Sisters are mad about the Westlife boys

by Gavin Allen, South Wales Echo WESTLIFE are celebrating their tenth anniversary this year. Gavin Allen looks at what the future holds for them ... and why two Cardiff sisters are their biggest fansWESTLIFE-mad sisters Joyce and June are united in their love for Shane Filan but meeting him would likely set them at war.“If we were to both meet Shane I think we’d be fighting over him,” laughed June, “I don’t think we’d be loving sisters for very long.”Everyone has a pop star they fancy and for Joyce Ballantye and June Young it’s Westlife’s Sligo singer “with the million megawatt smile that can light up the darkest room” (or at least that’s what bandmate Mark Feehily says).Joyce, 46, and June, 61, have matching framed photographs of Shane in their living rooms and think nothing or shelling out £60-£70 each on the band every year they perform in Cardiff.“As soon as we see the announcement in the Echo we go straight to the CIA to buy some tickets,” said June, a retired cleaner.“We probably spend £60-£70 a time because the tickets cost around £32, the T-shirts are about £18, the mugs are £10, an A4 photo is about £4 and the key rings are couple of quid as well.“If they made Westlife trousers and shoes we’d probably buy those too.”It’s those £4 A4 photographs that the Ely sisters have framed on their living room cabinets but having shopped around the country for Westlife knick-knacks they have made some happy finds.“I went to Blackpool in October and I found a Westlife pillow in a gift shop so that’s on my bed now,” said grandmother of five June, who lives with her partner Geoff.“It’s nice to cwtch into and it means I can say I have slept with Westlife.”Unfortunately, the sisters’ seats in front of the Irish foursome at Cardiff International Arena on Sunday night are the closest they have ever got to the band in real life.“We’ve never met any of them, more’s the pity,” said Joyce, a full-time carer for her 86-year-old mother Barbara, who has Alzheimer’s disease.“If I didn’t have to get back to my mum I’d wait outside the stage door for them all night.“But I get to see Shane every day this month because his face is on my calendar for March, which is nice because it’s my birthday.”Because the sisters have always enjoyed the same music as – they also share a love for The Everly Brothers and Billy Fury - it makes it easy to buy gifts for one another.June said: “We usually buy each other the latest Westlife album for Christmas and then just swap them over.”Westlife perform at Cardiff International Arena Tonight, tomorrow and Monday before returning to the venue on May 20.There are a limited number of tickets still available, priced at £32.50, available from the CIA box office on 029 2022 4488.