For those of you who know John 'Biff' Griffiths (founder of the The Birchfield Soul Nights in Widnes), or have ever attended any of the nights held there, or have ever had 'hassle' from the management of the venues you've run (or DJ'd at or attended) can you please consider either begging John, pleading with John, bullying John (he's a big pussycat really despite his commanding presence) or cajoling John into not resigning as the co-promoter and DJ of one of the North West's longest running soul nights?
John felt forced to resign after the last event in June.
Why I hear you ask? The joint culprits were talc and bar staff with attitude!
A couple of months ago someone slipped on talc on the dance floor and injured themselves. They sent a letter to the venue's management and, fair play to them, the tone was advisory in nature (warning of the potential for future personal injury claims) rather than threatening (the person concerned as a 'Soulie' didn't want to see the venue sued by the less scrupulous).
So, after a warning from the management committee, all was well for a couple of months; we managed to persuade those who use talc not to do so for fear of the committee putting a stop to the event. However, at the June event we weren't quick enough; the talc came out and nearly as quickly did the bar staff (who were all over the dance floor like a pack of Rottweiler's).
The lights were turned on and they barked their orders at John to turn the music off until the floor was mopped and had time to dry. They were not only rude to John but also rude to those 'Soulies' who politely questioned their actions.
15 minutes later we reconvened.
John was extremely annoyed; the staff had been rude to our customers and had been totally disrespectful in the way they'd gone about demanding that the music was turned off.
The net result was that John felt obliged to announce that he would be resigning as a DJ forthwith as there was no way he was going to have our guests treated this way and was not personally going to be spoken to in such an outrageous manner.
Whilst Dave and I are both just as annoyed we think it's fitting that we continue to run The Birchfield (at least until the 10th Anniversary in November) in order to both thank our loyal supporters and regulars but also to recognise the massive contribution that John has made to the Northern Soul scene in Widnes.
After much pressure from Dave and I, John has agreed to DJ at the 10th Anniversary event (after all it's John's 10th Anniversary, Dave and I have only been jointly running The Birchfield with John for just over 7 of the past 10 years).
However, it's fair to say that The Birchfield just won't be the same without John and although he'll still be attending every month as a customer; both Dave and I aren't looking forward to the events nearly as much as we would have if John was with us.
So, our plea to you (if you have a spare moment) is you send some words of encouragement to John. Anything that you can say or do to get him to reconsider and 'keep the faith' until at least the 10th Anniversary would be very, very welcome.
We've not got much time though. The next event is this Friday 25th July. We've tried to give John as much time as possible to reconsider his decision, but as it stands he's still not budging! Perhaps you can help him change his mind?
We've only got a few days to get him to change his mind so if you can help, if you can spare a few words of encouragement then please contact John via Soul Source (member name JohnGriff) or via griffiths_j@ntlworld.com
Thanks for your time, thanks for your interest and thanks in anticipation for your support.
Hi Folks,
This is a plea for help!
For those of you who know John 'Biff' Griffiths (founder of the The Birchfield Soul Nights in Widnes), or have ever attended any of the nights held there, or have ever had 'hassle' from the management of the venues you've run (or DJ'd at or attended) can you please consider either begging John, pleading with John, bullying John (he's a big pussycat really despite his commanding presence) or cajoling John into not resigning as the co-promoter and DJ of one of the North West's longest running soul nights?
John felt forced to resign after the last event in June.
Why I hear you ask? The joint culprits were talc and bar staff with attitude!
A couple of months ago someone slipped on talc on the dance floor and injured themselves. They sent a letter to the venue's management and, fair play to them, the tone was advisory in nature (warning of the potential for future personal injury claims) rather than threatening (the person concerned as a 'Soulie' didn't want to see the venue sued by the less scrupulous).
So, after a warning from the management committee, all was well for a couple of months; we managed to persuade those who use talc not to do so for fear of the committee putting a stop to the event. However, at the June event we weren't quick enough; the talc came out and nearly as quickly did the bar staff (who were all over the dance floor like a pack of Rottweiler's).
The lights were turned on and they barked their orders at John to turn the music off until the floor was mopped and had time to dry. They were not only rude to John but also rude to those 'Soulies' who politely questioned their actions.
15 minutes later we reconvened.
John was extremely annoyed; the staff had been rude to our customers and had been totally disrespectful in the way they'd gone about demanding that the music was turned off.
The net result was that John felt obliged to announce that he would be resigning as a DJ forthwith as there was no way he was going to have our guests treated this way and was not personally going to be spoken to in such an outrageous manner.
Whilst Dave and I are both just as annoyed we think it's fitting that we continue to run The Birchfield (at least until the 10th Anniversary in November) in order to both thank our loyal supporters and regulars but also to recognise the massive contribution that John has made to the Northern Soul scene in Widnes.
After much pressure from Dave and I, John has agreed to DJ at the 10th Anniversary event (after all it's John's 10th Anniversary, Dave and I have only been jointly running The Birchfield with John for just over 7 of the past 10 years).
However, it's fair to say that The Birchfield just won't be the same without John and although he'll still be attending every month as a customer; both Dave and I aren't looking forward to the events nearly as much as we would have if John was with us.
So, our plea to you (if you have a spare moment) is you send some words of encouragement to John. Anything that you can say or do to get him to reconsider and 'keep the faith' until at least the 10th Anniversary would be very, very welcome.
We've not got much time though. The next event is this Friday 25th July. We've tried to give John as much time as possible to reconsider his decision, but as it stands he's still not budging! Perhaps you can help him change his mind?
We've only got a few days to get him to change his mind so if you can help, if you can spare a few words of encouragement then please contact John via Soul Source (member name JohnGriff) or via griffiths_j@ntlworld.com
Thanks for your time, thanks for your interest and thanks in anticipation for your support.
Chris Penn
Co-promoter & DJ @ The Birchfield