WORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY DOUGLAS MCPHERSON
When Elvis died in 1977, David Wade was asked if he would continue organising fan pilgrimages to America. He replied that he probably wouldn’t. Not only did he not want to cash in on the King’s death, but he doubted whether the demand would be there. Little did he realise that his first posthumous trip to Memphis would attract twice the number of people who had travelled when Presley was alive or that, four decades later, the Elvis Travel Service would be busier than ever.
In 1979, the Elvis Festival in Great Yarmouth was established by the company as a closer-to-home gathering for those who couldn’t make one of the Stateside tours and this year it celebrated its 40th anniversary in style by extending the event from its usual seven days to 10. “I should be retired,” Wade chuckled as he stood by the bar towards the end of the gathering. “I should be playing golf!”