The Vinery Hotel

Organised by Tim Puffer and Dave Nicholls, northern soul moved to the Bier Keller (which was literally in the cellar) of the Vinery Hotel. A small room, it had an uneven slate floor which was a dancer's nightmare. Most people took to the carpet! A turn-out of 40-50 was achieved, which was plenty for a room that size.

Music of the time included "My Little Girl" - Bob and Earl, "Call On Me" - Bobby Bland, and a strange version of "Black Is Black", which if memory serves was by The Love Sitars... Disco decks were kindly made available by Ron Holtham (who some of you may know used to run the Hinckley half-marathon) but only on the condition that Ron played the records. You can see from the photo's that Ron was clearly having a good time, so he must have approved of the music... another convert!

A little bird tells me that there was a raffle run at the Vinery one night to win an LP. The LP in question was The Gamble Records All Stars compilation (pictured right), featuring artists such as Frank Beverly and the Butlers and Dee Dee Sharp.

Now, some of you may know an avid Hinckley record collector and soul expert Colin "Lank" Chamberlain.... Colin was desperate to own this LP so "allegedly " the raffle was "fixed " so that Colin could get his hands on it! Pays to be mates with the organiser!!!