Kathryn Magson

I'd say you're thinking of Sam Evans too - lovely woman & a FAB dancer!

Well said Frankie - this thread makes for very interesting reading! Hope he drops out this week though - not happy about it all being on prime-time telly! Channel 4 & to a very small audience in the early hours is one thing, but Strictly Come Dancing & now The Greatest Dancer?? NOOOOOOOO!! 😣😥

Does it REALLY matter how anyone dances? I like to see a good dancer - at a venue & male or female - but what I like most is seeing a floor full of people - good dancers or not - enjoying the music. The issue here for me is that NS is being portrayed way too often on the mass media & that brings in too much unwanted attention. I cringe every time the term Northern Soul crops up on the telly! I've been at events both as a visitor & also involved on the promotional side & seen problems caused by "outsiders" - they're drunk - drinks/handbags etc on the dance floor - moaning that they don't know any of the music - "Haven't you got Bernadette...…...?" I put the blame for all this fair & square on NS cropping up on prime-time telly - The Greatest Dancer is the most recent one. Oh for the days when no-one had heard of it apart from the few of us who were really into it all!

I'm on here because I love my soul music - just saddened to see some of the handbaggers getting into it since it's been mainstreamed by the media & calling themselves "soulies". I was at a soul night a couple of weeks ago, when a woman next to me on the dance floor fell over - I went to pick her up, but couldn't manage on my own as she was a dead, drunken weight. Her husband/partner came to help me get her on her feet - the next few times she fell over various other people in the room picked her up. After the 8th time she was sprawled out on the floor everyone in the room was fed up & left her where she was - just danced around her. Eventually her husband tried to pick her up but couldn't get her on her upright, so he picked up her feet & towed her across the dance floor - flat on her back - to where she & her friends were sitting. Another drunken handbagger at the same event was trying to salsa with a huge Santa that was standing on the stage & almost dragged him down on top of her. This was a nice venue - it was my first visit & not very local to me, but all these drunks spoiling the night was enough to put me off making the effort to go there again. Huge shame - the DJs were good & the music was great - just spoiled by the non-soul crowd that were there. Not the first time I've seen a good night marred by people not on the soul scene - they see it on the telly & think "oooh this northern soul looks good...…..." I really don't care what people are wearing...….how well they can dance...…....or that they like a drink...…I'm certainly not tee-total......I just want a good night out around civilized people who love the music & appreciate the whole scene as much as I do.

Well said Steve - I still get out to plenty of soul nights, but like you I'm picky about where I go. I don't hit the floor like I used to, but still like a bit of a shuffle now & again & I love to see a full floor of people enjoying the music. It always saddens me to see it on telly - I've been to a few soul nights recently where non-soul crowd were there - some embarrassingly drunk - & I blame it on Northern being in focus so often on mainstream telly. I've no objection to new/ younger faces being on the scene, but some just don't understand it all & will never fit in will they?

I clicked like on Moxey's post - didn't really mean I actually like it - just that sadly I agree with him. It's all become way too commercial for me - Northern is now the new pop music & not the underground scene I used to know & love. I don't even say that I like Northern any more - 60 s soul - yes; R&B - yes; rare soul - yes; but Northern??? I still love the music, but not the way the scene has gone. Like Moxey says - it's a joke now - I know others who feel the same way. ☹️

Place called The Golden Disc in Keighley in 1966 & just turned 15 - 1st & only time I went there. After that, I was at The Twisted Wheel almost every weekend - very occasionally went to The Plebs (Halifax) or The Birdtrap (nr Burnley), but more often the Wheel - it won hands down for me. I was there just about every weekend from 1966-70. Told my parents I was sleeping at a mate's house - she used to say she was sleeping at mine...…...happy days!

1965 for me - local at first, then across the Pennines in 1966 to the all-nighters at the Twisted Wheel - long before Dave Godin came up from London to find out why he'd heard so much about this place called the Twisted Wheel. Only then did he coin the phrase "Northern Soul" - happy days - I'd do it all again in a heartbeat if I could turn back the clock!💃 💃 💃

It's not so much trying to force us oldies out - more a case of them looking down on anyone older. Most of us can't dance as well as we used to - some of the younger ones will spin & backdrop etc with a smirk on their faces & try to take over the dance floor, leaving no room for others. I've sat & watched them do it - I quite enjoy just watching a busy dance floor. Having said all this - most of the younger end that I've met are nice & get on well with everyone regardless of age - room for all of us I reckon. I know a few oldies too that object to the younger end being there...…..