The Daily Populous Saturday December 30th, 2023 evening edition
Authored by uk.news.yahoo.com and submitted by Hassaan18

A Tom Jones superfan in her 90s was left emotional when her family surprised her with tickets to see the megastar. Maureen Hesketh, 91, has been a fan of the Welsh crooner throughout his 60 year career and never thought she'd ever be able to see him perform. So when her daughter Christine Parkinson, 65, revealed the surprise, she couldn't hold back tears. A viral video shows Maureen, a retired print worker, in tears as her daughter Christine Parkinson hands over the tickets as they arrived at the arena where he was performing. Maureen's entire family chipped in to buy two tickets for the concert, which took place on December 20 at the AO arena in Manchester. Christine, a retired customer service manager, kept the surprise under wraps by telling her mum they would be seeing a choir. She even took her to get her hair and nails done just before the concert. Speaking after the concert, Maureen said: "I was completely gobsmacked, I honestly had no idea. It was absolutely the best surprise. "The concert was fantastic, he still has the best voice going." Maureen said it brought back lots of memories but unlike some around her she resisted the urge to throw underwear at him. She added: "There was an elderly lady next to us, who pulled a pair of knickers to throw but I didn’t, but we had the best time." Christine's son Adam Parkinson, 35, posted the video on TikTok, which has now garnered 200k views. He said: "She's always been a huge fan. We lost grandad in 2018 and they'd been married 64 years. She's been on her own ever since. "Everyone does a little more since he passed away and since mum retired she's been nana's full-time caregiver. It was her idea. "After the show, through tears, my nana said ‘I never thought I'd see him in my lifetime’ then they both had a cry in the taxi. "I spoke to her on the phone before the concert and she was like a kid again." Adam said that Maureen has been collecting Jones' CDs her whole life and that he has fond memories of her fandom. He said: "She would buy every CD he ever released. Back in the day I'd get in her Mini Cooper and it would be full of 'Greatest hits' CDs."