Radcliffe District Soul Club Formally The Shirt Club
Manchester Fri 05 Sep 2025

After an “Across The Board” afternoon the previous Sunday it was back to basics at St Mary's Social Club for the Radcliffe & District Soul Club. And it was basic in the way of mainly Wigan Casino oldies.

My apologies to Phil Jones as we arrived too late for his set but Bob Spendlove was well into his groove with records like Marvin Holmes' You Better Keep Her and Milton Wright's I Belong To You.

Dave Cartlidge followed starting off with Frankie Beverly's That' What I Wanted, and continued with oldies galore including Don't Pity Me by Joanie Sommers before ending with The Drifter.

Ian Wills followed Dave and starting on a similar tempo with Gene McDaniels' Walk With A Winner. Then the tempo increased with tracks like Too Darn Soulful and Hold On (Judy Freeman).

Then it was Derek Watmough's turn on the decks and as usual he came up with several that I didn't know: Bobby Guitar Wood's It's Mighty Nice To Know; Lee Shot Williams' Love Now Pay Later; Mickey Buckins & New Breed's Silly Girl among others; as well as favourites like You Got Me Uptight and the Embers' Just Crazy 'Bout You Baby.

To end the night Bob and Dave doubledecked from 11.45.

We left around midnight, and we both thoroughly enjoyed the music, although I'd be hard pressed these days to dance to the really fast ones. The dance floor was busy and the impression I got was that the people present enjoyed themselves, that's the main thing.

The new venue seems to be working out well with more space.

Thanks to the DJs and to the staff of the club.