Bishops Wood Cancelled & Closure

[Larrymc]

Bishops Wood 11th December All Nighter is cancelled and no sadly NO further Soul events will take place in the future.The Village Hall Committee has decided that due to the low bar takings and the difficulty of getting the staff for the nighter, they cannot continue. Therefore, in light of this and another larger All Nighter being on the same night, it is pointless putting one on for the last time. Needless to say that the September low attendance was the final nail in the coffin. So after 3yrs of putting on Soul nights and All Nighters there is no more Bishops Wood. Lastly, to all who attended and to the DJ's who came to this little venue with plenty of Soul. From Col & Gaye Kidson and myself & Elaine Mc .... a big thanks.

[Jez Jones]

Awwww thats a real shame. This is a great little venue----I, to my shame, only went the once BUT I found it to be a real friendly place with a great range of music and with it being a smallish venue , a very personalised approach, which I think is great --especially on a first time visit. Big aint always best

Hope you lads do another somewhere, cos what you had there was a GREAT formula

[Guest Mrs Simsy]

Sorry to hear that. I only made it once too due to living a good 3 hours away now, Had a blinder though! Hope that you find another venue.

[Professorturnups]

Similar story from me - a good 4 hours each way so only made it once. Great little venue and top music.

Sorry to see another venue go

Mark C

[Agentsmith]

ditto yet again col, larry......and paul & sandi's wedding bash at that....considering the tunes that were played, we could see why it is held in esteem. the sad irony is, i go past this place most every day and its so unpretentious, on a crossroads, surrounded by countryside, skirting bishops wood....but it was like stepping inside the tardis...BIGGER THAN IT LOOKS!...lovely little dance floor, and with that distinct feature called atmosphere that would have thrived with 100+soulies sweating like pigs....this is an all too familiar lament, sorry to see it go.

[mrs soul]

well what can I say, its come to everyones attention, that for how ever many things are on, that the it has a effect on everybody, but I hate to see a good venue go down, and are really sorry to hear this, is this the way things are going to pan out for the future:(

[pat and cat]

Gutted! Such a shame this had to happen. One of our favourite niters & we're going to miss this friendly little place

Big thanks to Col, Gaye, Larry & Elaine for those quality times at Bishops Wood.

Mick & Chris

Edited October 12, 2010 by pat and cat

[Spaghetti Weston]

had some fabulous times here it will be a big loss there aint many venues where you can here an accross the board music policy left now:(

[Larrymc]

No more to be said really, but nice to read the comments so far. I know we had the support of some core people who came to the nighters and in the early days to the soul nights. The music policy was "Open" and left up to the DJ's to play what they wanted, this what made the place. But sadly the numbers just wasn't there and the committee had made a choice to stop the nighters. As for the future, it's getting difficult to find a venue like this, large or small. So at the moment Col and myself will reflect on the whole soul scene as there are plenty of venues running every weekend; again a big thanks to you all for the support over 3yrs it has left some wonderful treasured memories.

[Guest shaunthesheep]

No more to be said really, but nice to read the comments so far. I know we had the support of some core people who came to the nighters and in the early days to the soul nights. The music policy was "Open" and left up to the DJ's to play what they wanted, this what made the place. But sadly the numbers just wasn't there and the committee had made a choice to stop the nighters. As for the future, it's getting difficult to find a venue like this, large or small. So at the moment Col and myself will reflect on the whole soul scene as there are plenty of venues running every weekend; again a big thanks to you all for the support over 3yrs it has left some wonderful treasured memories.

Me n Jane want to thank you & Elaine, Col & Gaye & everyone involved with Bishops Wood for the great times we had there.

No matter how many or how few people were there you could always be guarenteed a warm welcome and QUALITY SOUL

MUSIC. Hope to see you out and about soon.

Thanks again

Taf & Jane:(

[Soulgrit]

I'm gutted that this has happened, Bishops Wood will be a big loss to the niter scene, a cracking little venue with a great atmosphere where you heard diverse quality sets from dj's who mixed the well known, rare, underplayed to a friendly up for it crowd, I wouldn't miss one if I could help it, even if it was a five hour round trip. It's a shame that people ignored the old maxim "use it before you lose it".

Thank you to Larry/Elaine, Col/Gaye for some great nights.

Willie

[Tony Foster]

I'm gutted that this has happened, Bishops Wood will be a big loss to the niter scene, a cracking little venue with a great atmosphere where you heard diverse quality sets from dj's who mixed the well known, rare, underplayed to a friendly up for it crowd, I wouldn't miss one if I could help it, even if it was a five hour round trip. It's a shame that people ignored the old maxim "use it before you lose it".

Thank you to Larry/Elaine, Col/Gaye for some great nights.

Willie

I think this sums it up! What can you add other than a very big thank you for all the hard work and the wonderful memories you guys have given us. It's been tremendous, I remember the all-nighter when Kenny Burrell was on, the place was packed to the rafters, a fantastic night, truly awesome.

Not to mention the pasties, butties and Paul Gould birthday delights

I shall certainly miss Bishops Wood

[Guest gouldensoul]

I think this sums it up! What can you add other than a very big thank you for all the hard work and the wonderful memories you guys have given us. It's been tremendous, I remember the all-nighter when Kenny Burrell was on, the place was packed to the rafters, a fantastic night, truly awesome.

Not to mention the pasties, butties and Paul Gould birthday delights

I shall certainly miss Bishops Wood

what can i say regarding this. THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES.

another superb venue bites the dust. its a crying shame.

GREAT CROWD. GENUIN SOULIES.

BOTH YVONNE AND I WILL SADLY MISS THIS VENUE

[Keith Money]

So sorry to hear about Bishops Wood closing as its another quality venue struggling with numbers through no fault of your own.

Too many nights with to few punters through the door is a recipe for disaster for everybody as we know.

As I said when I was down if Bishops Wood was was closer to Dundee I would been a regular attendee as the music policy was great.

Hopefully you will get something else going and the 3 years you had will give you great memories.

Keith

[Keithw]

sad times , went more recently than before if that makes sense

enjoyed it very much - nice room , nice people

maybe a bit hard to find ,as i got lost more than once

think most people want a venue 50 yards from moter way as in the stables

but there so hard to find

sure larry and the team wont give up

the luck hasnt been with them much

keep your chins up

keith williams aka - soul searcher records

Edited October 13, 2010 by keithw

[purist]

Lots of venues don't get past the first one, two or three nites, but Bishops Wood lasted 3 years, which I think is a major achievement in todays climate. You really should be proud of yourselves for making it last that long, but it proves that if we can avoid date clashes and overkill, there is a genuine demand for a club like this was.

Using Lifeline as an example of "every other month seems to work best these days", I think it's because people look forward to it, and take it for granted less. Because, for example, there hasn't been a USOS for a while I'm sure folk will be glad when it comes around again in november, and other irregular clubs like Rugby, Keele, Disciples, etc - I for one look forward to then coming around every so often because they are not monthly/weekly ( dunno if I've got my point over how I wanted to, but I think you'll get my drift)

Times are tougher for people now and I think the message you should take from this is-

When you four are ready to go again we will support you ( because we loved your music policy, we liked the venue itself, and we like you as people- oh, and the way you run the club) but I honestly wouldn't bother with soul nites, I'd just do 3 or 4 or 5 or 6 Niters a year- if you can find gaps in the calendar.

I'm not trying to teach my granny how to suck eggs Larry, I'm just voicing an appreciation of what the four of you have done to keep the flame burning in the west mids, and say please have a break and come back to running Niters, cause you'm good at it !!!

[Jumpinjoan]

What a shame.

We only discovered this little gem of an allnighter recently but it was a cracker.

Pity there isn't one more. It would have been good for it to go out on a real high.

[Guest Tiny]

I'm very sorry to hear Bishops Wood has finished.I went to the first all-nighter and the last one (none in between due to the shift system that I work).Had a great night at them both,hardly stopped dancing at the last one!

Its a real shame to lose such a great little venue,I hope you get something up and running in the same vein sometime in the future!

[Geeselad]

Awwww thats a real shame. This is a great little venue----I, to my shame, only went the once BUT I found it to be a real friendly place with a great range of music and with it being a smallish venue , a very personalised approach, which I think is great --especially on a first time visit. Big aint always best

Hope you lads do another somewhere, cos what you had there was a GREAT formula

Just to echo Jez's sentiments really, thought this was a fantasdtic venue and atmoshre, sorry I couldnt make tha last one, and I wish you well with all future ventures.

[Local]

No more to be said really, but nice to read the comments so far. I know we had the support of some core people who came to the nighters and in the early days to the soul nights. The music policy was "Open" and left up to the DJ's to play what they wanted, this what made the place. But sadly the numbers just wasn't there and the committee had made a choice to stop the nighters. As for the future, it's getting difficult to find a venue like this, large or small. So at the moment Col and myself will reflect on the whole soul scene as there are plenty of venues running every weekend; again a big thanks to you all for the support over 3yrs it has left some wonderful treasured memories.

Sorry to hear this Larry,sadly I doubt it will be the last "progresive" venue to bite the dust in the near future.

See you and Col and the girls soon.