IT WAS a friendship that began nearly 20 years ago – when one of the most famous musicians in the world wandered into the seemingly unglamorous surrounds of the George Formby Society AGM.

Better known for his pop music than his love of quaint British pre-war ditties, George Harrison found himself in Blackpool Winter Gardens among some of the worldwide authorities on the music of the When I’m Cleaning Windows star.

Among them, entertainer Ray Bernard, who, thanks to a twist of fate at that event in 1990, became friends for life with the former Beatle.

Now he is due to pay tribute to his friend as part of the line-up in the For George tribute concert, at St George’s Hall, on Saturday.

Ukulele expert Mr Bernard was proud to be the “first paid-up member” of the George Formby Society, serving as president for three years and vice-president for 11 years after that.

It was in that role, in 1990, that George Harrison came into his life.

The former Beatle attended the meeting looking for someone who could refurbish a banjolele – a hybrid of banjo and ukulele – he owned.

Mr Bernard said: “It fell to me. He came to pick it up from my home in Alsager, near Stoke, and we became firm friends.

“We spent many a happy hour playing ukulele together.”

Harrison would visit his friend’s family home, and Mr Bernard and his wife, Karen Shutt, would stay with the musician at his Friar Park mansion, in Oxfordshire.