Seaside Soul Club

Morecambe FC Gazzetta webmaster, Mick (The Shrimp) Dennison spent the first club gig night in August 2003 taking pictures and working on an article for the Morecambe weekly newspaper The Visitor - Read his report below.

Hitch up those Birmingham Bags, button up the Ben Sherman and dust off those black brogues – Northern Soul is back in town!

A group of soul music aficionados known as the Morecambe Hat Posse have formed the Seaside Soul Club; they held their first dance night on Friday 23rd August at the Seaside Soul DJ - Duffs Upstairs Downstairs pub – it was a roaring success.

The posse have been together for five years and have had to rely on travelling to places like Blackburn, Wigan and Stoke for their fix of that special blend of music that flows seamlessly from the 60’s to the present day. Under the present chairmanship of Sam “The Man” and the enthusiastic administration of Charlie Dixon the group decided enough was enough and formed the club in order to bring soul music gigs back to Morecambe on a regular basis. Those of us of a certain age will remember a thriving soul scene in the early to mid-seventies centred on the Dixieland Showbar at the Winter Gardens. The club’s aims are to eventually become as popular and to see people from all over Britain coming to Morecambe for their soul musical enjoyment.

I was invited to the first club night by Sean O’Connor, who apart from helping with the equipment and administration also finds time to spin the discs. Charlie Dixon and Sean Tracey were working the door, greeting and encouraging all that entered to sign up for membership of the club – and at only £3 it was a bargain.

“Members will only have to pay £2 at future events and all the money raised on the door will be ploughed straight back into the club”, explained Charlie, “we will also use the money to subsidise travel to other venues”, he went on.

I decided to do my own bit to back this newly formed club and signed up there and then. I was promised a membership card, regular newsletters, and more importantly a venue where I could listen to some great music in a happy, friendly, trouble free environment.

Being an exile it is really encouraging to see a group of local people attempting to bring some good entertainment to the town. It was also a chance for me to take a trip down memory lane; not only with the music but also with the great time I had meeting lots of my old friends who used to dance the night away at the Dixieland in the 70’s.

It wasn’t all old wrinklies strutting their stuff on the floor, the music encompasses all age groups and there were 65 people in attendance for the first night with ages ranging from 20 to 50 – such is the pull of good soul dance music.

With old classics such as Out on the Floor by Dobie Gray and the newer sounds of Koffee Brown beating out, the floor was never empty; a fact pointed out to me by DJ, Nick Duffy. “It’s the same everywhere we go around the country, the music is so infectious, you just want to get up and dance all night”.

Sean O’Connor praised the landlord of the Upstairs Downstairs, “ Mick Donlon and his wife Sharon have been great in allowing the club to use the function room and I hope we will be able to forge a long lasting partnership. We hope to make this a Mecca for all soul fans in the Morecambe area.”

You may be wondering if a 45-year-old balding guy got himself up on the dance floor at some time during the first night – of course I did, and although it may not have been a pretty sight I definitely enjoyed myself.

If this taster has mentally got your feet shuffling across the kitchen lino, why not get along to the next club night on Friday 19th September and feast your ears on Northern, Motown, Jazz Funk and any other category of soul music you can think of.

The Morecambe FC web based fanzine – Gazzetta de la Shrimp, carries a link to an info page regarding club activities.

Last Updated: Monday 27 August, 2007 16:16