Thanks for a great 2011, and a Happy New Year with plenty to look forward to!

December 30th, 2011 → 10:38 am @

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Thanks to everyone who has regularly visited my blog during 2011 , and attended the various events with which I ve been involved.

I wish each and every one of you a Happy New Year – let’s hope 2012 is a good one for us all.

On the soul events side, I ve been particularly impressed with the response to the return of the Lowton Civic where my partner is Ginger Taylor,  and the awesome “Summer in the Park” All Dayer at the Dunkenhalgh Hotel and Spa in Lancashire where my partners are Neil Rushton and Mercure Hotels.  We have some more events planned for 2012 and I ll be keeping you updated here.

The King Georges Hall Soul nights in Blackburn continue to pull in the crowds with the next one on Saturday January 28th being our 17th anniversary . The venue is about to undergo some refurbishment in the Blakeys Bar which will make it an even better room going forward !

With my “Togetherness” partner, Kev Roberts I m really looking forward to our TWO weekenders next year at the Tower Ballroom, Blackpool and our soul cruises on the Thames  and Newcastle upon Tyne.   We also have a brand new “big soul night out”  for Yorkshire taking place in Sheffield on March 24th.  Added to that there will be two more All Nighters at the splendid Winter Gardens in Blackpool with 3 rooms of Northern Motown and Modern soul.

In Manchester, apart from some newly themed events at the Band on the Wall currently at planning stage, I ll be very much looking forward to a couple of guest appearances at Pete Roberts’ “Twisted Wheel” club, and of course that massive Ritz Revival All Dayer on Sunday March 25th when all the original DJs are back together again.

Over in Clayton-le-Moors the Dunkenhalgh Hotel events are starting to become the talk of Lancashire and our first-ever “Soul Hoot” in December attracted over 200 on a bitterly cold , wintry day and all the guest DJs played awesome sets, so we will definitely be doing more of those next year.

My next event (in association with my good friend Ralph Tee) is in early January 2012 when we run the 10th Anniversary of our Luxury Soul weekenders at the Hilton , Blackpool and with over 1000 booked in to celebrate the event with live acts Keni Burke, Sherrie Brown and the Valentine Brothers, a great way to start the New Year.

On the record label front,  I ve been working on building up a small catalogue of quality releases on our GO AHEAD imprint, and I m pleased to say that we managed five double-headers in 2011 , all of which look splendid and unique in their picture sleeves with in -depth sleevenotes for each.  They are all selling well especially to afficianados of   UK labels and will all become prized collectors items once the limited runs are out of print.  I have several more great releases lined up for the early part of next year, and at last, two fabulous “Mighty Sound of…” CD compilations.

On the radio front, both Kev Roberts and myself would like to thank everyone who has supported the specials we have jointly put together with Smooth Radio and we hope there will be more in the pipeline for next year.

Here are the key dates for my events for the first few weeks of 2012 -

NEW YEARS DAY -  THE NORTHERN SOUL HOUSEPARTY LIVE TO THE NATION ON SMOOTH RADIO – Starting from midnight, Kev Roberts and myself on air for the first 6 hours of the New Year with some of the greatest Northern Soul and Motown classics.  

FRIDAY-SUNDAY JANUARY 6-8th  LUXURY SOUL WEEKENDER , HILTON HOTEL, BLACKPOOL.  (All weekend passes on 0161 832 1111)

FRIDAY JANUARY 13th   LOWTON CIVIC    2 -Roomed SOUL NIGHT, Hesketh Meadow Lane, Lowton , Lancs .  £ 6.00 pay on door .

FRIDAY JANUARY 20th  BRIGHOUSE RITZ BALLROOM, Brighouse, W. YORKS.  (Guest DJ set)

SATURDAY JANUARY 28th KING GEORGES HALL , BLACKBURN,  3 -Room Soul Night Out  17th Anniversary  . Call 01254 582582 for tickets priced at £10 each or pay £ 13 on the door on the night.

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 10 th   LOWTON CIVIC    2 -Roomed Soul Night.   8.30pm – 1.00 am Admission £ 6 , pay on the door

SATURDAY FEBRUARY 11 th  BLACKPOOL WINTER GARDENS , 3 ROOM ALL NIGHTER .  £12.50 advance tickets on 01909 515150 , or £ 15.00 OTD (until 1 am only)

DJs include Colin Curtis, Soul Sam, Bob Hinsley, Nige Brown, Kev Roberts, Rod Allsworth, Ginger Taylor, Keith Fletcher , Mark Freeman, John Kane plus many guests.

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