30 Years Of Northern Soul In Todmorden Booklet (2001)

30 Years Of Northern Soul In Todmorden.

A commemorative booklet issued at the Charity Anniversary Evening 20th April 2001. Walsden Cricket Club

Site note the first 2 pages of this booklet are reproduced in text format below, the other pages are via scanned images only.

Todmorden is known around the world as an important centre for soul music due to the Goldmine record label. Accolades fall thick and fast on the label and its leading light. Tim Brown. There are in life very few true originators however, and the above label is merely the manifestation and visible pinnacle of a whole youth culture introduced to the Pennine Hill town of Todmorden in the late sixties. 

In 1971 a fiery-headed youth and his affable friend took hold of this culture and gave it a local home. Their names were Raymond 'Ginger" Taylor and Eddie Antemes and the home was the Ukrainian Hall. Thirty years on it can, quite correctly, be stated that Todmorden is the little town with the big soul reputation, without doubt or argument the most important place of its size within Northern Soul realms.

It is, perhaps, worth taking some time at this juncture to examine the whole Northern Soul phenomenon and it's origins. Certainly these origins were born in far bigger places that 'Tod" (as it is known). If a place in time could be pinpointed to the birth of Northern Soul then that time could well be 11th September 1965 when the first Twisted Wheel Club in Brazenose St, Manchester closed. All-nighters had run at the club for some two years but were primarily based on genuine R&B such as Bo Diddley, John Lee Hooker and Ray Charles. When the Wheel re-opened at Whitworth Street, it opened its doors to the newly emergent 'soul' music via the mod culture. In truth this only mirrored whıch had already happened ın London's West End at clubs like 'The Scene', and "La Discotheque. Other clubs all over the country were to copy this upsurge, 'The Place' in Stoke, 'The Esquire' and 'Mojo' in Sheffield, 'Club a Go Go' in Newcastle and many more. Gradually as ıhe scene developed as a soul scene those on the cutting edge started to move away from the mod culture of the Small Faces, The Who etc. and nurtured their own idiosyncrasies.

Not yet even known as 'Northern Soul' the future was to be blueprinted in the summer of 1967. This was the time when many clubs (especially in the south) turned their backs on soul and went 'psychedelic'. It is recorded that Peter Stringfellow, then owner at the Mojo Club in Sheffield, donned kaftan, flares and beads ovenight declaring that 'the soul craze is over'. In the North, and primarily at the 'Twisted Wheel, they were not about to change a vibrant, secret world for anyone!

1968 brought about a change which was beyond the confines of these sceptered islands. This was within the music itself over in the land of soul, the USA. The psychedelic influence had, to a certain extent, permeated the making of soul iself, best illustrated in the Temptations' record 'Cloud Nine'. This change was not really appreciated by those at 'The Wheel' and other clubs. They hankered after the 'golden era' sounds of '64-'67. Thankfully for them, Black America had tried and often failed, with more soul music than they could ever imagine. The shift towards import-only discs (rather than UK labels) had begun. By 1969 a soul only shop called Soul City existed in London owned by journalist Dave Godin. He noticed that youths from the North tended to ask for uptempo soul from 3 or 4 years previous. Finally it was he who coined the term 'Northern Soul'

All through this time the Twisted Wheel had gone from strength to strength cemented by a massive article in Blues And Soul magazine entitled 'Land Of A Thousand Dances'. A plethora of establishments followed in the wake of the Twisted Wheel. Locally these would have been places such as Burnley Mecca. Top 20 in Oldham, Harrison's Hoist or the Birdtrap. As is always the case however, nothing lasts forever and, for a variety of reasons, by 1971 the Twisted Wheel was closed. The actual last night at the Wheel was an evening session on Saturday February 6th 1971 (ironically the thirteenth anniversary of the Munich Air Disaster), Unknown to all of us a much smaller pebble was about to be cast into the soul pond some twenty miles to the north

Easter 1971. Having seriously collected soul records for a few years and performed a certain amount of sporadic deejaying. one Raymond Ginger' Taylor and friend Eddie Antemes started a rare soul night at the Ukrainian Club in its first home at the Sobriety Hall, Todmorden
lt was not the first time that the Pennine mill town had been exposed to the music but it was the start of a whole sequence of events that was to see the town become synonymous with Northern Soul.

As is often the case, the origins of the night were both humble and practical with the two aspiring deejays having seen an advertisement in the local paper offering disco equipment for hire. Eddie's traditional family roots were responsible for the choice of venue. Local interest was immediate and forthcoming with scarcely a person over 20 years of age in attendance. Despite the fact that the place was named the 'Sobriety Hall', alcohol was served via a small hatch in the absence of a bar proper. Popular records from this time would have included Bobby Hebb 'Love. Love, Love', Joy Lovejoy 'In Orbit', Poets 'She Blew A Good thing', Ramsey Lewis 'Wade In The Water", Hoagy Lands 'Next In Line', Lenis Guess 'Just Ask Me', JJ Barnes 'Real Humdinger', Billy Butler 'Right Track', Chuck Jackson 'Chains Of Love', Archie Bell ' Here I Go Again", lots of Tamla Motown and, infamously, the 'fast' versions of 'I've Got Something Good' and 'You Just Don't Know'

Summer 1973 saw the Ukrainian community move to a much improved venue on Burnley Road, Todmorden. Formerly an office building for Mons Mill next door, this new building was named (surprise, surprise) the Ukrainian Hall with Ginger and Eddie's Friday Northern Soul night also making the move to the new venue. The night remained a popular one with the local crowd and as it was the only regular disco event in town a generation almost grew up with it. Nonetheless it was more or less a local affair with an admission price of 25 pence and beer at around the same price for a pint. One particular night was to establish the venue and project the deejay partnership beyond local boundaries however, this was the Christmas special of 1973. For the first time it was noticable that 'out-of-towners' were attending in significant numbers and such was the good time had by all that the word soon spread around the soul fraternity.

1974 was the heyday of the Ukrainian Hall (known locally as 'the Uky do') as people from Halifax, Rochdale, Burnley and further afield swelled the numbers in attendance to breaking point, far in excess of fire regulations in fact. By this time Ginger and Eddie had also taken a Thursday night residency at the Rose Room

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