Rob Wigley

Thought you'd find this piece from the Bridlington Weekender Mag interesting as a look back / forward to the Scarborough Weekender in October Scarborough Autumn Weekender. Looking Back, Looking Forward , Looking to become a classic. Cast your minds back to a sparkling sunny weekend in the Autumn days of October 2010 and the wonderful setting of Scarborough. Glorious sunshine shimmered across the bay during the day and framed the magnificent Spa Pavilion against the South bay cliffs, glistening off the tall glass structure. Then cue the music and let the first Scarborough Northern and Rare Soul Weekender get under way and straight into the groove. Based over two rooms,with a 90% 1960s music policy, the main room being classic oldies and current floor fillers and the rare and underplayed room it does exactly what it says on the tin. The crowd began to find their way up the stairs, or in the nifty lift, through the broad foyer area which quickly became a wind tunnel for the door staff. A lasting image for me will be Lynne Brady huddled up in her coat trying to prevent frostbite setting in in the brisk North Sea breeze every time both double doors were open into the smoking area! However the temperature soon rose as the brilliant main room sprang into life with the early birds trying out the new floor for size! I was pleased to see a totally new set of faces (to me) mingling in with familiar friends, a large contingent had made their way down from the North East and Scotland to attend. Also a fine showing from West of the Pennines had also made the journey. As the attendance was capped at 1,000 for the inaugural event, most made the effort to get there early and were inside by 10.00 pm on the Friday, including travellers from the South coast and Norfolk areas.This lead to what can only be described as a cracking atmosphere inboth rooms as classic and underplayed oldies followed one after theother in the main room. The over-riding fact was that people werethere to have a great time and dance the weekend away, which they did to tune after tune after tune. All the D J s played blinding sets andgave the crowd exactly what they wanted. Several visits to the rare room found atmosphere by the truck load, with a different ethos to the music and several tempos of sound intertwining to prove that not everyone wants the traditional style of 60s soul.However the dance floor was equally as busy as the dedicated faithful and rare soul searchers used the floor to their advantage. This room also feature a balcony, which was ideal as a place to watch, listen and learn as Tony Hatfield and the gang pulled out sound after sound to the applause of the appreciative audience. All too soon it was 2.00 am and the first session of the inaugural Scarborough Weekender came to a close and people began to wind their way back to their digs. The council even kept the funicular railway- cliff lift to you lot - open at this late hour for people staying in the South Cliff district towering above the Spa Complex. The lift has been there since 1875, making it just a year older than Soul Sam! The glorious sunshine returned on Saturday, although it was intermingled by a couple of sharp showers. A quick foray into a couple of the towns famous record shops found the usual suspects hovering in the corners and around the soul sections flicking through the piles of vinyl albums and 45s on display. A few rye smiles on the faces as I stopped to chat in the town later told their own tales of "vinyl discovery", mostly at bargain prices! The afternoon session was perfect for this venue, with a more relaxed feel and the superb cafÃÆ’© situated on the ground floor adjacent to the main entrance for those wanting something to eat.More akin to a chill out session early on, as the afternoon crowd grew sothe floor became busier and by the time the session ended people didn't really want to leave ! Onto Saturday night and the buzz and groove of the Friday continued,yours truly opened the session at seven thirty, I decided to mix in several truly underplayed Oldies. I was amazed at the comments I received and the attention this got to the decks "I haven't heard that for years", "What's this Rob " and "I didn't know you had that" were just a few I can recall. By the time I'd finished my hour's warm up the room was on its way to being packed, people seemed to want to savour every minute of this session and were really up for it. Super oldies sets from Dukesy, Bridgey, Richard Cryer, Rob Wicks and Pat Brady. Ensured the dancers had little time to rest their feet before the next classic tune hit the decks. A full dance floor all night speaks volumes to the quality of the records played, indeed the DJs seem to "up the ante" as it became obvious that people were there to dance and not sit looking into their drinks! I took the opportunity to keep up regular visits to the rare and under played room as did many others again the balcony area provided a birds eye view on the proceedings with the bar handily situated to get drinks whilst watching and listening. A welcome feature and much commented on was the smattering of rare 70s / crossover tunes now being played in this session-we always listen to what is being said and read on to findout some great news! As with the main room, the dance floor was especially busy. As I had a little more free time on the Saturday evening I spent time talking to friends new and old, the generally feeling on the Scarborough weekender was that it was long overdue! Many had attended events during the 1970s in the town and had very fond memories of the place. Throughout the evening I kept an eye on the Bars and no one seem to wait too long to get served, once again a great friendly atmosphere and a noticeable buzz throughout the venue.All too soon it was time to say goodnight and head off to my digs for some rest ! Sundays seagulls were in fine voice when I woke from my slumber, a quick shower and something to eat and it was down to the Spa for the all-day session, I was pleasantly surprised at the number that were inside soon after the 12 noon opening time, althoughI had to make my excuses and leave around 4.00 pm myself due to family commitments. All in all a fantastic inaugural weekender, witheveryone leaving with smiles on their faces and praise for the fantastic venue. A big thank you goes out to all involved from theDjs to our flyer teams and ticket agents and to the people whoattended to make it very special indeed. Thank You! After the initial success of this event and after protracted discussions with the management team the North Yorkshire Soul Collective in association with Pat Brady records are delighted to announce that the 2011 Scarborough weekender will take place over the weekend of 20th 21st & 22ndOctober 2011. After substantial refurbishment we are now able to offer the ultimate room for Northern Soul enjoyment, The Grand Hall is up and running and ready to go-go !! Somewhere in the region of £4 Million has been spent on the upgrade of the North side of the Spa complex including acompletely relaid dance floor to competition standard. Just wait till the Northern boys and girls get their feet on that. At the time of writing the DJ line up is being shaped and is awaiting confirmation - but there will be a full page advertisement along side this article if all goes to plan-so take it from there. I can tell you that Barnsley's favourite son Yocky isnow available to join the line up this year. There will also be a Northern Soul "Home International" as hosts England take on Scotland with the busiest dance floor as the prize. As with the 2010 event, we are keeping the room format basically the same, with the main hall being 90% classics and 10% current floor fillers. The York Soul Club are again calling the shots in the Rare and Underplayed room with Captain Tony Hatfield at the helm, guiding the rare soul "Matelot's" across the tempestuous dance floor.. well it is the seaside after all! Expect plenty of surprises in that room. To make the 2011, 2nd Scarborough Weekender extra special we have been listening to comments from YOU ,the people and we have now added a THIRD room to the event, loosely titled the Modern Room it will cover the years 1975 to present day,again with emphasis on keeping the dance floor busy. Bridlington residents John Kane and Martin Dixon have already agreed to join the line up. Watch the press for more details this also fills a void leftby the announcement of demise of the Prestatyn Legends Weekender earlier this year Tickets are priced at just £30 for the whole weekendand there is a fantastic range of reasonably priced guest houses, hotels and apartments to suit all pockets and taste. Tickets are available to buy over this weekend ask at the door for tickets or visit Pat Brady's recordstall. For more information or tickets on line visit http://www.scarboroughsoul.com Hope to see you all there. Rob Wigley.