So tongue in cheek, and a good wind up......but just in case anyone takes this load of old rubbish seriously........and knowing how the internet is so widely used for "research" these days......I wouldn't want the NS history to be totally rewritten off of the back of the above.......
The south has had plenty of people into soul music, and in the 60s and 70s too. For what it is worth outposts from all over the UK 'popped' up to Wigan and as for Yate, last time I looked it would broadly be classed as 'the south' and supported a highly succesfully fortnightly allnighter for years.
Back in those days before wannabe intellectuals tried to categorise everything (apart from Tony Cummings who was at it even then with his Black Music analyses ) it was fair to say the most people got into northern soul because it was away from the mainstream. It was not what the BBC was playing at us, it was underground, non conformist and yet had a sense of togetherness, and you had to seek it out to find it. "Class" wasn't really a major factor - the point was on the dancefloor the background of the person next to you didn't matter. In fact in the SE reggae probably had as big a following as soul amongst the working class council estates where I lived, and amongst the soul fraternity, soul also meant things like James Brown, Ohio Players, Whispers etc. more than it ever meant Frank Wilson. Also popular on the council estates in the SE were Slade, Quo, Mud, Alvin Stardust; yes Chorleysoul all favourites amongst the "working class" girls I used to date.
So I think at best where you live or how you were brought up has only a slight bearing, if any, on you getting into soul music. Though it's very concvenient for us to all tag ourselves as repressed working class kids who related to Al Williams "I am nothing", the more plausible reason was because at the time it was a fashionable underground scene, with smart clothes, obscure music, and sense of belonging.
As for Ian's question, yup we are always celebrating success, just look at the Lifeline events lookback thread.
Where we tend to moan is when we hear people harping on endlessly about yesterday's successes, like some old semi senile grandparent reliving past glories of a generation ago - it's like a stuck record.