephine's history with the band didn't stop there. With her 90th birthday approaching, Annie Birbeck, her daughter, decided to write to the band to ask if they would send a card to her mum. "I didn't think they would reply," she said. She was however gobsmacked to find a letter addressed to her mum by the band in the mailbox a couple of days later. "Can you believe it?" she says.

Pictured: Josephine's daughter, Annie, contacted the band ahead of her 90th birthday.

Her mum was over the moon about the sweet gesture. She received the card while celebrating her birthday surrounded by family and friends. "I was hugely pleased when I saw the photo," she said. "They all signed it! It was really nice of them. 

"I had a great day celebrating my birthday. There were 21 of us around the table, mostly family from the UK, France and Jersey and a couple of friends. My daughter and her husband Gary organised everything, it was a really nice day."

Josephine says that she feels extremely lucky to have made it to 90. "My mum had twins twice, girls once and then my little brother and I. Sadly, my brother didn't make it, there were no maternity at that time and when the doctor arrived it was too late. It is so sad, I have always wished I could have grown up with my brother.

"I was only 750 grams when I was born. I was so tiny. Who would have thought I would have made it to 90? Life goes by so fast, and without making any noise, not like the train!"

Pictured: Josephine, left, at eight years old.

Born and raised in Josselin in Brittany, Josephine moved to Jersey with her sister, who wanted to learn English, in 1949. It's in the island that she met her husband, Frederick, a Londoner. "Life is weird you know," she says. "We couldn't understand each other when we met. I only spoke French and him English. He invited me to the cinema and I was telling my sister 'I'm not gonna go, we can't speak to each other.' He waited for me a long time at the cinema.

"It's funny because Jersey is a small island and sometimes you never see people again. But I saw Frederick not long after and he said "Cinema tomorrow?." It's weird but it felt like it was fate. He had blue eyes and dark hair like my dad. I was very happy with him, he was very kind to me and we both learned each other's language."