Take That for a pop fan's party dream

Elaine Markham with Gary Barlow in the early 1990s

Elaine Markham, 39, from Adeyfield has been a fan of the boyband since 1992 and followed them everywhere from TV appearances to airports and hotels.

Now she is hoping Gary will sing at her 40th birthday party on June 4, after taking photos of celebrities holding her homemade campaign poster and uploading them on to Twitter.

Retail supervisor Elaine, who has invited 80 family and friends to her milestone party, said: “I’ve loved Take That for years, and I used to have all the memorabilia.

Pam St Clement, best known as Eastenders' Pat Butcher, with Elaine's poster

“It would mean everything to me to have Gary come to my party, even if he just sung one song.”

Elaine, who has already seen Gary in the flesh three times this year, says she handed him an invite to her Take That-themed party and he told her he had already received three others this year alone.

Elaine and son Liam created a poster saying #GetGarytoElaines40th and snapped stars holding it, including Pam St Clement – better known as EastEnders’ actress Pat Butcher – Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s frontman Holly Johnson, YouTube prankster Jack Jones and Heart radio’s Daniel Fox.

She then tweeted the photos to Gary himself, who she says is now following her and Liam back on the social media site.

Earlier this month, Gary surprised fan Jo Chapman fro m Kent at her 40th birthday party after she sent him ‘hundreds of Tweets’.