Northern Soul At The Raven
Terry Hill
Some of you may recall sessions held at the Raven Hotel, Prees Heath,
Whitchurch, North Shropshire, England. They were at their height
during the mid -late seventies at the same time as the popular
Whitchurch Civic Centre All-Dayers. Both venues were organised by a
bloke called Tony Windsor ( I believe his real name was Tony
Petherbridge). Soul Sam was the house DJ.
Anyway the good news is that this venue will once more host Northern
Soul Sessions. The detail I have so far is that htey will be promoted
by Chic Mullineaux from Shrewsbury and Keith Williams of Crewes "Soul
Searcher" record emporium. The first session is to be held on Friday
1st May 1998. The Raven is situated approx 2 miles south of
Whitchurch, North Shropshire. If you look at a road map it is at the
junction of the A41 and A49. Its 20 miles from Shrewsbury, about the
same from Crewe and the rest of you will have to work it out for
yourself. Chic has just returned from the USA, and has been scouring
the vinyl outlets of NY, Denver and Minnesota. The small but
perfectly formed individual has returned with some killer sounds. If
you want further info and date confirmation ring Chic on (44) 01743
355552.
BernieSoul
Good luck with the new Raven nites
Now there's a blast from the past, The Raven was run and I think owned by Tony
Petherbridge.
Tony also ran The Northern Soul Club and it's roadshow. The roadshow operated
in the mid 70's, 73 to about 76. There were two main setups, one run by Brian
Rae and the other run by me (Bernie O'Brien). We used to travel to venues all
over the country, taking with us special top name guests. Some of the venues I
remember working at were The Cosmo in Carlisle, The Viking in Goole, Corn
Exchange in Bourne and of course the legendary Whichurch all dayers. I also
worked at The Raven on several occasions.
Anyway I'm still DJing and promoting, running two regular venues as follow:
1st Friday in every Month at The Rec, Rylands Rec, Gorsey lane, Warrington,
doors open at 8.00, we're playing till 1.00. We've been running for 2 years
now and it's a regular packer. DJ's are myself, Norman Edwards and each month
we have a guest DJ, April is Steve Chadwick, May is Keith Minshull.
3rd Friday in every month at Pavillions, The former ICI rec, Sandy Lane,
Weston Point, Runcorn, doors open at 8.00, dancing till 1.00. DJ's are
myself, and Cog with regular guests, our April guest is Bryan Wakelin.
Although we only started the venue last September, it's become a firm
favourite.
Hope to see a few of you there
Bernie O'Brien