Heanor printer helped Elvis Presley connect with fans across Europe

A £175,000 National Lottery Heritage Fund grant will fund an oral history about Albert Hand, a Heanor printer who published Elvis Monthly in the 1960s and helped build a European fan network; his grandson Andy Quinn will lead the project.

Funding will retell how a Heanor printer helped build Elvis Presley's British and European fan network. A £175,000 National Lottery Heritage Fund grant has been awarded for the project. Albert Hand published Elvis Monthly from Heanor in the 1960s and later opened Heanor Records. His magazines reached about 90,000 copies a month across the continent by December 1962. Key facts: - The project received a £175,000 National Lottery Heritage Fund grant. - Albert Hand worked as a printer at A. Gaunt & Sons and published Elvis Monthly; he became president of the Official Elvis Presley Fan Club of Great Britain in 1962. - By December 1962 the magazines distributed about 90,000 copies each month across Europe. - Hand and his wife Phyllis flew to Memphis in 1961 to deliver fan mail and maintained contact with Presley’s family; stage-worn outfits were later sent for fan-club raffles. - Hand expanded his publishing into Pop Weekly and hosted interviews with other artists; his grandson Andy Quinn, through Enriching Communities CIC and with support from Amber Valley CVS, will compile oral histories to share in schools, care homes and community spaces. Summary: The grant will support collecting and sharing personal accounts about Albert Hand’s publishing and its cultural reach. The material will be presented in schools, care homes and other community settings, and the project is led by his grandson Andy Quinn with support from Amber Valley CVS. Further details about timelines and public events are undetermined at this time.