Some of you may know i am writing my life story (ok been doing on and off for years but really knuckling down to it lately).

I'm writing the lot.

The chemists, the gear, the characters, the sounds, my girlfriends, the squad, the rollers, the truth about how we were all NOT IN LOVE AND FRIENDS all tickety boo all the time as a lot of newcomers think.

The strong bonds we had that were as deep as the soul itself for those of us who formed that bond.

So can you believe my surprise when I found a MASSIVE box of stuff I thought was long lost in my attic today?

Lot's of membership cards, posters, court appearance summons, all-nighter tickets etc.

I found Black Echoes (soul newspaper) in near mint condition, and Blues & Soul mags in near mint, oh and Black Music mags as well.

There is a list of around a hundred people who had packed in nighters written , I do not know when, but perhaps 1974/5 maybe.

I looked through the names and was amazed how many I had forgotten, and at the same time, how many I now remembered whom I had long forgotten.

But most of all probably every letter I was sent from all my mates who were sent down (and there are plenty, believe me.)

Letters from girlfriends who loved me. I buzzed and cried (without any gear) at what I found and read.

There is a love letter from a girl fom Castleford called Carole, who wrote the lovliest things, and I confess I can't remember how we split up or anything.

I thought I remembered all my girlfriends but obviously not.

She asks me to meet her at Castelford station next saturday. Did I go? If I did was she there?

I honestly don't know.

I could have kept this secret till i die, but I don't want to. If this gal reads this forum or anyone knows whom it may be please tell me..........

Having been single for years now It was great to read there was a time when girls loved me. I'd long given up the idea.

All the letters from my mates inside, and lots from others talking about records or arranging to go to Crewe or Torch etc.

For record collectors there are lists galore from Selecta-Disc and F.L. Moore etc with top sounds for 65p each. Mostly pressings I guess but not all.

I have a letter from one company informing me they had reserved me I DIG YOUR ACT -O'JAYS ON STATESIDE FOR £1

It's an emotional goldmine, and will help fill in lot's of gaps in my book to make it a better book.

I REMEMBER THEM THEY KNOCKED AROUND WITH DAVE POUGHS GANG AND USED TO GO UP THE "CALI" 900yrds INTO DUNSTABLE CUNSTABLE DAVE REMBERS LUTON AS IT SUPLIED THE NORTH IN THE EARLY YEARS AND TRIPPED THE HAIRY TYPES OUT!

quote]

Yep, I remember taking bags of smarties to the cats on a couple of occasions , tilol I became a 'hairy type' for a few years...that period cost me the best part of a bloody good collection of sounds , I've 30 years putting said collection back togeather

Well Swishy

Its certainly an amazing thing. You're back. Really back! And you sound just greaaaat!!!

Someone was telling me at an allnighter (possibly Chuddy) that he'd seen you and you were on top form.

The book stands a chance, then. It must be 37-38 years ago that I first heard about it and was expecting its publication before the end of the Torch!

Anyway, now that I have been as nice as that to you lets talk about this box.

I hope its not a sort of proverbial, imaginary box or the type of box we used to enjoy getting out of. Or the type of box full of "used to haves"such as the Hoagy Lands on Stateside. I never got that one, wish I had. When you look back it would have been worth twice the price just for the memories it could evoke.

If you find any Red & Browns or the like rolling around at the bottom of the box I think they might be mine! I remember the miner bird making a grab for them. Please save them for me.

R&G (but she's not participating this time)

PS Heaven & Hell was a niter in Glossop, I recall.

Well Swishy

Its certainly an amazing thing. You're back. Really back! And you sound just greaaaat!!!

Someone was telling me at an allnighter (possibly Chuddy) that he'd seen you and you were on top form.

The book stands a chance, then. It must be 37-38 years ago that I first heard about it and was expecting its publication before the end of the Torch!

Anyway, now that I have been as nice as that to you lets talk about this box.

I hope its not a sort of proverbial, imaginary box or the type of box we used to enjoy getting out of. Or the type of box full of "used to haves"such as the Hoagy Lands on Stateside. I never got that one, wish I had. When you look back it would have been worth twice the price just for the memories it could evoke.

If you find any Red & Browns or the like rolling around at the bottom of the box I think they might be mine! I remember the miner bird making a grab for them. Please save them for me.

R&G (but she's not participating this time)

PS Heaven & Hell was a niter in Glossop, I recall.

Heaven and Hell was an allnighter in BIRMINGHAM you ha dto go through a trap door to get into it lol went there WHAT a place it was dark n dingy

sue bushby

Heaven and Hell was an allnighter in BIRMINGHAM you ha dto go through a trap door to get into it lol went there WHAT a place it was dark n dingy

sue bushby

Wasnt that Saints & Sinners? Incidentally, are you still with Des ( not that I'd be interested, of course!?!!!!!00)

I found a couple more:

THE SAINTS AND SINNERS (BIRMINGHAM) IN WINTER

THE EXPRESS SHOOTS THROUGH THE STILL NIGHT

SHATTERING THE DARKNESS WITH A SPEAR OF LIGHT

"OUT ON THE FLOOR" POUNDS FROM THE DISCOTRON

AS WE MAKE OUR WAY TO BIRMINGHAM

THE TIME GOES SO FAST IT'S INCREDIBLE HERE

AS WE EACH DROP OUR FIFTEENTH GREEN AND CLEAR

IT'S 3AM IN THE MORNINGSOON THE WINTER SUN WILL BE DAWNING

(BUT NONE OF US WILL BE YAWNING)

AS THE FIRST DAWN LIGHT IS FORMING

TALKING, SITTING, WITH RECORDS ON OUR LAPS

SMOKING, DISCUSSING, SMASHED ON CAPS

AFTERSHAVE COMBS AND PERFUME

WE KNOW WE'LL BE THERE SOON

THE DAWN GROWS CLEARER AND CLEARER

AS OUR TRAIN GETS NEARER AND NEARER

ESCITEMENT FILLS US AND BUTTERFLIES GRIP US

SOON WE'LL BE DANCING AT THE SAINTS AND SINNERS

PEOPLE WILL BE COMING OUT AT EIGHT

TONIGHT WE'RE VERY LATE

PETE JOHNS, CHRIS HUNTER, NETTA AND COLIN WILL BE THERE

THEY FOLLOW SOUL EVERYWHERE

I CAN'T WAIT FOR THE PEOPLE I'LL MEET

AND TO WALK THROUGH THE MORNING SNOW ON BROAD STREET

I wrote that in DECEMBER 1974.

Here's a short one by the late KIM DENT from Bradford.

He wrote it in December 1974 also whilst sharing a flat in Leeds with myself, Smyg from Leicester, John Watkinson from Goole, and Shammy from Leeds.

Myself and Smyg had been to Scarborough. Smyg had cracked up and thought the squad were hiding in the same room as him in the B&B.

CRACKING UP MY WAY

(BASED ON FRANK SINATRA'S "MY WAY")

AND NOW THE END IS NEAR BECAUSE THE SQUAD'S BEHIND THE CURTAIN

THE NOISE, I HEAR DOWNSTAIRS IS BURGLARS I'M CERTAIN

OMG,

Kim lives on in his poetry,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,I rmember the flat well, it was a right little cottage industry, lol, whatever happened to the above mentioned guys?

Good to se you Swish ,and Sue B, my odl mates xxx

Edited January 14, 201015 yr by DonnaDent

Those lines(uh uh) belong in any said book or box in or out of it, strange small world(or big bad one) remember being at your place(richard) one night when Steve Glover turned up and said to me "so this is where you keep getting the new sounds from"

Came up a few times with Alison and Denise from Gloucester.

Steve

about the other box me ......Hoagy Lands (demo) traded for Seventy quid plus the issue now thats a result!

Well Steve youve got a better memory than me. Of course I remember Denise(very well) and Alison(very but not quite as well). What has happened to them? The last I heard of Denise was when she married Jeff Jones from Burton(I dont think that lasted)and Alison married someone from Barnsley(was it Kim).

Steve Glover was way overcomplimentary; compared to his ultimate collection,mine belongs in the bin. I saw Steve a couple of times a few years ago. Still got his records but a bit out of date.eg He didnt know Timi Yuro which of course had not been not been discovered back in those halcyon days. Dont think he knew Cajun Hart either. Bet he's got both now.

Hoagy Lands---THE rarist Stateside?? Maybe I would say. I've seen a few demos but I think only one issue. That's probably rarer but I accept, not as valuable. What do you think---£400 for a demo;

£225 for an issue? RICH

CENTRAL No2 SOUL CLUB (why No2?)

OUR CHRISTMAS ALL-NIGHTER

9 SUPER SOULFUL HOURS (no date, again I'd guess 1974/5)

Advance tickets 70p.

Catacombs membership application for the aforementioned John Watkinson proposed by Smyg and seconded by me, but mysteriously never sent in.???

THE ULTIMATE IN DISCOPHISTICATION

Mon Oct 6th 1975

CAT'S WHISKERS YORK

ADMIT ONE PERSON FREE OF CHARGE

NORMAL PRICE 35p

FULL SIZE POSTER

WIRRANA STADIUM PETERBOROUGH

18TH APRIL 1975 FOLDED BUT OTHERWISE NEAR MINT CONDITION.

So the list goes on.

Fantastic!

HI SWISH,

Really glad to know that you are still around and seem to have a memory as sharp as a razor. Really looking forward to getting hold of the book and having a good read/laugh/tears and all the other emotions that i have no doubt this book will conjure up.

I think the membership cards/flyers with Central No 2 club probably date back to as early as 1970 as the soul sessions were refered to as "secondry" to the ballroom classes that were run at the club by the owner Len Cave. The cards/flyers then changed to the Central Soul Club logo a few years later.

Quite a few of the old faces are still doing the rounds like Tony Jackson,Chris Mallows,Dave Malters,Stuart Williams and others pop up occasionally- Steve Luigi,Pete Dylan,Mick Eastwood to name a few. Have not seen Eric for some years although the last time i spoke to him he said he still kept in touch with you .

Hope you are keeping wel and get cracking with that book!!!

regards Roy Adams

I found a photo of Mouse leaving the Torch, Snitch

but i do not know what ever happened to him.

I think he lives in Shipley now.

Yes you are right about snitch !.

Kegsy

Hi Swish,

I found this site by accident, but then i saw your name, only one 'Swish', good days, good times along with the bad days / times. Just made me think about people, memories in the past; Pete Balance, Dipper, Blosh, Bub, the York crowd Tony, Alan Rhodes etc, Graham from Hull, the Rotherham and Doncaster crowd Snowy, as you mention in a post Selby Museum Hall, Ady Dundass, the Selby crowd, i remember (only just, i am 57) DJ ing there. The Metro in Wakefield when it got raided and when people came up the stairs and out there was a TV news film crew filming people being taken away.

Regards Jimmy Welsh.

Some of you may know i am writing my life story (ok been doing on and off for years but really knuckling down to it lately).

I'm writing the lot.

The chemists, the gear, the characters, the sounds, my girlfriends, the squad, the rollers, the truth about how we were all NOT IN LOVE AND FRIENDS all tickety boo all the time as a lot of newcomers think.

The strong bonds we had that were as deep as the soul itself for those of us who formed that bond.

So can you believe my surprise when I found a MASSIVE box of stuff I thought was long lost in my attic today?

Lot's of membership cards, posters, court appearance summons, all-nighter tickets etc.

I found Black Echoes (soul newspaper) in near mint condition, and Blues & Soul mags in near mint, oh and Black Music mags as well.

There is a list of around a hundred people who had packed in nighters written , I do not know when, but perhaps 1974/5 maybe.

I looked through the names and was amazed how many I had forgotten, and at the same time, how many I now remembered whom I had long forgotten.

But most of all probably every letter I was sent from all my mates who were sent down (and there are plenty, believe me.)

Letters from girlfriends who loved me. I buzzed and cried (without any gear) at what I found and read.

There is a love letter from a girl fom Castleford called Carole, who wrote the lovliest things, and I confess I can't remember how we split up or anything.

I thought I remembered all my girlfriends but obviously not.

She asks me to meet her at Castelford station next saturday. Did I go? If I did was she there?

I honestly don't know.

I could have kept this secret till i die, but I don't want to. If this gal reads this forum or anyone knows whom it may be please tell me..........

Having been single for years now It was great to read there was a time when girls loved me. I'd long given up the idea.

All the letters from my mates inside, and lots from others talking about records or arranging to go to Crewe or Torch etc.

For record collectors there are lists galore from Selecta-Disc and F.L. Moore etc with top sounds for 65p each. Mostly pressings I guess but not all.

I have a letter from one company informing me they had reserved me I DIG YOUR ACT -O'JAYS ON STATESIDE FOR £1

It's an emotional goldmine, and will help fill in lot's of gaps in my book to make it a better book.

hi i joined soulsource looking for old mates and asked about rob /swish from leeds whom i spent many niters babbling with -at the time he wore a blazer with white piping are you him as someone mentioned a swish on here regards rob /roggert sheffield

Are you the Swish from Leeds ( or thereabouts )? If you are I remember you from The central, a tall bloke with short reddish hair. I used to go there with Giovanni from Cambridge. I remember Noreen and Ethna from Dunstable. Noreen better, cos Ethna was soon sent to girls borstal for some drug thing! People always said you discovered William Bonney "love love love", is that you?

21 hours ago, dogsbody said:

Are you the Swish from Leeds ( or thereabouts )? If you are I remember you from The central, a tall bloke with short reddish hair. I used to go there with Giovanni from Cambridge. I remember Noreen and Ethna from Dunstable. Noreen better, cos Ethna was soon sent to girls borstal for some drug thing! People always said you discovered William Bonney "love love love", is that you?

yes its the same swish hope to see him tonight

On 1/8/2010 at 15:34, souljer6 said:

Well Swishy

Its certainly an amazing thing. You're back. Really back! And you sound just greaaaat!!!

Someone was telling me at an allnighter (possibly Chuddy) that he'd seen you and you were on top form.

The book stands a chance, then. It must be 37-38 years ago that I first heard about it and was expecting its publication before the end of the Torch!

Anyway, now that I have been as nice as that to you lets talk about this box.

I hope its not a sort of proverbial, imaginary box or the type of box we used to enjoy getting out of. Or the type of box full of "used to haves"such as the Hoagy Lands on Stateside. I never got that one, wish I had. When you look back it would have been worth twice the price just for the memories it could evoke.

If you find any Red & Browns or the like rolling around at the bottom of the box I think they might be mine! I remember the miner bird making a grab for them. Please save them for me.

R&G (but she's not participating this time)

PS Heaven & Hell was a niter in Glossop, I recall.

That bloody bird was almost as legendary as Swish.

Did anybody ever actually get it to say "got any gear" I know we tried plenty of times.