BEATLES fans had the chance to Please Please collectors by exchanging their treasured keepsakes for cash.

And one woman from Oswaldtwistle was offered £2,500 for a photograph taken at a Weston-super-Mare concert with a set of autographs on the back.

Around 150 fans poured into the Fernhurst Hotel, Bolton Road, Ewood, Blackburn, for free valuations by Beatles experts Paul Wane and Jason Cornthwaite of Tracks.

Signed scraps of paper were bought for up to £1,000 with original programmes fetching £100.

Jason said: "We always knew there was the potential for some good finds in this area after the concerts in Darwen late in 1962 and then in King George's Hall in 1963."

The Darwen gig at the Co-operative hall preceded the release of Please Please Me and according to the experts, is one of the only times fans were actually allowed to queue up for autographs.

A ticket stub from the Blackburn concert on June 9 was bought for £75 while valuers offered £500 for a ticket for the October 1962 concert at the Liverpool Empire.

And two programmes also turned up -- one published especially for the concert at Weston super-Mare worth £100 while a Beatles/Roy Orbison programme was bought for £50.