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The History of Wigan Casino and Northern Soul

Part Three

The first anniversary came quickly at the casino and as you can guess it was full to the rafters, people where still lined up outside 3 hours after the doors opened at 2am that night or should I say morning, the dance floor was full on every northern soul record played, the walls covered in condensation and people covered in sweat from head to toe. I remember lying down under a table for a quick rest after doing a good hour stint on the dance floor all of a sudden water was driping off the ceiling onto my face, I thought someone was having a laugh and pouring water on me. This is what people experienced for the first time if they entered the place, a dump of a night club, sweaty, smelly toilets, condensation off the walls and ceiling, even the tear drops of cigarette smoke mixed in, the odours of bodies smelling of brut or some other cheap deodorant and guess what you would not want it any other way, it was brilliant. The gear was kicking in and life was magic for 6 hours untill after 8am when it was back onto station rd with a howling cold breeze blowing straight from across Scholes. I can still feel it now and it sends a cold shiver right through me, that was the worst time of the scene the morning after of what do I do now to kill time before we move onto the next venue. The northern soul scene was never glamorous or who,s who of the rich and famous, it was exactly the opposite most members all working class, hated their jobs because they had no choice in what job they did, their was no pick and choose so when you bring all these people together they are freinds for life, following the same music, fashion and lifestyle, they understood the words being blasted out by the likes of Edwin Starr, Jimmy Radcliffe and many others, we can relate to it, the hardship, the loss and the love of something or person you had but now gone. The northern soul scene was big and reality is the commercial world wanted a peice of it, did we want the world to know about something we had made secret underground for many years from the wheel, the torch, Wigan and many others.