Kathryn Magson

At most of the soul night I go to, there is always someone who will want to take pics. A lot will take photos of the group they are with & some will also go round the room & take pics of everyone. I think that's fine, just so long as they ask first - then if you give permission for your pic to be taken, you have to accept that it could pop up anywhere - Facebook - Soul Source - anywhere at all. Permission first is the key. If you don't want your pic taking, it's probably easier just to head to the bar/toilet/dance floor/best mate that you just spotted at the other end of the room  etc when you see the camera heading in your direction - avoid the situation altogether.

Moody Blues - Go Now - tune that ended the Twisted Wheel all-nighters for a while in the 1960s. 

Always made me want to cry - just sounds so bloody sad! 

Same up here in the north - I was out at a local soul night at the weekend & one of my friends  was out on the floor, along with her extremely trendy young, mod granddaughter & her boyfriend - age gap of over 50 years. Granddaughter has grown up listening to Grandma's records & loves it - great to see! 

I never felt edgy at the Wheel - always felt very much at home. Mistakenly though - one night my purse was nicked from my bag - I'd done what I always did - dumped my bag in a corner & hit the dance floor. Only in a very tiny room - I'd left my bag on the floor by the DJ cage & I was very near to it. Must have been a girl - a guy would have looked a bit sus rummaging in handbags & she must have been very quick or she would have been spotted. It was the only money I had - I had to scrounge money from a few mates to get home. Had some great pals though - they all coppered up to make sure I had enough to get me through to payday. At the time I was living in a bedsit & no parental support, so had no-one to borrow from - really made me appreciate my mates!

On ‎07‎/‎01‎/‎2019 at 19:36, David Meikle said:

Kathryn

I loved reading your post.

It reminded me of my first trip to Manchester on 24th January 1970.

It was an early start from Glasgow that day and I probably arrived in Manchester Victoria around 1pm. I bought two Inez and Charlie Foxx albums in WH Smiths on the foyer. I knew I was in heaven.

From there I went around the corner to Ralph’s records in Corporation Street then on to Spin Inn on Cross Street. Had to go back to left luggage with my new found sounds!

In the evening I went to see the early Soul Together concert in the Odeon on Oxford Street; where I saw Sam and Dave, Arthur Conley and Joe Tex. I don’t think Clarence Carter turned up but might be wrong.

At 10pm I joined the queue outside the Wheel and had the most incredible all nighter with Edwin Starr, my hero, on circa 2am. I jumped up on the small stage with Edwin and joined in at the end of his performance of his new release “Time”.

Unbelievable.

I just remember that the atmosphere was electric as we all belted out the word “Time” again and again.

All too quickly the dreaded doors opened at 8am. I used to hate that. It wasn’t just the long train journey home it was also the fact that you lot were off to the Top Twenty club in Hollinwell!

I returned to the Wheel another 8 or 9 times I reckon. I also went to the Blue Note club on Gore Street but recall quite a bit of blue beat and ska going on in there.

Great times also in Rowntrees Sound on Corporation Street and Mr Smiths.

Next year sees the 50th anniversary of my first trip to the Twisted Wheel and definitely one of the greatest nights of my life.

My Mother took this picture of me in my shrine to Edwin in the Summer of 1970.

Where has the time gone.

 

I vaguely remember chatting to a guy who said he had travelled down from Scotland - might well have been you David - can't have been many that came so far for a night out! I did know a guy who used to come over from Ireland though - can't remember his name - but he said he had to catch a bus into the port - then the ferry - then a train from Liverpool to Mancs. Always used to pity him when I thought of him enduring  that North Sea crossing after the Wheel......

Hi David - Sorry I don't remember them - but then if I could remember anything even the next morning it would have been a miracle! The night always seemed to fly by - seemed as though it only lasted a couple of hours....lol

The travel was ok if you had a bunch of mates with you - or even just one mate - sometimes there would be a few of us from Bradford all on the same bus off to the Wheel - but often it would only be me, feeling like Billy-no-mates until I got to Manchester. Worse on the home journey on Sunday - most of the crowd from Bradford would go straight home after the Wheel, but I wanted to carry on partying lol. Off to the Top Twenty (after a bit more in the way of chemical refreshments) & party on for the rest of the day.

Well people seem to have enjoyed reading my little story at the top of the page, so I thought I would write chapter 2.

I started going to the Wheel with another mate from Bradford when we were both aged only 15 - our parents would never have allowed us to go, so we said we were sleeping at each other's houses. This worked like a dream for quite a few months - until one day my friend's mum turned up at my parents' house asking for her daughter...…….the brown stuff hit the proverbial fan big time! We were both grounded - my friend's parents soon forgave her, but I turned 16 a few weeks after we were rumbled & I was thrown out of home -  lived in bedsit-land so I was able to do whatever I wanted - FREEDOM!! 

I was at the Wheel every Saturday from then on - I knew people from all over the UK - not only the Lancs area, but Wales, Derbyshire, Yorkshire, Cheshire - you name it! There was a guy used to catch the ferry from N Ireland - bus to the port - ferry to Liverpool & train to Manchester & then all the same in reverse on a Sunday! I never envied him that North sea crossing after a night at the Wheel...…. I also got to know a large group of guys from Southend - around 20 or so. They used to come up in a convoy of a Mark4 Jag; a Mini & somebody's works van! They couldn't fit all of them in - only had room for about 16 so they had to take turns. I got to know them on their first  visit to the Wheel - they thought that while they were standing at the bar (unlicensed of course) & a guy started chatting to them out of the blue - that they had strayed into a gay bar! But they decided the music was good so they would stay a while...….then a couple of girls started to chat to them & they said they thought they were being chatted up...…... It was only when they had been there for a couple of hours or so that they realized that people "up North" actually talk to each other! They couldn't believe how friendly we all were - if they had just chatted to someone in a bar down south they would have been thought of as wierdos. The only name I remember is Danny (no surname) - he had the Mark4.

My mate decided to give up the all nighters after a while, but I carried on going on my own for a couple of years after that. I was never daunted at the thought of catching the bus to Mancs on my own - it was a long boring bus ride on my own, but when I got to Manchester I knew lots of people - I've always been a chatty sort (still am lol). Oh those were the days...…..

I was a regular at the Continental from around 1964-67 - until I graduated to The Market Tavern, Pack Horse & Cellar Bar. Lots of happy memories - Coke 1/-  a bottle  making it last all night.....pinball machines.......chewing gum stuck to the ceiling.....Still in touch with a few old mates from back then, but always pleased to hear from   anyone else who remembers those happy days!