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Northern Soul at Lowton - The End of an Era - Fri 10th Sept

By Mike in Event News
Updated on 02 Jan 2017 · Published 03 Sep 2010

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Northern Soul at Lowton - The End of an Era - Fri 10th Sept magazine cover

A few years ago I found myself turning into the Lowton Civic Carpark and looking at all the cars parked on the verges I turned to a mucker and said something along the lines of "you know what, do we sometimes take these places for granted, once a month Lowton just quietly gets on with what it does, never any fuss or dramas, just does its own thing.and its there on offer when ever you want it"

 

When I heard the news that it was closing, (have been told its due to the actual venue no longer staying open rather than anything to do with the event itself ) that question I asked came back to mind., guess I was guilty of taking it for granted, I suppose any event that is long running , any event that is regular and "always there" can and will be a sort of victim of its own success, even more so when its so good at what it does

 

Anyway, have had many and that does means many enjoyable nights there, and here's some random memories that spring up when think back :

 

The laughs in the broom cupboard (r&b room) down the corridor run by Pete Coulson, the time when CSC were on, the modern room, the adventures and games in the record bar, the regular rush to get to the bar before it shuts thanks to steve thomas navigation skills, the mike hump ear burning at hotel, the time we lost lowton, trevor nelson tv visit, the layout, the 3 rooms and corridors (you could f*** about all over the place, tip on high and all sorts), plus loads of other memories and laughs including the many djs that have caught there

 

main room -12th anniversary photo

 

 

Last one is this Friday

 

Will dig out some site links to past articles, photos, videos etc and post them after the details

 

 

END OF AN ERA. IT'S THE LAST LOWTON SOUL SESSION ON THE 10TH OF SEPTEMBER

 

Due to circumstances beyond our control, this willo be the LAST EVER soul night run by the current promoters

 

BE EARLY it will be a packer! please also note that it kicks off this month at 8.00pm not 9.00pm as usual and not the 9.00pm that is stated on the flyers.

 

DJ's to include

 

Steve Pownall, Jimmy Cowburn

Les Harrison and Kev McCue

Ian Cunliffe and Dean Mitchell

Bob Hindsley and Barry Maleady

Andy Dyson and Mick H

Steve Thomas and Chris King

 

and I'm sure Mr Murphy will be playing a few tunes.........if he can still see and get the decks going the right way!!

 

Admission £6.00

 

Lowton Civic Hall

Hesketh Meadow lane

Lowton WA3 2AH

 

01942 672971

 

 

 

 

 

Hats off to Kev Murphy and everyone else who was involved over the years

 

Clip of a Review by Denny from 1997

 

...but, the best part of the trip was going to Lowton Civic. you might have read about it, it's been going for about a year and although it only runs from 8 'till 1 once a month it's Wigan in the early days all over again. it's easy the best northern club going at the moment - there must be about 1500 go. the atmosphere and the buzz is incredible. i met loads of old mates, there's no shit and it's like being smashed without gear !!

 

you name it, they played it. steve whittle (mr m's) was the guest dj. 2 sounds which really stuck out for the way they filled the floor towards the end were barbara mcnair's "your gonna love my baby" and (I think they always play it as the last one) terry callier's "ordinary joe" - words can't describe the atmosphere.

 

Clip of a review by that Hughes geezer 2004

 

With the event being a mini-niter at Lowton, the first time for a few months for me, could say were definitely in the mood for a good night, we tumbled out, boxes, flyers going all over the venue.With another 4 or 5 cars from North Wales was a fair old contingent.

Got to say always enjoy Lowton, always have a laugh and a good crack, plus the dj line up as with most events attend more often than not seems to be a good one, the days of in one door to main hall, then driven straight back out by "big name" djs who think "just a little misunderstanding" is what people traveled a 100 odd miles for, doesn't seem to happen anymore.Place was packed, knew Ian Cuncliffe was on, disappointed to find out he had to do a early one, so missed out..

 

Popped in the modern room and it was kicking, a big crowd, good buzz, quick look for wanted new releases, quick birthday greetings to Pete known as Bangor's modern soul man , who was celebrating his 40th birthday, so one of youngest of that genre. Quick word with Roger W out and about as a punter and enjoying himself,

Modern room what caught was definitely buzzing.

 

Down corrider to R and B room, Big Mick was on and given out some quality r n b, Later noticed attendance was bit down compared to other nites.Steve T had a spot in their later on, me and Johnny J made the most of attendence as this gave us great ammo when continuing our ongoing banter battle. But fairs fair as always dished out some great selections.

 

Main room was going strong, nice surprise to catch Soul Sam doing a set, but only caught last bit, stuff such as "If cant say anything good", a bit of 2003 gear, finished set off playing flip of Morris Chestnut which in his usual ethuastic way he just raved about. Tim Brown up next and gave out some great stuff,....Travels meant not much more main room details, snips between other rooms and even a trip out, memory says Andy D doubled decked with Dean A?, caught some great stuff from Bob Hinsley, pure joy to hear of Detroit Sounds Of Friction, plus stuff like Oz and Spurlings all sounded good.

Alex Jones on ? Didn't catch him but was told due on.Somewhere during nite managed to pass on all flyers for next Monkey, without setting out to.

 

A lot of record sellers and dealers there with a wide selection of stuff on offer, things were going well as spotted recent long want just got at 4 times price paid which always feels good. As managed to get rid of a fair few bits, things felt even better, best laugh was when was offered a cover up in some deal, it all clicked ....

 

above from 1997 and 2003

 

more lowton based content

 

 

Eddie Holman Live at Lowton Video 2000

Lowton North and South Lookback

the one where the CSC were on

Mini Allnighter lookback

Top Selections for AUGUST 2005 Lowton Modern Room

 

1. Darian Keith Horn Move into Your Season

 

2. Da Producers Official Steppers

 

3. Woody Cunningham Love is Takin Over (Remix)

 

4. Niki Carless Bright Future

 

5. Kenny Thomas - Him /Turn it Up/When I Think Of You

 

6. Ledisi My Sensitivity (remix)

 

7. Down To the Bone Angel Baby

 

8. Donald Mc Cullum U Don't Want My Love

 

9. Kloud9 Special / Reasons

 

10. Wade O Brown Where Do We Go For Love

 

11. Will Wheaton Old School Soul

 

12. Prominent Step Into My World

 

13. Steve Butler Change

 

14. Metropolis Lovin You

 

15 Jamie Jones U Gonna Be Alright

 

16 Ty Causey Breathless

 

17 Chris Walker Beyond The3 Limits of Love

 

18 Mellisa Morgan Back Together Again

 

19 Narrow St Music Cant Get Away

 

20. 2GA1 Sweet Thing

 

DDA Lookbacks : Dec 2008

 

 

 

Room With a View Lookbacks 2010

 

 

 

Current forum thread :

 

Lowon End Of A Era

 

 



Edited by mike

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Guest proudlove

Guest proudlove

Posted

cheers Joan

as you say Good Times indeed !

had loads of "flashbacks" while doing it, smiling times

Top post Mike......................as Carole (my wife ) is away looking after her mum post op,I wasn't going to go any where over the next couple of weeks,but due to Carole pressure,and peer pressure,I have been convinced I should go..........................so hey ho................suited,booted.................and having a blast...............

Steve.

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Petebangor

Great post Mike,got many happy memories of Lowton.Some of the laughs we had.I seem to remember the fist time I went was with you.I'm sure we took the wrong turning on your say.Trust me I used to be in the army,you said:rolleyes:

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Dennyj

Wow ! just recovering from our annual All-Dayer at the Perth Irish club yesterday, and logged in to SS for a browse - to see this sad news. I'm back in UK next week-end and was gonna have a quiet one before Hitsville the following week, but now I'll grab our Angela, Pove and whoever else and we'll be there. Mike your right about taking things/places for granted, there was a time when I booked my UK trips to coincide with Lowton nights - especially the Anniversaries cos our Angela's birthday is Feb 9th and the Anniv was often on or around that date.Now I can't even remember the last time I went there, probably 2 years ago. See you there, cheers,

Denny

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Guest turntableterra

Guest turntableterra

Posted

i had the opp to dj there, great venue. well done to kev for keeping it going. i still have some hand bills " lowton r.i.p." that billy was handing out when it was going to close about 8 years ago. great nights there.

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John Elias

spent some great nites at the civic,hell it was shoulder to shoulder in the first few years especially the anniversaries! yes.gif

made some good new friends between there and Golbourne and the viaduct,was like the northern soul triangle :ohmy:

so,end of an era,last of those oh so well attended three to go,great memories,will load up photos as soon as,see ya there,John and Carys.

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Guest aintgotit

Guest aintgotit

Posted

went quite a few times as a warm up moving on elsewhere later in the evening. celebrated quite a few birthdays there and in the back room where allsorts of skullduggery was got up to. The last time i saw it jammed was at Debbie,s ?? birthday party, that dancefloor was one of the many places i acquainted with my arse on more than one occasion . somewhere that felt familiar and held no threat or risk( to me at least..) My main regret is not going to see Eddie Holman perform there, i bet that was a" night to remember".

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Iancsloft

Its seems a lifetime away when Kev Murphy ,Steve Connor, Dean Mitchell & Ian Whittingham & myself went around all the venues Fri , sat nite for a couple weeks prior to Lowton opening for the first time putting flyers out never in a million years did i imagine it would be so successful, some of the artist who appeard at Lowton Eddie Holman, Jerry Williams, Dean Courtney. Tommy Hunt ect

brought another dimension to a great soul nite out for soul fans here in the Northwest, in its heyday

well over 700 soulies from across the UK and Europe came to pack the Lowton Civic and hear soul music at its very best from some of the scenes best known DJ,s, the Anniversary nites became legendary with the free 45,s and later brill CD,s put together with music played throughout the year at the Civic.. Yes its a sad time that it has to end but personally i would like to thank everyone who made the Lowton Civic Hall such a great place to be on the second Fri of the month for nearly 15 years for so many wonderful times and so much awe inspiring music a big THANK YOU......................

THIS IS SOUL ..REMEMBER...BUT FOR BLACK AMERICAN SOUL MUSIC..WE WOULD NEVER HAVE MET SO MANY NICE PEOPLE, BECOME VERY GOOD FRIENDS WITH SO MANY, OR HAD OUR LIFES FULFILLED BY A TYPE OF MUSIC WHICH FOR MANY OF US, IS NOT JUST A HOBBY, BUT A WAY OF LIFE, DONT KEEP THE FAITH..SPREAD IT....

LOVE, PEACE & HAPPINESS ALWAYS...........

IAN CUNLIFFE............

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Alison H

Yeah it's very sad about the place being pulled down :lol:

My favourite era from Lowton was when they had the 3 rooms. Marvelous memories of all 3 :thumbsup: . If the Broom Cupboard is available for the final night can you stick some of us modern lot in there :lol: It would be great to end Lowton how it started, for me, with an absolutely buzzing modern room. Rumour has it there are about 150 modern refugees who would like to make this farewell party so that would be the icing on the cake :thumbsup:

I have lots of funny memories of Lowton like Mick Francis driving that fast down the East Lancs (to get there) a police car (flashing lights & sirens) had to actually slam on for us to avoid a collision :D Also the time I had to park on the football pitch (car-park FULL) and got stuck on the damn field (following a torrential downpour) so had to get an army of men to come & push me out but bless they were knee deep in mud & had to go back in the venue :lol: as the night wasn't over blush.gif

I'll be at the last one for sure, with or without a modern room, but it would be nice to bring back some of those great modern room memories & tunes so if Mr Murphy reads this pretty pretty pretty pretty please will you consider this & fix it for us thumbsup.gif

Lots of love & fond memories

Alison

xxx

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Theresa

Yeah it's very sad about the place being pulled down :(

My favourite era from Lowton was when they had the 3 rooms. Marvelous memories of all 3 :thumbsup: . If the Broom Cupboard is available for the final night can you stick some of us modern lot in there :) It would be great to end Lowton how it started, for me, with an absolutely buzzing modern room. Rumour has it there are about 150 modern refugees who would like to make this farewell party so that would be the icing on the cake :thumbsup:

I have lots of funny memories of Lowton like Mick Francis driving that fast down the East Lancs (to get there) a police car (flashing lights & sirens) had to actually slam on for us to avoid a collision :D Also the time I had to park on the football pitch (car-park FULL) and got stuck on the damn field (following a torrential downpour) so had to get an army of men to come & push me out but bless they were knee deep in mud & had to go back in the venue :lol: as the night wasn't over :lol:

I'll be at the last one for sure, with or without a modern room, but it would be nice to bring back some of those great modern room memories & tunes so if Mr Murphy reads this pretty pretty pretty pretty please will you consider this & fix it for us thumbsup.gif

Lots of love & fond memories

Alison

xxx

Lol, that brings back memories Alison - me, Dru & Roz were in the modern room that night that the cars got stuck. Ace night, think Terry Jones was on, but we couldn't dig my little Puma out and had to leave it there till the morning. Poor Jim Wishart tried to help and got so covered in mud you could only see his eyes & teeth, and I had to leave my pale blue satin heels half submerged in the quagmire :lol: When we went back the next day they were playing football around it, and the whole footie team had to push the car out laugh.gif

The South London Massive second the request for a modern room swansong... thumbsup.gif

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Pete Eccles

Lol, that brings back memories Alison - me, Dru & Roz were in the modern room that night that the cars got stuck. Ace night, think Terry Jones was on, but we couldn't dig my little Puma out and had to leave it there till the morning. Poor Jim Wishart tried to help and got so covered in mud you could only see his eyes & teeth, and I had to leave my pale blue satin heels half submerged in the quagmire :thumbsup: When we went back the next day they were playing football around it, and the whole footie team had to push the car out laugh.gif

The South London Massive second the request for a modern room swansong... :D

Not sure what year this was but we once had to push our feckin coach off the grass, reckon it was around 98 ish, having said that it was always a packer and the place to be on the 2nd Friday of the month,

Happy days indeed :thumbsup:

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Guest JIM BARRY

Guest JIM BARRY

Posted

really sad to be saying farewell to lowton...i had the pleasure of d j .ing there on several occasions...thanks to kev murphy and dave holt for that..and even more occasions as a punter. the record bar in its heyday was as good as anywhere.14 years guys you should be proud.:D:thumbsup: :thumbsup: thumbsup.gifthumbsup.gif

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Guest toffee lady

Guest toffee lady

Posted

:lol:youve just reminded me Alison of that same night, our car had sunk in the mud, Pete n Viv Coulson tried to push it out from behind then our driver turned the engine on, youve guessed it .....the mud came flying all over them i pmsl

great times

janette x

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Alison H

Lol, that brings back memories Alison - me, Dru & Roz were in the modern room that night that the cars got stuck. Ace night, think Terry Jones was on, but we couldn't dig my little Puma out and had to leave it there till the morning. Poor Jim Wishart tried to help and got so covered in mud you could only see his eyes & teeth, and I had to leave my pale blue satin heels half submerged in the quagmire ohmy.gif When we went back the next day they were playing football around it, and the whole footie team had to push the car out laugh.gif

The South London Massive second the request for a modern room swansong... :thumbup:

Yes I remember the gorgeous SLM been there that night. I think you were parked sunk near us & I do remember finding a blue pair well brown pair :g: of sandles on my next visit to Lowton. Great times indeed :yes:

:lol:youve just reminded me Alison of that same night, our car had sunk in the mud, Pete n Viv Coulson tried to push it out from behind then our driver turned the engine on, youve guessed it .....the mud came flying all over them i pmsl

great times

janette x

laugh.gif:yes: oh Janette it was funny the night of the mud bath and the Moral of the story ..... if it's pishing it down on Fri 10th September 2010 make sure you get there early so that you get a space on the car-park :g:

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Guest sharmo 1

Guest sharmo 1

Posted

I had the honor of spinning a few tracks twice at Lowton and on both occasions me and Tina loved the people and were treated very well .The distance ment that it was almost impossible to make it a regular but I'll tell you something having thought about i tnow We wished we'd have gone more often .Peace to all Simon & Tina Hunt.

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Big Mick

great times great memories... the best for me was the rehersal of Eddie Holman and the interview i did for the magazine.. the guy was a pure gem... the bar-b-ques and charity venues and everyone concerned made Lowton the success it was. Thankyou Kev and Julie and the rest of the crowd... Big Mick :yes::thumbsup:

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Guest johnnyonthespot

Guest johnnyonthespot

Posted

WHY'S THERE NO COMMENT REGUARDING MR DAVE HOLT ON ANY OF THIS??? DAVE PUT ALOT MORE EFFORT INTO LOWTON IN THE EARLY YEARS THAN ANYONE COULD IMAGINE.. TOPMAN DAVE THANKS TO YOU N KEV FOR THE MEMMORIES...JOHNNY

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