Was out with my old mate Mickey Davey on Saturday for the first time in ages - his mate Paul was a photographer and came to Wigan one night in 1980 (?) and took about 500 pics - I've been mithering Mickey to get these loaded up for years and here's a few - Mick gave me all the photo's with me on years back and unbelievably I have managed to lose them    - anyway Mickey's the coloured lad testing his splits and with the 'tache stood outside M's foyer doorway:

 

 

Main Room

 

 

Outside M's foyer doorway

 

 

Vernon in dance comp

 

 

M's - a young Pete Murphy leaning on the speaker

 

 

 

Mick Davey

Edited December 23, 201311 yr by Barry

Sorry chaps...a bit pissed...it wasn't Mickey that took the photos...it was Paul....Bee Gees haircut...tache...I truly believe that Micks photo stash are possibly the best hidden secret of Wigan as it was at the back end ever.

 

...nice to hear someone bring Wayne Hackett up...Wayne was the muscly black guy that used to dance to the left of the stage in M's...anyone remember when he died his shaved Afro blonde? With the arch cut into the back? 

 

He always looked cool as...still does...seen him and Mickey doing the 'black lad dancing in unison' thing at Lowton in the past...but if us skinny white assed fe kerbs would have utilised the same moves, we would have looked ridiculous haha...should I shut up? 

 

Sorry had had my memory pricked.

Brilliant pics...Spent many hours with Wayne at Northern and Jazz Funk clubs

He worked the doors at some of the Leigh n Wigan clubs..Still see him at a few venues

Vernon was at the last Stateside Nighter and there is a good chance he will be at the next one on the 28th

Fabulous pictures.......this scene is a tremendous learning curve...i'm 56 and still living the dream...i see these images and it's hairs standing up on the back of the neck stuff ( in my case, not a lot left! ) most of you are probably aware of the post i put up, a couple of years back now about we as a collective, putting together a book of reference, purely from a pictorial point of view...its been done before...there was a motown book ( american publication only ) that documented the happenings via photographic evidence..quite spectacular...northern soul is now a history lesson for those conscious enough to learn about musical styles and their attributes...photography illuminates the world of music and none better than our wonderfully diverse scene....WE'VE JUST CELEBRATED A 40TH ANNIVERSARY...we've had a double cd, a documentary courtesy of the bbc and a forthcoming film that will attempt to cast our image in a better light, even though it's already been accepted by mainstream as an essential and serious genre. we've had the personalized accounts dedicated to paper, many of which are now gospel, for want of better words, and adorn our shelves. BUT a picture book, solely pictures, with no social comment would say and speak for itself all at the same time..or do we go on forever viewing these portals to the past on here?,...NEVER altogether in one place?...SO WHAT if it would be an epic tome?...we've given our lives to this music, it's held sway in our houses for decades, we've worshipped at the alters which are the scene's venue's,...we've collected the vinyl as if they were holy grails and we've immortalized ourselves in all of these places via monotone & colour pictures. they are our keepsakes and it's right that we should share them with a wider audience, nonemoreso than the growing generations that are sharing our scene and our love of the music, they don't just want to Experience the NOW, THEY WANT TO SEE THE PAST and how we best represented it.......great pictures that have come to light as we reach the close of 2013.....another year gone...so many of those unknown faces captured there may no longer be with us....WALTER JACKSON sang where have all the flowers gone?, those pictures and the people recorded on them need a permanent preservation......this IS the only book we do not possess...so....do we carry on "clicking to view" OR DO WE FEEL THE PAGE AS IT TURNS?    

Love this thread and would really like to see more of these photos, being too young to have gone to Wigan myself 

 

NB. surprised no-one has mentioned Francesco Mellina's Wigan photos which were apparently shown at a do at the Wigan cafe / shopping centre (whatever it is) a few years ago - see link below for a few of them 

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/lancashire/content/image_galleries/russ_gallery.shtml?10

 

I emailed Francesco about them ages ago and he said he has several hundred, including one of the dance comp / piano like the one here - interestingly he said they were all of the Sept '81 Wigan last night so is that what these are too?? Maybe he remembered it wrong. 

 

Said happy to publish them if anyone willing to pay but otherwise they are just in storage - fantastic quality though 

Not forgetting some really interesting ones posted on here previously by Derek Pearson i.e.

 

Brilliant pics...Spent many hours with Wayne at Northern and Jazz Funk clubs

He worked the doors at some of the Leigh n Wigan clubs..Still see him at a few venues

Vernon was at the last Stateside Nighter and there is a good chance he will be at the next one on the 28th

 

According to Vernon these pics are from  81,and he will be at ss niter theres a chance wayne will be here as well if joe gets message to him.

My missus Cheryl is the fine foxy thang kneeling down with the shorts and white shoes on and here best mate Christine is next to here taking photos of Vernon, she says its deff 1981 and it was the September supposedly last nighter dance contest the last 3 were Vernon, Kim White from Selby and John Neilson from Scotland, it ended a draw between John Neilson and Vernon

My missus Cheryl is the fine foxy thang kneeling down with the shorts and white shoes on and here best mate Christine is next to here taking photos of Vernon, she says its deff 1981 and it was the September supposedly last nighter dance contest the last 3 were Vernon, Kim White from Selby and John Neilson from Scotland, it ended a draw between John Neilson and Vernon

 

Oh my gosh so it is Harry!!!     They both look fab, as they do nowadays  , Christine does look about 10 on the photo though 

 

Wonderful girls !!!!! 

The blonde guy is Stuart and the guy on the right had a brother? knocked around with a guy called China from Poulton and Blackpool.

this was  me and vernon in dance comp  around 1978 me on the right when i was super fit i was allways dancing on the balcony in m`s

How sexy does the girl with the black bra on look ?

given me a bit of a chubby has that !!!!!!

     

Dirty little fecker!

 

Nice

My missus Cheryl is the fine foxy thang kneeling down with the shorts and white shoes on and here best mate Christine is next to here taking photos of Vernon, she says its deff 1981 and it was the September supposedly last nighter dance contest the last 3 were Vernon, Kim White from Selby and John Neilson from Scotland, it ended a draw between John Neilson and Vernon

 Blimey - Chez rocking the jogging shorts   and see our Chez is talking - surprise that Harry. 

The blonde guy is Stuart and the guy on the right had a brother? knocked around with a guy called China from Poulton and Blackpool.

The guy on the right is Dane Cromer (RIP) from Blackpool.  He did have a brother called Ricky Cromer. Sadly RIP as well. Can't remember anyone from the poulton/blackpool area called China though. 

My missus Cheryl is the fine foxy thang kneeling down with the shorts and white shoes on and here best mate Christine is next to here taking photos of Vernon, she says its deff 1981 and it was the September supposedly last nighter dance contest the last 3 were Vernon, Kim White from Selby and John Neilson from Scotland, it ended a draw between John Neilson and Vernon

Vernon was at stateside last night and also confirmed it was a draw between himself and John from Scotland

It was good to see both Vernon and Wayne Hackett on the floor again

That's the names, Pete Morris, Dane & Ricky, Mick. Rimmer and two other brothers spring to mine but no names and am sure his nick name was China..

Thanks for that.

The guy on the right is Dane Cromer (RIP) from Blackpool. He did have a brother called Ricky Cromer. Sadly RIP as well. Can't remember anyone from the poulton/blackpool area called China though.

Edited December 29, 201311 yr by Prophonics 2029

 

Yes I remember Pete Morris and Mick Rimmer is still a good friend of mine. I have two brothers. Maybe it's them  you  are thinking about?  Colin & graham ? 

Found this online somewhere taken in 74 thats me in the brown jumper with heads on it and grey trousers

Brilliant quality aren't they.....if it was the oldies anniversary Feb '81, we were there somewhere

 

 

Pete Wright from Shaw and Billy Wright from Royton, both had "John Boy" (as in the Waltons) wedge hair cuts as early as '76/77.....mind you we were trendy b*stards round our way   

 We all had wedges way before '81 aswell...& that blonde stripe above the ear too... that blonde stripe got me into a load of trouble as I was in the Royal Navy then lol

 

Russ

Edited December 30, 201311 yr by Russ Vickers

On 30/12/2013 at 05:02, Mark S said:

Found this online somewhere taken in 74 thats me in the brown jumper with heads on it and grey trousers

That is ""Jackie Jones, Taken from the stage at Wigan Casino in 1973. For what it's worth, I remember that Jackie had just bought that dress she's wearing in the photo from Biba in London. Zenit E, 50mm F2 lens ( borrowed from Kev Fox ), Kodacolour 100. Shutter speed B ( for bulb ) at f8 using a magnesium flash bulb in a flash gun with a fold out silver reflector. Converted to mono with Aperture""

 

John Harwood

21 minutes ago, Nsg said:

That is ""Jackie Jones, Taken from the stage at Wigan Casino in 1973. For what it's worth, I remember that Jackie had just bought that dress she's wearing in the photo from Biba in London. Zenit E, 50mm F2 lens ( borrowed from Kev Fox ), Kodacolour 100. Shutter speed B ( for bulb ) at f8 using a magnesium flash bulb in a flash gun with a fold out silver reflector. Converted to mono with Aperture""

 

John Harwood

Hi again John we spoke on the Wigan aniversary site I'm Mark Sadler your memory is far better than mine this could possibly be one of my first visits to the Casino I know it was during the 2am starts I was 17. 

Edited September 30, 20231 yr by Mark S

On 25/12/2013 at 14:35, Agentsmith said:

Fabulous pictures.......this scene is a tremendous learning curve...i'm 56 and still living the dream...i see these images and it's hairs standing up on the back of the neck stuff ( in my case, not a lot left! ) most of you are probably aware of the post i put up, a couple of years back now about we as a collective, putting together a book of reference, purely from a pictorial point of view...its been done before...there was a motown book ( american publication only ) that documented the happenings via photographic evidence..quite spectacular...northern soul is now a history lesson for those conscious enough to learn about musical styles and their attributes...photography illuminates the world of music and none better than our wonderfully diverse scene....WE'VE JUST CELEBRATED A 40TH ANNIVERSARY...we've had a double cd, a documentary courtesy of the bbc and a forthcoming film that will attempt to cast our image in a better light, even though it's already been accepted by mainstream as an essential and serious genre. we've had the personalized accounts dedicated to paper, many of which are now gospel, for want of better words, and adorn our shelves. BUT a picture book, solely pictures, with no social comment would say and speak for itself all at the same time..or do we go on forever viewing these portals to the past on here?,...NEVER altogether in one place?...SO WHAT if it would be an epic tome?...we've given our lives to this music, it's held sway in our houses for decades, we've worshipped at the alters which are the scene's venue's,...we've collected the vinyl as if they were holy grails and we've immortalized ourselves in all of these places via monotone & colour pictures. they are our keepsakes and it's right that we should share them with a wider audience, nonemoreso than the growing generations that are sharing our scene and our love of the music, they don't just want to Experience the NOW, THEY WANT TO SEE THE PAST and how we best represented it.......great pictures that have come to light as we reach the close of 2013.....another year gone...so many of those unknown faces captured there may no longer be with us....WALTER JACKSON sang where have all the flowers gone?, those pictures and the people recorded on them need a permanent preservation......this IS the only book we do not possess...so....do we carry on "clicking to view" OR DO WE FEEL THE PAGE AS IT TURNS?    

Ten years on. What a great reference book if it ever came off. I lost a lot of my Casino pics thirty odd years ago but tried to take at least one photo of each place I went to just as a moment for my own personal recollection, it never did last but I do have a few of the venues not here anymore.  Loads of memories but Some pictures tell the story.