Ispun the famous three again.Iwas
crying my heartout.Icouldn’t stand it any
more and thenIshocked everyone by
spinning my biggest discovery, Frank
Wilson’s‘Do ILove You’.
third release in September 1978, ‘I Go to
Pieces’ by Gerri Granger,which scraped
into the charts at no50. The all-night band
Wigan Joker also hit no50 in February
- Amazingly,when ‘TimeWill Pa ss
YouBy’ –Tobi Legend maxi single went
into the charts, Gallop rang to tell me that
it had gone in at no43. Then, 10 minutes
later,theyrang back to say that as the
majority of the sales were north of
Birmingham, they’d removed it from the
charts! Eventually we sold 250,000
copies and none of our singles sold less
than 20,000 in the first week, which
usually guaranteedatop 30 entry!We had
two top-selling compilation albums and
Tommy Hunt’s‘Live atWigan Casino’,
which was alsoatop-selling album that
captured the feeling of the ‘Heart
of Soul.’”
It’sadifficult question to ask, but how did
the demise of Wigan Casino come about?
“The ‘Heart of Soul’ was attracting fans
from all over the country and around the
world.We were usually full every week
with coaches dropping off more and more
supporters, but the building was rented
from the owners,Wigan Council, byaguy
called Gerry Marshall. Out of the blue, one
day in early 1981, the council informed
us that they wanted to extend the new
Civic Centre and demolish our legendary
club!We were totally shell-shocked and
immediately asked forameeting to ask
them to re-consider.They seemed to have
their minds made up and in the summer
of 1981 we broke many hearts by
announcing that we may be closing in
September.Lots of Northern Soul regulars
had spent most of their youth there and
formed life-time friendships.
We felt sick and so we still tried to get
the council to change their minds or delay
it, but we were forced to advertise
September 15, 1981 as our last night.
Attendances even increased, although the
clientele was becoming, like us, more and
more distraught.
Ironically,days before our scheduled
final ‘End of an Era’ night the council said
that we could extend our lease until
December 6! As we didn’t have the
internet then, we weren’t able to tell our
Soul lovers that September 15 wasn’t
going to be the last night! Like ourselves
and our staff of around 50, the majority of
fans were delighted that they’d had a
‘death sentence’ stopped at the last
minute, and another chance to visit their
beloved club four or five timesaweek
until December 6.
What memories do you have of the
last night?
“I’d only ever missed one all-nighter at the
Casino and that was becauseIcouldn’t
get back in time from Detroit! I’d handled
all the advertising, chosen the DJs and
acts, and supplied the disco equipment.
I’d also lent some of my rarities to guest
DJsn and through the years we decided
which ones to spin in each spot to break
quicker than other venues. It worked! I
broke more Northern Soul tracks in the
70s than anyone else.
December6was heart-breaking! It was
the only nightInever wanted to go to the
Casino! My DJ spots were always the first
hour-and-a-half, midnight to 1.30am, and
then the last hour from7am to 8am. On
that last night we ran until 9am, but as no
one would leave it became 9.30am!
In the first three years I’d chosen three
records to close the all-nighters, which
became known as ‘3 before 8’. They were
Jimmy Radcliffe’s‘Long afterTonight Is
AllOver’, Tobi Legend’s‘Time Will Pa ss
YouBy’ and Dean Parrish’s‘I’m On My
Way.’Ileft it until 9am to play ‘Long After
Tonight’. It was as if someone had been
shot! People were bursting into tears,
throwing their arms around all their
friends and then getting back into the
tune by clapping along and singingtheir
hearts out to ‘TimeWill Pa ss YouBy’ and
‘I’m On MyWay’.
Then no one would move, it was so
emotional. They clapped and cheered until
Iplayed the threesome once more. It
happened again to chants ofamixture of
“No! No! No!” and “More! More! More!” I
spun the famous three again.
Iwas crying my heart out.Icouldn’t
stand it any more and thenIshocked
everyone by spinning my biggest discovery,
FrankWilson’s‘Do ILove You’. That was
it, I’d already packed my records together
and left in tears.
Ijumpedinmycar and drove toalocal
beauty spot and cried.”
Words:StuSmith &Russ Winstanley
Photos:Gary Chapman
Away of life.
End of an era. Memorabilia at the Casino Café.
70 |SCOOTERING|AUGUST2019
