How Did You Get To 70's Venues

[Jerry Hipkiss]

Great days indeed Chico sometimes in the company of Mark "the little man with the big voice" Heaney from Plymouth ..remember our holiday in the industrial North East (didnt we stop in Worcester on the way up there...that was at Macs place wasnt it...with Paul 'i get sick if i sit in the back' Middleton with his Sta-Creased strides and

sleeping in that fucking car in Knutsford services...thank god for Tuinal is all can say...i could go on for hours ...Happy Times mate !!

Dave, Chico, I mentioned this thread to Karen (ex Cornwall now Hull) at Smokin' Tees in Stroud last night...funny how she came up with many of the same stories that you've mentioned! Then another ex-Yater, Tim Abbott, mentioned that he'd spent some (ahem) enforced time with Graham Bickford, and that set us all off on another 30 minutes of racy tales...

[Guest martyn]

I used to run a coach from Bedford to Wigan, we used to turn heads when we drove up the hill.....by some strange coincidence, the local coach company we used (the only ones who would take us up in reality) where called ' SOUL BROS '

Yes, and Colwyn Bay,where a certain someone used to go AWOL at Northampton

Always wondered why Richard Soul never put his initial before the Soul Bros logo (think about it)

[Guest]

Dave, Chico, I mentioned this thread to Karen (ex Cornwall now Hull) at Smokin' Tees in Stroud last night...funny how she came up with many of the same stories that you've mentioned! Then another ex-Yater, Tim Abbott, mentioned that he'd spent some (ahem) enforced time with Graham Bickford, and that set us all off on another 30 minutes of racy tales...

Hippo,my man...it's been a long time,gllad to see youre still getting out and about..we saw Karen and Pete at the Buzzard revival earlier this year,amongst others that i hadnt seen for a long time.I heard G raham Bickford had died a while ago from an overdose....do you know if there is any truth in this.Do you see or hear anything of Mac these days?

[Paul R]

Hippo,my man...it's been a long time,gllad to see youre still getting out and about..we saw Karen and Pete at the Buzzard revival earlier this year,amongst others that i hadnt seen for a long time.I heard G raham Bickford had died a while ago from an overdose....do you know if there is any truth in this.Do you see or hear anything of Mac these days?

Dave, all this talk about Chico & Karen & Pete ,Mark etc. Do you remember the nights in Plymouth at the Circus Tavern, and Karen & petes Wedding I think the evening do was in the Grand Hotel on the Hoe

Great Times

Bad news about Kev the other week

Paul(Jimmy) Rimmer

[Guest]

Dave, all this talk about Chico & Karen & Pete ,Mark etc. Do you remember the nights in Plymouth at the Circus Tavern, and Karen & petes Wedding I think the evening do was in the Grand Hotel on the Hoe

Great Times

Bad news about Kev the other week

Paul(Jimmy) Rimmer

Of course mate i remember them well...how are you doing mate...its been a long time..awful sad news about Kev .Anyway are you still in Plymouth?You can't still be in the Navy surely ?Is Lynda Lyndell still your top record..ha ha

[Paul R]

Of course mate i remember them well...how are you doing mate...its been a long time..awful sad news about Kev .Anyway are you still in Plymouth?You can't still be in the Navy surely ?Is Lynda Lyndell still your top record..ha ha

No, I'm at Portsmouth now & out of the navy. They are all my top records

Doing OK . Great to hear from you.

Paul

[Guest denmac]

cats wolves early 70`s.i was at a bus stop with a mate ,dave, when another old school friend pulled up in a mini pickup. where to he said cats wolverhampton i said . dave and i lay in the back of the pick up until we reached wolverhampton.we parked at the back of a church and as i go from under the tarpaulin i stood on a match box.....those blues kept us going for years..,.,.,.,.honestly!

[Zed1]

Around 10-15 of us to to get the last bus from Runcorn shopping City to Warrington, then sit in the Pattern Arms for around an hour until the the last train to Wigan from Bank Quay station.

Last train allways got into Wigan around kicking out time for the local piss heads so allways ended up getting chased through the town centre to Station Rd!.

It was then just a case of sitting on the Cinema steps freezing your nads off till the place opened!.

Went the Baths a couple of times on the Sunday morning to kill a little time before the first train home!......... allways good for a laugh watching people still 'barbed' up from the night before trying to swim!!.

Dont forget your swiming 'gear'..

[Dave Thorley]

Nutters you say Baz? You have to have been on a Gloucester/cheltenham coach to a niter to fully understand the phrase...come in Steve Smith...

Hippo.

A Gloucester coach anywhere, Leon, Denis and Gabby fighting most of the way, Gabby often fighting with his girl friend Joanne. Boy how did a girl that small punch so hard. Usually getting stop by the squad before we'd even got outside the city limits. Coach got bricked twice, once at the Plymouth Allniter and once on a trip to St Ives. Happy days

[Jerry Hipkiss]

I heard Graham Bickford had died a while ago from an overdose....do you know if there is any truth in this.

Dave, sorry, I missed this post at the time, but according to Karen, yes, sadly it's true. Stll got my copy of "Mr. Big shot " with his name scratched in the run-out!

Hippo.

[Guest Coldcall]

Hi Guys

I know this is an old thread. I came across it trying to look up an old partner in crime of mine named Graham Bickford. I knew him in London in the early 90s when we were both quite heavy into the rave, acid house club scene. He use to drive a black porsche, a very flash, perhaps too flash :-) If i remember correctly he originally hailed from Devon or Cornwall. 

So I was trying to figure out whether the Graham mentioned in this thread is the same one i knew. That he spent time inside would also fit, considering what we got up to in London in 90s with nefarious substances. 

Can anyone confirm this? If it is him I am very sorry to hear he passed away. We broke in  a bad way and always wanted to to recontact him. 

 

 

[25miles]

IT'S A FACT NOT MANY PEOPLE HAD CARS IN THE EARLY 70'S WHEN WE FIRST STARTED GOING TO NITER'S

WE USED TO TRAVEL TO THE TORCH ON A COACH FROM SHEFFIELD-KIDS FROM ALL OVER YORKSHIRE WOULD COME OVER TO TRAVEL WITH US

ME & A MATE DECIDED TO HITCH ON NIGHT WHEN THE COACH WAS'NT ORGANISED...........

WE GOT A LIFT IN AN ICE-CREAM VAN FROM BUXTON [OR BAKEWELL??] ALL THE WAY TO TUNSTALL !!

HAPPY TIMES

[Winsford Soul]

Used to get the bus from Widnes to enemy territory.( Warrington) then get the train from bank quay station after meeting the dodgy people in the Patten arm's and go to the Casino. Hitched to Wigan from all over the country when I was out and about at various 18th and 21st Birthday parties. The love of my life ( KM ) had a mini when I went out with her in the late 70,s . Then a few mates got car's. Life was easier then. Still had the odd bus or train journey or hitch a lift thing but not as many. 

Walked from Blackburn to the M6 once before I managed to hitch a lift to the Casino. I also walked from dunstable to the M1 after a nighter before I got a lift back to Widnes. This thing called northern soul has a lot to answer for. Wouldn't change anything , well only one ( KM ) 

Steve

[Derek Pearson]

On 02/09/2006 at 10:25, Awake 502 said:

Another for the Persil tickets, used to be £7.00 return to Wigan from Sheffield without them.

 

On 02/09/2006 at 18:42, SOULFULHOUND said:

£7 ?? What year was that then? or did the train go via Aberdeen?

When I used to go to Wigan ('73 to '74) it was £1.10 return, Sheffield to Manchester, then straight to the Rowntree Sound pub near Victoria Station for a couple of hours, then train to Wigan for about 40P.

 

Paid £5.10p train return from Bradford to Wigan in April 1980. Scan of train ticket added below.

And anybody that hints at me being an obsessive/hoarder/collector will get a strongly worded letter from my solicitor whose on 24 hour call out.

On 17/09/2006 at 10:27, Guest said:

We used to get the train from Halifax to Manchester telling the ticket man single to Sowerby Bridge which was the next stop stay on the train change at Manchester get to Wigan telling the ticket man single from Ince,and the same on the way home until one time we got back to Halifax and at the station was the police yep we all got busted off our heads and off to the station what a come down that was

 

Remember those times well coming from Bradford. Only jumped the trains a couple o' times but soon quickly learned the pitfalls of travelling out an about on public transport going to all-nighters in them days.

It was constantly fraught with difficulties and I didn't need any more extra grief from being without ticket (smile).

I went wise, sensible and slightly mature and paid the man my ticket in full every time.

Ince train station used to be like a synchronised dance class in action, I've never seen as many people spin 'round at the same time when the boys in blue stepped out of the shadows en masse (laughs).....

I routinely watched this frantic dance once a month through the train window but safe in the knowledge my ticket was tucked away in my pocket it never stopped me getting searched at Wigan Wallgate station. Bastards even used to pull apart mi orange which I carried to eat on the way back home.......

Derek x

Edited October 11, 2016 by Derek Pearson

[Steve S 60]

In the late 70's, used to get four return rail tickets home per year, courtesy of HM Forces.  Each ticket was valid for three months, and my record was eight round trips from Portsmouth to Penrith via London, stopping off at Wigan en route, all on the one ticket.  After the Casino closed, I would always get my ticket clipped between Wigan and Penrith on the Friday night.

[Dayo]

So many memories.  Lots of trips on the coach from Worcester with the obligatory stop at Knutsford for supplies.  

Remember coming back from Va Va's to Worcester by train once.  Me and my mate Jim Reeves fell asleep and woke up freezing, lost, lonely and abandoned in some railway sidings near Crewe.

Before I could drive, Dick Warburton from Malvern was kind enough to take me round loads of places in his Triumph Vitesse.  First car I'd ever been in that could do a ton.  Lovely car that, even if it did rattle and shake a bit when the needle touched 100.  Scary as hell.  Wish I knew what happened to him.  A great guy; known for his "right-on" single leather driving glove and passion for Larry Laster.

[Kegsy]

41 minutes ago, Dayo said:

So many memories.  Lots of trips on the coach from Worcester with the obligatory stop at Knutsford for supplies.  

Remember coming back from Va Va's to Worcester by train once.  Me and my mate Jim Reeves fell asleep and woke up freezing, lost, lonely and abandoned in some railway sidings near Crewe.

Before I could drive, Dick Warburton from Malvern was kind enough to take me round loads of places in his Triumph Vitesse.  First car I'd ever been in that could do a ton.  Lovely car that, even if it did rattle and shake a bit when the needle touched 100.  Scary as hell.  Wish I knew what happened to him.  A great guy; known for his "right-on" single leather driving glove and passion for Larry Laster.

Same thing happened to me coming back from the Birdcage in Barnsley to Leeds, ended up in some sidings near Wakefield, just fields on all sides, I wondered where the f*ck I was. Walked up the track and came into Wakefield Westgate platform 2 at 07:34.

[nrc]

when going to the Torch from Manchester we used to buy a platform ticket for about 1p to get onto the platform then board the last train to Stoke. If the guard came round it was a case of everybody in the toilet. Remember one morning on going back to Manchester two policemen checking tickets on Tunstall Station. Had to hang back for ages for them to leave,didn't get back till around 2pm.