Great memories to kick off this thread and i might even catch up with a few old pommy mates as well thru it. My first introduction to this fantastic music was at The George Hotel near the Peterborough station on a Sunday night.Me work mate Martin Allpress took me up there, thanks mate. Steve Allen used to run the weekly do and the atmosphere was brilliant. Small carpeted room, first record that got me going was Sam and Kitty, i got something good.Never missed one after that. Remember going to the Phoenix Soul Club at the Wirrina dressed in a 3 piece suit and stack soled shoes, what a knob ed!! Saw all me old schoolmates back dropping, wearing baggy trousers and brogues, dancing to Frankie Valli, the night. That was it for me, suit went in the bin, Derby market was next port of call for me baggies and bowling shirts and i never looked back from there. That has to be around mid 1973. Paul Donnelly will have the right dates i'm sure. Look forward to hearing your stories. Stay soulful, Tony E.

  suinoz said:

Great memories to kick off this thread and i might even catch up with a few old pommy mates as well thru it. My first introduction to this fantastic music was at The George Hotel near the Peterborough station on a Sunday night.Me work mate Martin Allpress took me up there, thanks mate. Steve Allen used to run the weekly do and the atmosphere was brilliant. Small carpeted room, first record that got me going was Sam and Kitty, i got something good.Never missed one after that. Remember going to the Phoenix Soul Club at the Wirrina dressed in a 3 piece suit and stack soled shoes, what a knob ed!! Saw all me old schoolmates back dropping, wearing baggy trousers and brogues, dancing to Frankie Valli, the night. That was it for me, suit went in the bin, Derby market was next port of call for me baggies and bowling shirts and i never looked back from there. That has to be around mid 1973. Paul Donnelly will have the right dates i'm sure. Look forward to hearing your stories. Stay soulful, Tony E.

I believe the Phoenix niters at the Wirrina ran from Feb 1975 to about Sept/Oct 1976. Sadly the George is now a mutli story car park after they decided to smash the heart out of the city centre and give us Queensgate and a mutlitude of disco and wine bars ....

  MickD said:

I believe the Phoenix niters at the Wirrina ran from Feb 1975 to about Sept/Oct 1976. Sadly the George is now a mutli story car park after they decided to smash the heart out of the city centre and give us Queensgate and a mutlitude of disco and wine bars ....

Yep Mick the nighters were around that time but i remember them having either a Friday or a Sunday session quite a bit earlier than that. Gary Spencer, Jonah were 2 of the deejay's. Went back to Peterborough last year, wow what a difference. The Wirrina was still there, or at least part of it. Will be back again in September, hoping to catch up with Paul Donnelly, Smudge Smith and who ever else i bump into on or off the dancefloor. Great times the 70's,Wigan Caisno, Lotus Cortinas, Bike Racing oh and my favourite venue Notts Palais alldayers. There having a reunion next April i hear, hoping to fly the 12000 miles for that one. All the best mate, Tony E. Western Australia.

https://www.soul-source.co.uk/index.p...mp;#entry675177 Hi Tony , thought you might be interested , the above link is to a thread all about "First taste of Soul" , which was on here a while ago , its fun reading so thought you might like it luv Di xxxxx

In a week that Falkirk lost a wayward son it takes me back many many years.

Falkirk was a "soul" desert, in fact I thought ,I hated it and I was a DJ!! and I know this might be hard to acccept but 1973 small town Scotland was "My Coo Ca Choo" etc etc etc

went on holiday a week early one year (we used to to go to Paignton in Devon and I was on my own for a week and my mates joining me later). Anyway got bored (Ironically at the Casino On Paignton seeafront) went to Torquay ,met some guys from Stoke ,one in particular Steve " Dixie" Dean went to the Compass club,he took me to the top floor walked in to Junior Walker, wailing sax, people shuffling and spinning and BOOM!!! the next 20 years of my life were altered.

Dixie was about to go home and get married,he gave me a small box of records had emis.pressings and motown things (all with a little S Dean sticker on them) they could have come from mars for all I knew then about imports soul,etc etc et ***** cetera. I was hooked.

went home with the records and got Falkirk Hooked..............line and sinker!!! Dixie had told me about all nighters etc etc and eventually made Wigan Casino one week after the first anniversary. Met so many people had so many happy times,enjoyed the music AND THE PLACE!!

RIP Big HANK RIP Jackie Pritchard RIP other scots soulsters Ned Jordan etc etc etc and all the other soul scene people I had the great fortune to meet.

I did not quite keep the faith because ultimately I have to admit after the Casino nothing else really did it for me,BUT I still love oldies, Drifted away ,family,job and all sorts of things meant more. I admire those who stuck/stick with it but I also admire those who did not have the same "stamina" as long as one record made/makes your goose bumps go,that was enough

KTF

Tc

Hi Tony........yoof club for me, Oakdale Boys Club 1975 to be precise, couldn't tell you what the first record was that actually got me hooked, I'd always liked soul music from a very young age so the progression to this new type of soul was easy, exciting times...still are now.

Hope to catch up with you in Perth at The National....we're going down to Sydney next weekend, are you over?......give my regards to Sue.

KTF

Baz

  suinoz said:

Great memories to kick off this thread and i might even catch up with a few old pommy mates as well thru it. My first introduction to this fantastic music was at The George Hotel near the Peterborough station on a Sunday night.Me work mate Martin Allpress took me up there, thanks mate. Steve Allen used to run the weekly do and the atmosphere was brilliant. Small carpeted room, first record that got me going was Sam and Kitty, i got something good.Never missed one after that. Remember going to the Phoenix Soul Club at the Wirrina dressed in a 3 piece suit and stack soled shoes, what a knob ed!! Saw all me old schoolmates back dropping, wearing baggy trousers and brogues, dancing to Frankie Valli, the night. That was it for me, suit went in the bin, Derby market was next port of call for me baggies and bowling shirts and i never looked back from there. That has to be around mid 1973. Paul Donnelly will have the right dates i'm sure. Look forward to hearing your stories. Stay soulful, Tony E.

Hi Tony....just off topic mate, I see that you're DJing in my old neck of the woods at the Opera House in Bournemouth, top venue...let me know how it goes, if anyone say's I owe them money deny you know me...lol

KTF

Baz

  bazabod_downunder said:

Hi Tony........yoof club for me, Oakdale Boys Club 1975 to be precise, couldn't tell you what the first record was that actually got me hooked, I'd always liked soul music from a very young age so the progression to this new type of soul was easy, exciting times...still are now.

Hope to catch up with you in Perth at The National....we're going down to Sydney next weekend, are you over?......give my regards to Sue.

KTF

Baz

Hiya Baz, Luvly jubbly mate, Sue and i are off to the U.K for a month, leave on Thursday and have some awesome gigs planned plus some great guest spots, 5 in all including the Opera House in sunny Bournmouth. Won't be at the national for obvious reasons but we will be having a do at THE FLY the week before. It's still going thru the roof, we had just under 200 there on Friday,you really should come over to see it for yourself. Anyway hope to catch up somewhere, sometime in the future. Say hi to Kath. Stay soulful and K.T.F. Tony E. South West Soul, AKA THE FLY Fremantle W.A.

This is something I wrote a few years ago, I was thinking it would be the 1st chapter of a book but thats as far as I got Had it published by Searling on his B&S pages.

Could never find time to continue......thought I would share.

It seemed like a blinding idea at the time , I had tried Rock & Roll, Heavy/Progressive Rock, Reggae, Ska, you name it I had been through the whole gamut of musical genres on the planet I had even swapped my prized footy programme collection for a school chums sisters motown singles collection and now at the ripe old age of fifteen I was ready for, as the python team enthused "something completely different".

"C'mon Steve, you'll love it"......Although it was strictly over eighteens I was assured by my peers, that in my silver buttoned (cringe) blazer and tie I would have no problems getting past the heavies on the door. So, Saturday night arrived and with fake birth certificate in hand I boarded the free coach that would take me to the place which spawned my interest in.......... "NORTHERN SOUL" (although, it had not been actually named just yet!)

It was about 8pm on an Autumnal Saturday back in 1971,looking back I probably looked more than a bit of a twat in my zoot suit and brogues, but at the time I was the biz, a real babe magnet, well I thought so and that's what mattered as I stood in the seemingly endless line of baggy trousered guys and even baggier skirted women, all waiting for their turn through the doors, and up the two escalators that lead to the Highland room, situated on the top floor of the famous BLACKPOOL MECCA. I had heard about a place in Manchester called The Twisted Wheel which was supposedly the dogs bollocks but hey, that was Manchester, not a place for a fifteen year old... soon to be ..."White Soul Brother" dressed up looking like a pox doctors apprentice.

As I walked down that final corridor and through the entrance into the Highland room, something hit me like a sledgehammer, other than the sweet sickly smell of stale Brut aftershave.........The atmosphere........It was just unforgettable. The room was blast furnace hot; the low ceiling dripped a mixture of sweat, nicotine and cologne. I had only been on the scene for about twenty minutes and I was part of it, strangers from Scotland, Stoke, Birmingham, London, plus a few people I recognised from my home town Burnley, coming up, shaking my hand, offering to show me around the place and introduce me to their friends, genuine people, no front, no bullshit, all brought together, on a Saturday night in a Lancashire club, the only common denominators being the music and to a slightly lesser degree, the drugs, of which I will get back to at another time.

So, I decided to get another beer, and stood watching the dancers go through their various routines, and was in awe with the acrobatics and spins, all those whirling bodies packed onto what was only a medium size dancefloor, no handbags, all dancing individually, never even touching.....I suppose to an outsider or cloakroom attendant it was like some form of synchronized epilepsy. I must have stood there for a couple of hours watching these lads and lasses, tapping my feet, taking in the music, but all my dancing was going on in my head....at fifteen I was to dancing what the two fat ladies are to hang-gliding.....all my silky Astaire-like, gettin-on-down prow-ess was quite a way off.

It was two am, the end of the night, a little worse for the drink, legs tired from watching all the dancers, ears buzzing like a thousand...............buzzing things, we all trooped down the stairs, and out into the street, shirts instantly sucked onto our clammy torso's as soon as the night air hit our faces. After a few hugs and kisses and copious amounts of handshaking from my new found "brothers & sisters", it was time to make haste to the football club car park around the corner. Wearily boarding the coach we all sat down at the back, talking about the night, who we had met....."Did you see that guy with the tash.. spin?"..."The one in the vest....oh yeah! that was Legs",he`s always out of his box, but what a mover"....Listening to yet more of the music on portable cassette players...."Listen to this one......you wont believe it, but this is Chubby Checker".

And that was it, my first introduction to the scene, that little did I know at the time, would stay with me all my life. Snuggling down in my seat, using the window as a pillow drifting off into sleeplessness, I had only three questions for myself........"how the hell do they get that Legs guy back in his box?"

"Where can I learn to dance like him?".........."and who the f@ck is Chubby Checker?"

My first introduction to Northern(b4 they became Bradford Bulls) was about 30 yrs ago---i remember it well --they lost 32-4 at home to Wakefield Trinity--and it poured down all thru the match!!!!Happy days---WHAT DO YOU MEAN ,I,VE GOT IT WRONG????

Tony Coleby

  topcatnumpty1 said:

My first introduction to Northern(b4 they became Bradford Bulls) was about 30 yrs ago---i remember it well --they lost 32-4 at home to Wakefield Trinity--and it poured down all thru the match!!!!Happy days---WHAT DO YOU MEAN ,I,VE GOT IT WRONG????

Tony Coleby

Funny enough my wife Grandad was in charge of the St Johns first-aid at Nothern for many years.

  Steve Lane said:

This is something I wrote a few years ago, I was thinking it would be the 1st chapter of a book but thats as far as I got Had it published by Searling on his B&S pages.

Could never find time to continue......thought I would share.

It seemed like a blinding idea at the time , I had tried Rock & Roll, Heavy/Progressive Rock, Reggae, Ska, you name it I had been through the whole gamut of musical genres on the planet I had even swapped my prized footy programme collection for a school chums sisters motown singles collection and now at the ripe old age of fifteen I was ready for, as the python team enthused "something completely different".

"C'mon Steve, you'll love it"......Although it was strictly over eighteens I was assured by my peers, that in my silver buttoned (cringe) blazer and tie I would have no problems getting past the heavies on the door. So, Saturday night arrived and with fake birth certificate in hand I boarded the free coach that would take me to the place which spawned my interest in.......... "NORTHERN SOUL" (although, it had not been actually named just yet!)

It was about 8pm on an Autumnal Saturday back in 1971,looking back I probably looked more than a bit of a twat in my zoot suit and brogues, but at the time I was the biz, a real babe magnet, well I thought so and that's what mattered as I stood in the seemingly endless line of baggy trousered guys and even baggier skirted women, all waiting for their turn through the doors, and up the two escalators that lead to the Highland room, situated on the top floor of the famous BLACKPOOL MECCA. I had heard about a place in Manchester called The Twisted Wheel which was supposedly the dogs bollocks but hey, that was Manchester, not a place for a fifteen year old... soon to be ..."White Soul Brother" dressed up looking like a pox doctors apprentice.

As I walked down that final corridor and through the entrance into the Highland room, something hit me like a sledgehammer, other than the sweet sickly smell of stale Brut aftershave.........The atmosphere........It was just unforgettable. The room was blast furnace hot; the low ceiling dripped a mixture of sweat, nicotine and cologne. I had only been on the scene for about twenty minutes and I was part of it, strangers from Scotland, Stoke, Birmingham, London, plus a few people I recognised from my home town Burnley, coming up, shaking my hand, offering to show me around the place and introduce me to their friends, genuine people, no front, no bullshit, all brought together, on a Saturday night in a Lancashire club, the only common denominators being the music and to a slightly lesser degree, the drugs, of which I will get back to at another time.

So, I decided to get another beer, and stood watching the dancers go through their various routines, and was in awe with the acrobatics and spins, all those whirling bodies packed onto what was only a medium size dancefloor, no handbags, all dancing individually, never even touching.....I suppose to an outsider or cloakroom attendant it was like some form of synchronized epilepsy. I must have stood there for a couple of hours watching these lads and lasses, tapping my feet, taking in the music, but all my dancing was going on in my head....at fifteen I was to dancing what the two fat ladies are to hang-gliding.....all my silky Astaire-like, gettin-on-down prow-ess was quite a way off.

It was two am, the end of the night, a little worse for the drink, legs tired from watching all the dancers, ears buzzing like a thousand...............buzzing things, we all trooped down the stairs, and out into the street, shirts instantly sucked onto our clammy torso's as soon as the night air hit our faces. After a few hugs and kisses and copious amounts of handshaking from my new found "brothers & sisters", it was time to make haste to the football club car park around the corner. Wearily boarding the coach we all sat down at the back, talking about the night, who we had met....."Did you see that guy with the tash.. spin?"..."The one in the vest....oh yeah! that was Legs",he`s always out of his box, but what a mover"....Listening to yet more of the music on portable cassette players...."Listen to this one......you wont believe it, but this is Chubby Checker".

And that was it, my first introduction to the scene, that little did I know at the time, would stay with me all my life. Snuggling down in my seat, using the window as a pillow drifting off into sleeplessness, I had only three questions for myself........"how the hell do they get that Legs guy back in his box?"

"Where can I learn to dance like him?".........."and who the f@ck is Chubby Checker?"

Hi Steve, great post, beat me to the Mecca by 5/6 weeks.

Good to see you on Sat at the Barn.

Dave

it was a good night Dave!.....not really a fan of modern but for a change it was a great night.

The Northern Barn is next month.

My first experience of Northern was at Joe Turners dance academy in Walkden.

My girlfriend was called Beverly Griffiths and she bought me a birthday card with "TEN MILES HIGH - With BG" on it.

It was an u18s disco but had an hour of Northern playing Dobie GRAY / Travis wammack /David & Giants etc we used to all shout "Just one more Joe" - Great days

Could you imagine everyone who used to go there turning up to what is now someones back garden and starting to dance to these old classics - we would get lifted within 5 minutes (A dig at the Wigan 36th anniversary)

hi ernie, loved the music hall all-nighters. couldn't beat clouds though... learnt to dance in my bedroom at 10 year old. the records which my sister had then- human beinz-nobody but me. joey d- how can i forget. we used to organise northern days in schools, churches and anywhere else we could- even in the streets! it was a special time-for all of us.

  Steve Lane said:

This is something I wrote a few years ago, I was thinking it would be the 1st chapter of a book but thats as far as I got Had it published by Searling on his B&S pages.

Could never find time to continue......thought I would share.

It seemed like a blinding idea at the time , I had tried Rock & Roll, Heavy/Progressive Rock, Reggae, Ska, you name it I had been through the whole gamut of musical genres on the planet I had even swapped my prized footy programme collection for a school chums sisters motown singles collection and now at the ripe old age of fifteen I was ready for, as the python team enthused "something completely different".

"C'mon Steve, you'll love it"......Although it was strictly over eighteens I was assured by my peers, that in my silver buttoned (cringe) blazer and tie I would have no problems getting past the heavies on the door. So, Saturday night arrived and with fake birth certificate in hand I boarded the free coach that would take me to the place which spawned my interest in.......... "NORTHERN SOUL" (although, it had not been actually named just yet!)

It was about 8pm on an Autumnal Saturday back in 1971,looking back I probably looked more than a bit of a twat in my zoot suit and brogues, but at the time I was the biz, a real babe magnet, well I thought so and that's what mattered as I stood in the seemingly endless line of baggy trousered guys and even baggier skirted women, all waiting for their turn through the doors, and up the two escalators that lead to the Highland room, situated on the top floor of the famous BLACKPOOL MECCA. I had heard about a place in Manchester called The Twisted Wheel which was supposedly the dogs bollocks but hey, that was Manchester, not a place for a fifteen year old... soon to be ..."White Soul Brother" dressed up looking like a pox doctors apprentice.

As I walked down that final corridor and through the entrance into the Highland room, something hit me like a sledgehammer, other than the sweet sickly smell of stale Brut aftershave.........The atmosphere........It was just unforgettable. The room was blast furnace hot; the low ceiling dripped a mixture of sweat, nicotine and cologne. I had only been on the scene for about twenty minutes and I was part of it, strangers from Scotland, Stoke, Birmingham, London, plus a few people I recognised from my home town Burnley, coming up, shaking my hand, offering to show me around the place and introduce me to their friends, genuine people, no front, no bullshit, all brought together, on a Saturday night in a Lancashire club, the only common denominators being the music and to a slightly lesser degree, the drugs, of which I will get back to at another time.

So, I decided to get another beer, and stood watching the dancers go through their various routines, and was in awe with the acrobatics and spins, all those whirling bodies packed onto what was only a medium size dancefloor, no handbags, all dancing individually, never even touching.....I suppose to an outsider or cloakroom attendant it was like some form of synchronized epilepsy. I must have stood there for a couple of hours watching these lads and lasses, tapping my feet, taking in the music, but all my dancing was going on in my head....at fifteen I was to dancing what the two fat ladies are to hang-gliding.....all my silky Astaire-like, gettin-on-down prow-ess was quite a way off.

It was two am, the end of the night, a little worse for the drink, legs tired from watching all the dancers, ears buzzing like a thousand...............buzzing things, we all trooped down the stairs, and out into the street, shirts instantly sucked onto our clammy torso's as soon as the night air hit our faces. After a few hugs and kisses and copious amounts of handshaking from my new found "brothers & sisters", it was time to make haste to the football club car park around the corner. Wearily boarding the coach we all sat down at the back, talking about the night, who we had met....."Did you see that guy with the tash.. spin?"..."The one in the vest....oh yeah! that was Legs",he`s always out of his box, but what a mover"....Listening to yet more of the music on portable cassette players...."Listen to this one......you wont believe it, but this is Chubby Checker".

And that was it, my first introduction to the scene, that little did I know at the time, would stay with me all my life. Snuggling down in my seat, using the window as a pillow drifting off into sleeplessness, I had only three questions for myself........"how the hell do they get that Legs guy back in his box?"

"Where can I learn to dance like him?".........."and who the f@ck is Chubby Checker?"

Great read, you have way of putting it I can relate to. Write the book, put it all down warts and all and I'll be yer first buyer.

  landfillgas said:

In a week that Falkirk lost a wayward son it takes me back many many years.

Falkirk was a "soul" desert, in fact I thought ,I hated it and I was a DJ!! and I know this might be hard to acccept but 1973 small town Scotland was "My Coo Ca Choo" etc etc etc

went on holiday a week early one year (we used to to go to Paignton in Devon and I was on my own for a week and my mates joining me later). Anyway got bored (Ironically at the Casino On Paignton seeafront) went to Torquay ,met some guys from Stoke ,one in particular Steve " Dixie" Dean went to the Compass club,he took me to the top floor walked in to Junior Walker, wailing sax, people shuffling and spinning and BOOM!!! the next 20 years of my life were altered.

Dixie was about to go home and get married,he gave me a small box of records had emis.pressings and motown things (all with a little S Dean sticker on them) they could have come from mars for all I knew then about imports soul,etc etc et ***** cetera. I was hooked.

went home with the records and got Falkirk Hooked..............line and sinker!!! Dixie had told me about all nighters etc etc and eventually made Wigan Casino one week after the first anniversary. Met so many people had so many happy times,enjoyed the music AND THE PLACE!!

RIP Big HANK RIP Jackie Pritchard RIP other scots soulsters Ned Jordan etc etc etc and all the other soul scene people I had the great fortune to meet.

I did not quite keep the faith because ultimately I have to admit after the Casino nothing else really did it for me,BUT I still love oldies, Drifted away ,family,job and all sorts of things meant more. I admire those who stuck/stick with it but I also admire those who did not have the same "stamina" as long as one record made/makes your goose bumps go,that was enough

KTF

Tc

Well I'm glad you did come back and get us hooked! I don't know if we would have discovered it, or had anyone motivated enough in falkirk to get it all going the way you did. So thank you for all you did in getting the scene started for us there.

I had actually just started to hear about it because Liz Ryan had been staying at her Granny's in Grimsby! She had been showing me how to dance and I remember we were dancing in the Metro, when Leggy Brown came up and said there was a bus going to Wigan! We couldn't believe it! So as you say that was us hooked.

Because you were DJing in the "normal" disco's whenever our crowd appeared - on would go the Northern! You could see the other "punter's" shoulders slump when they saw us!

The furthest we ventured was Coalville, remember that? It was about three in the morning when we got there. Then there was the disaster of Chester -Le- Street when Leggy ran off with the money! And we couldn't pay the driver, yes there were many dramas , but a great time!

  davetay said:

Funny enough my wife Grandad was in charge of the St Johns first-aid at Nothern for many years.

Nice badge Dave. I remember going into Manchester to pick that up.

im the odd one out! coz my intro to northern was my mum n dad but the very first time i went to a ns night was at skeggy coz my gran had chalets at mablethorpe up the road from skeggy, and my mum n dad took me. it sounds really crap compared to everyone elses,lol.

i can remember my dad teaching me how to dance in the kitchen on this horrid red lino we had in there, a proper 70/80s brown kitchen,lol. they were both dancing and i were mesmerised at how they both moved like they were sliding on a rotatin 45! and i begged and begged them to teach me, i was about 5 or 6,lol!!

so thats my noval intro to northern

I was first introduced to 'Northern Soul' through a friend of mine 'Dave Maltas' in a record shop in Leeds. I was in there buying my weekly fix of Motown tunes, when I got talking to him and in passing he mentioned a club in Stoke called 'The Golden Torch' and did I fancy going that night? I asked him what went on there and he told me that they played Northern Soul, I had absolutely no idea what that was, but it sounded like a good idea anyway. So off we went, we got on a coach outside Leeds train station and ended up in Tunstall, Stoke a couple of hours later. I can still remember as if it was yesterday the feeling that I got when I walked into the Torch, I have never since experienced such a rush of atmosphere that hit me when that door opened, and I don't think I ever will again. It was hot, dark, packed and very loud, I had never seen or heard anything like it. Lads walking round in vests, all that seemed to have a sewn on badge of some sort, with sweat dripping from their foreheads and their jaws going ten to the dozen chewing on gum. The dozens of girls all seemed to wear long flowing skirts and ankle socks. I must admit that the music sounded strange to me at the time, but try explaining what Northern Soul is to anyone that doesn't know. Well there's no need for me to do that, as I am sure that if you have taken the trouble to get this far, you already know what it is. I couldn't believe how these folks danced to the music all night, but I soon found out.

The rest is history, I went to 'The Torch' every week from then on until it closed, Then came 'The Leeds Central 'Wigan Casino', Cleethorpes pier and Winter gardens, Va Va's, Blackpool Mecca, Manchester Ritz, and literally anywhere that Northern was played, anywhere in the country.

Extract from my profile on Myspace - myspace.com/soulfull_1

Edited December 25, 200816 yr by steveluigi