The Wheatsheaf Walsall 84 To 86 Ish

[Guest souljack]

brilliant wee soul night at the wheatsheaf ,was as i remember at the time the longest running weekly soul night in the land,every thursday night 7.30 to 11.45,for 162 weeks,had a regular crowd of about 45/50 ish,and the wee room was rammed if 70 odd soulies appeared,had lots of great nights there,regular djs,were ken onions, john pugh,paul everton,and moi,what memories do you have of this great soul club,

[harpo1]

brilliant wee soul night at the wheatsheaf ,was as i remember at the time the longest running weekly soul night in the land,every thursday night 7.30 to 11.45,for 162 weeks,had a regular crowd of about 45/50 ish,and the wee room was rammed if 70 odd soulies appeared,had lots of great nights there,regular djs,were ken onions, john pugh,paul everton,and moi,what memories do you have of this great soul club,

Brilliant times Jack me old mate, used to come up with Pep 'n; Helen or Mac and Carl Jones, does this mean you are gonne want me to come up with yet another playlist???

[Soulhustler]

I can remember playing Esther Phillips While it lasted as an unknown & Betty lavette only your love can save me well before it was played else where. Harpo do you remember we replaced a record already cued by dave everson at the Oddfellows with Betty & asked him to play it for the Wheatsheaf crew, and he nearly had a baby, listend to it and proceded to ask how much!!!

[arnie j]

i remember it fondly my old friend, all the walsall boys went there, didnt richard domar dj there one of the nights ? hard to believe it was 24 yrs ago !!the night pat brady was on was brill, had loads of his tunes covered up,gibbo,daz and jackie,woza edwards, thommo,pickle(RIP)rod,pete ball,bratty,micky and me(jason) all used to go there and to many more to type now, dancers and chin strokers alike were there, big thanks to u jack for starting this long running super soul nite

[Guest garysoul82]

brilliant wee soul night at the wheatsheaf ,was as i remember at the time the longest running weekly soul night in the land,every thursday night 7.30 to 11.45,for 162 weeks,had a regular crowd of about 45/50 ish,and the wee room was rammed if 70 odd soulies appeared,had lots of great nights there,regular djs,were ken onions, john pugh,paul everton,and moi,what memories do you have of this great soul club,

spun some sounds there myself,remember pat brady on there,remember john pugh,kenny,little scotty,great little venue.

[Guest sandi]

brilliant wee soul night at the wheatsheaf ,was as i remember at the time the longest running weekly soul night in the land,every thursday night 7.30 to 11.45,for 162 weeks,had a regular crowd of about 45/50 ish,and the wee room was rammed if 70 odd soulies appeared,had lots of great nights there,regular djs,were ken onions, john pugh,paul everton,and moi,what memories do you have of this great soul club,

Hi Jack, yes l remember The Wheatsheaf with much fondness, it's what l call a proper old man's boozer......is it still there??.

I can still recall a lot of the folks that used to go, many a name escapes me now,but l never forget a face and l still see some of the old faces at local venues such as Goodyears and the Stables, among some of the friends l made are Archie and Steve Tudor,Big H,Trussa and Marie, Little Jackie, yourself and your girlfriend at the time (did you 2 ever get wed?) sorry l can't remember her name.

I also remember how small the venue was and l'm almost sure it had pillars in the middle of the room we had to dance around,or was that somewhere else ?

Good memories and great mates.

Sandi

[Guest]

brilliant wee soul night at the wheatsheaf ,was as i remember at the time the longest running weekly soul night in the land,every thursday night 7.30 to 11.45,for 162 weeks,had a regular crowd of about 45/50 ish,and the wee room was rammed if 70 odd soulies appeared,had lots of great nights there,regular djs,were ken onions, john pugh,paul everton,and moi,what memories do you have of this great soul club,

Yes, I remember the Wheatsheaf implicitely as a place, as one of it's earlier DJ's, along with Steve Ballard, up to mid 1985 and a time when Jack and myself (Steve Powell) had star headings in Black Echoes magazine with our famous Top 20 plays.

Good old days that had spin offs in to all-dayers and all-nighters, if the memories serve me right, at the old karate club in Walsall, possibly the Whitemere and Isabella's night club.

Would love to speak to Jack, as at present (as many people know) I am working on a current history of the West Midlands soul scene.

Still knocking about and hitting the dance floor as hard as ever.

Steve

[Pete S]

the old karate club in Walsall

Remember going to that a couple of times, it was late 78, Walsall Martial Arts Club, on a wednesday or thursday night I think

[harpo1]

Right as promised a playlist from the days of the Wheatsheaf, this is just some of the tunes i recall playing at times there, and rather than duplicate previous lists relating to the Cavendish/Cleveland etc...i've tried to cover other stuff i was playing at the time

Harpo

Bobby Sheen "Something new to do"

Bobby Smith "Walk on into my heart"

Sam Dees "Lonley for you baby"

Tommy Fontera "You're my leading lady"

Roy Roberts "Got to have your love"

Irene and the Scotts "I'm stuck on you baby"

Spyder Turner "I got to get myself together"

Monroe Taylor "Proud guy"

Jack Montgomery "Don't turn your back on me"

Maurice and the Radiants "Baby you got it"

Johnny Guitar Watson "I ain't gonna move"

21st Century "Shadow of a memory"

Shadows "My love is gone"

Strides "I can get along without your love"

Garnet Mimms "Prove it to me"

Gene Chandler "Bet you never thought"

Scotty Williams "Fear"

Kris Peterson "Just as much"

Lollipops "Loving good feeling"

Tobi Lark "Challenge my love"

Theres a few to go at....others will hopefully add their lists

[Guest]

Remember going to that a couple of times, it was late 78, Walsall Martial Arts Club, on a wednesday or thursday night I think

Sorry if I Got you confused on accounts of the Martial Arts Club, better known as The Whittimere Centre. I also did that in June/July '78 under the heading of 'Soul Express Disco', one of my many pseudonyms.

Was it you that starred with Carl Dean at the Queen Mary as Pete 'Soul' Smith in '73/'74?

[Pete S]

Sorry if I Got you confused on accounts of the Martial Arts Club, better known as The Whittimere Centre. I also did that in June/July '78 under the heading of 'Soul Express Disco', one of my many pseudonyms.

Was it you that starred with Carl Dean at the Queen Mary as Pete 'Soul' Smith in '73/'74?

Nah, was only 13 then I'm afraid!

[Guest souljack]

Yes, I remember the Wheatsheaf implicitely as a place, as one of it's earlier DJ's, along with Steve Ballard, up to mid 1985 and a time when Jack and myself (Steve Powell) had star headings in Black Echoes magazine with our famous Top 20 plays.

Good old days that had spin offs in to all-dayers and all-nighters, if the memories serve me right, at the old karate club in Walsall, possibly the Whitemere and Isabella's night club.

Would love to speak to Jack, as at present (as many people know) I am working on a current history of the West Midlands soul scene.

Still knocking about and hitting the dance floor as hard as ever.

Steve

steve my email is in my profile page here,and i have pm'd you i will be at winsford on sat night if you are going mate,be good to have a natter,ktf jack,

[Guest rod]

Remember playin "Candy"-first class & We're goin' all the way (by some Americain football groupies) & everyone askin "Wot the f*** is this shit?"

2 weeks later on lots of chins were being squeezed (not stroked) ha ha ha . & Those 2 skinheads (Stoneys mates)... Well thjats anothr story!

SLOW SIXTIES RULE

[Munchkin]

Remember going to that a couple of times, it was late 78, Walsall Martial Arts Club, on a wednesday or thursday night I think

martial arts centre oppersite the royal....

yvonne and evlyn , andy and bev simms, little mouse from darlo..... pen and wig in walsall too

[burt weedon]

the pen n wig;kev burden,bugie,larkin,kenny h.pete nixon steve porter.chris plant,dawn,etc,

that was arr meetin place,for years b4 ur clan started to cum.gaffre woz pete the bar man used to 2 the wheel,

used to send me into the dirty duck for the gear,,,only one who looked oldie enough..then they shot sum one as id just bin surted,,,,

1978-----1980

Edited July 11, 2009 by burt

[JOHNNYBETCHA]

in reply to someone who asked if the pubs still there - well yes it is I was in there a few days ago!! They also used to have a fantastic R&B club there as well and had most of the best local groups on. They still have groups on now and again upstairs. I went up to have a nostalgic look at the room and I tell you what it looks absolutely bloody tiny!

[harpo1]

Remember playin "Candy"-first class

Wish i could get a copy now Rod none about

Harpo

[Guest rod]

Remember playin "Candy"-first class

Wish i could get a copy now Rod none about

Harpo

Been tryin' to find someone who's got a copy myself & get them to post it up so I can add it to my new collection, all on SDO (snide download only). Wish I still had all them tunes now, I'd sell the lot & retire. Can't believe the price stuff like "it takes heart" & mark sedane is going for these days. credit crunch?

[purist]

You sure about them dates Jack ? I thought you started it before Wigan closed down? Didn't we used to arrange lifts for the weekend while Wigan was still going, and I thought we did the whole moaning conversation about the umpteenth last nite rip off in the Wheatsheaf? I know we were still doing the lift arranging in the Stafford era, as well as Oddfellows, Warrington, etc. and the buses you ran to several other further flung venues.

When we were at the previous USOS at the Royal Hotel, standing outside having a cool off I couldn't help but look up the road in the direction of the Wheatsheaf. So many happy memories, and a few photos somewhere.

Good job there's no photos of those burglars who went to a certain lads flat in order to make sure the nite went ahead one thursday. You must remember, when the lanky plonker had locked the disco gear in his flat ?

cheers

john pugh

[Guest souljack]

You sure about them dates Jack ? I thought you started it before Wigan closed down? Didn't we used to arrange lifts for the weekend while Wigan was still going, and I thought we did the whole moaning conversation about the umpteenth last nite rip off in the Wheatsheaf? I know we were still doing the lift arranging in the Stafford era, as well as Oddfellows, Warrington, etc. and the buses you ran to several other further flung venues.

When we were at the previous USOS at the Royal Hotel, standing outside having a cool off I couldn't help but look up the road in the direction of the Wheatsheaf. So many happy memories, and a few photos somewhere.

Good job there's no photos of those burglars who went to a certain lads flat in order to make sure the nite went ahead one thursday. You must remember, when the lanky plonker had locked the disco gear in his flat ?

cheers

john pugh

hey john,you could be right about the dates my memories getting a bit on the tired side matey,and as for the housebreaking i can only say whilst it was justified to get the equipment out for our wee soul nite,i seem to remember that mr ken onions was a wee bit better at getting in than wee were,mispent yoof kenneth???????good times and happy days what about a wee wheatsheaf re union night??

[Guest Flash]

[Guest Flash]

Sandi.

The Wheatsheaf in Birmingham street Walsall is still there, the room used was exclusively for Jazz when this was my local.

The Landlady Marge Shelley let her son Jim Shelley use it for his Eagle Jazz band.

Best night ever was when George Melley sang live and consumed three bottles of Brandy during his performance.

I never got to any of the Northern events, as I had moved out of Walsall by then.

Flash 74