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Fleetwood Mac founder's post-band days as Jewish charity volunteer

Peter Green, who died this week, served lunches at a Jewish Welfare Board home and also gave money to the charity

July 31, 2020 13:04
Peter Green (second left) in the original Fleetwood Mac line-up (Photo: Getty Images)
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One day in the early 70s, Melvyn Carlowe, head of the Jewish Welfare Board (later Jewish Care) visited one of its homes for the elderly in Highbury.

“I saw this guy in the dining room serving lunches to the residents,” he recalled. “The typical volunteer at the time was a middle-class Jewish lady or a retired Jewish tailor. And he was a youngish man.”

When Mr Carlowe asked staff who he was, they told him he was one of Britain’s most acclaimed rock guitarists. Not long before, Peter Green had suddenly left Fleetwood Mac. 

“They told me he’d been there several times,” Mr Carlowe said. “He may have lived nearby and I think he re-identified with his Jewish faith. Maybe he had a relative there.”