Culcheth 2 Room Soul Night
Culcheth, Sat 01 Nov 2025

Well Culcheth delivered in Spades last night, a really good turn out!! Many came to join the Birthday Party Celebrations for William Mailey !!

We were spoilt for choice musically, throughout the night. Mine Host Baz Maleady kicked off the night in Style, Johnny James , Darrow Fletcher "my young misery" Ty Karim in Baz's words "I'm just gonna play the music I love" Amen to that mate!!

Steve Plumb went back to his roots on the scene, Volumes "ain't gonna give you up" Harvey Averne "never learned to dance" and some great album tracks like Della Reese "I've got the blues" a record I always associate with the late Dean Johnson, such a great version!!

Before we knew it, Birthday Boy William Mailey took to the stage a great mix of evergreens Stanley Mitchell, Montclairs "hey you" and Gospel Funk Edge Bangers like Etoy Bogart "this could be the last time" another sellers regret record for me!!

Headlining the night Soul Sam treated us to some of the biggies from The Halcyon Days, Al Scott, Poets "wrapped around your finger" mixed with 70s biggies like Joseph Webster and the sublime Gospel Tinged Willie Dale "let your light shine" The old Spider and the Webs c/u AKA John and the Wierdest finishing a quality set!!

I had the pleasure of providing the finale spot, or as Baz whispered when I arrived "I want you to send 'em home singing and dancing" no pressure then lol. I mixed it up, managed to squeeze in a few requests from Billy, although I had to decipher some of the Artists and titles as The Cruz Campo took a hold "you know that 70s record you play, much head scratching we worked out it was Innersection for Frankie Bailey her fave and mine too, then there was that Johnnie Taylor record you play?? That turned out to be Little Johnnie Hamilton lol. I'll post a playlist later, top top night, see all you VIPs in December for Jumping Joan's BIG birthday celebrations, canny wait!!

Promoting a venue these days can be a pretty thankless task BUT not so on Saturday! ‘Thank you’s were in abundance…Thank you for a great night, thank you for the brilliant music, thank you for a superb atmosphere, but the biggest THANK YOU must come from me, to all those who came along and, hopefully enjoyed a great night out!.

A special thank you to all the DJ’s on the night, STEVE PLUMB, revisiting his ‘Northern’ roots and delivering a crackin’ set hitting the spot perfectly, in the main room with a great selection of rare, not so rare and first time spins, with the CULCHETH crowd loving it and quite rightly, showing their appreciation at the end of his set. Next up ‘Birthday Boy’ BILLY MAILEY; a regular at CULCHETH, Billy knows the score, so he treated us to a superb set of quality tunes, oldies, left-fielders and even delving into some of his gospel favourites, all selected and delivered with total enthusiasm and love for the music, he then went on to get very, very drunk 😉 Happy Birthday Billy! Next up was SOUL SAM. Sam had already done an ‘early doors’ set in the modern room showcasing some of his latest acquisitions and less played 45’s, which was great for those wanting to hear something different. He then turned on the magic tap for the main room with the Dell Larks, Robbie Lawson, Cecil Washington, Vicky Baines, The Poets, The Magnetics, Joseph Webster, Jimmy Bo Horne ending a brilliant floor-filling set with his all-time favourite, John and the Weirdest. That just left CULCHETH and ASHTON resident MICK HOWARD to take over the reigns and send everyone home happy, which he did in the bucket loads!

More thanks to all those who come to CULCHETH for the Modern Room. PETE RATCLIFFE was on top form showcasing all the latest new vinyl releases, giving folks the rare chance (these days) to hear some of these records in a venue environment, much to the gratitude of the companies going out on a limb to release these tracks on vinyl. The aforementioned SOUL SAM was next up, showcasing some great records from the ‘Back of the Box’. He was followed by CULCHETH resident CHARLIE SMITH dropping tracks from his Modern, RAREST of the RARE box! In fact, anyone who is looking for a venue that showcases and champions the rarer side of ‘Modern’ who be hard-pressed to find a regular monthly night that can beat CULCHETH for the ability to feature that element of the Modern scene! Later in the night, the DJing duties were carried on by CAN YOU DIG IT main man NICK McKINNON and VYBE and HILTON DJ, BILL WILDMAN, right through to 1am, with a great selection of dancefloor friendly classics from the 70’s and 80’s, rounding off another great night in the Modern Room.

So, thanks again to all the DJ’s the venue staff and most of all, YOU! The people who made SATURDAY at CULCHETH sooo enjoyable, and made promoting not such a thankless task, in fact, on Saturday, a very enjoyable one…

Hopefully, see you all at our GRUMPY SOUL SPECIAL on DECEMBER 6th to celebrate JOAN LIVESEY’s 60th Birthday! Watch this space for more details…