So how did me getting into Northern Soul start?Well at the time you either liked Donny Osmond,David Cassidy,The Rubettes ,Alvin Stardust that kind of thing...Or you you went another direction,Pink Floyd,Deep Purple,Led Zepplin,Black Sabbath....Or you turned to Barry White,Al Green,The Isley Brothers,The O'Jays and that is the path I took.Now,living in Leigh at the time we had a Disco which funnily enough was called Leigh Casino and only being 10 miles from Wigan often played Northern Soul and the more I heard it the more I became hooked on it.I was desperate to find out what the real deal was like.
Seeing I was around 15 at the time,I couldn’t get into the All Nighters,but lucky for me,it was open on Weds. & Fri. evenings. So off I went on the bus to Wigan one Friday evening with my mates Col M and Johnny wondering what would it be like. Would it be all we envisaged or had we set our hopes so high that all our illusions we going to be destroyed?
After the half hour bus drive,we got off opposite Wigan RLFC,walked up the small brew on which stood the Wigan Casino! We paid our admission,opened the swinging doors and there on the packed floor were girls twirling in their circle skirts and lads spinning,back dropping,jumping,doing the splits to the sound of ‘The Mike Post Coalition – Afternoon of the Rhino’. I was mesmerised and from then on The Wigan Casino was to become my second home!
For the next 12 months or more,the ritual was more or less the same Wigan Casino Wednesdays and Fridays,Leigh Casino Saturdays and Sundays.All I wanted was to dance!
I finally started work and was straight off to the Allnighters! First 2 songs I heard there were Willie Mitchell – The Champion,followed by Dooley Silverspoon – Game Players.So now we have that load of dancing just mentioned plus the Allnighters,my mother was going ballistic,therefore there was only one thing to do to keep on doing what was becoming an obsession and that was….Give her more housekeeping money!!!
Now all that I lived for was Northern Soul ,MUFC,Girls,Beer :o)).
Then came something out of the blue,my father who ran a Pub in Glazebury (between Leigh and Warrington),decided to spend his last 10 years before retiring,playing mine host in a smaller Local in Milnrow near Rochdale.I thought ‘that’s me F****D!’ Well as turned out it became the best possible move I could have wished for.
It took me about 3 days and I found Exit 21 just down the road from where I lived at the Milnrow Conservative Club,The Dj was John Grant who played mostly Pop & Disco stuff at the time with Martin Ellis guesting and playing Northern soul, for his 30 minute or so spot.
I hit it off from the start with the Rochdale Northern Soulies a reallv cool crowd…Drew,Scoz,Glynis :ox,Carol :ox,Jill :ox,Val :ox .
Drew (Always wore a hat! I did sometimes,but mine always got swiped,once notoriously at Blackpool Mecca,don’t ask! ) & I sort of teamed up and we were always finding a reason to go to some venue or just getting legless!
Anyway,after a couple of weeks,Martin Ellis was more concerned with his ego,than playing decent music so we got Big John to fire him off and seeing he wasn’t in the Northern Scene,we started feeding him with records.Me and Drew became honorary members of Exit 21 lol.
The Con Club as a venue lasted a few months and had to find a new home after a nasty incident outside,after closing time.
We moved briefly to Rochdale Hornets RL.Club,(Drew was by then djing at Rochdale Tiffs with Dave Evison)and then moved to The Kingsway which turned out to be a great place.
Here Pete Thorpe (took over at Caroline’s for Dave Evison when he gave it up) joined more or less straight away as a dj.He was a fantastic guy with a wonderful knowledge of soul music,and a collection of records that made your eyes drop out! and then yours truly was let loose on the turntables!!! I became unwittingly the first to play a 12s ,which was‘Down To Love Town’ – The Originals.,,I think!?!
Also by this time John Grant was getting an impressive set of Northern Tunes together and the place was a cool place to be and was visited a couple of times by Blues & Soul ‘Club Scene’ Reviewer Frank Elson.
During this time Pete asked me to step in on the odd occasion for him at Caroline’s,when his work with the Greater Manchester Fire Brigade prevented him from appearing.Stupid question really,don’t you think?Seeing I had the chance as an 18 year old kid to stand behind the tables before the resident Dj RICHARD SEARLING came on,like WOW lol
Due to another unfortunate mishap with some junior Rugby Players outside the hotel we had to find another home,which ironically was to become The Rochdale Hornets again!
I was only there for a few months before I left to work in Germany.
John Grant then went on to become a class Dj,teaming up with Colin Curtis at top venues such as Rafters and Rufus
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