At: Groove Pad, 48 Saltaire Road, Shipley BD18 3HN |
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Est: 1956 |
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The Topic: A History |
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Tykes' News, 1968
On leaving Bradford he founded a club in Southwell near Nottingham when they moved there in 1974. He was also a co-founder of The Micklebarrow Morris Men, which was an offshoot of the folk club. During his years at Southwell he played with a four-piece band called Cudgel who were well known at the time in the East Midlands. He co-founded a Ceilidh Band called Uncle Bernard’s Band who was still playing until recently, though without Denis. He went to live in Brighton for a few years but has now returned to live in the Nottingham area. He still sings and is involved in the folk music scene in the Nottingham area and organises a regular folk night called Nottingham Focus at The Maze and is also a regular at The Carrington Triangle Folk Club. He is involved with two bands, one called Waffle and the other One True Saxon. Playing accordion, he is also one of the musicians with a dance side called Sullivan’s Sword who appear most years at The Cleckheaton Folk Festival. As you can see Denis is still a devoted folkie and has no intentions of giving up singing or playing anytime soon. - [Trevor Charnock]
As the oldest folk club in Yorkshire (or indeed in England outside London) it is not difficult to imagine that the Topic has a chequered and at times, bizarre history. Such records as there are indicate the club was started at the latest around mid–1956 (the first formal annual general meeting was held in 1958) but I have heard suggestions from long- standing members that there was some activity before this time, even as far back as 1953. Whatever the date was, it seems to be agreed that the first premises occupied by the club consisted of a room above the Green Dragon Chinese Restaurant in the Albion Court, Bradford. Amongst those who seem to have been around at this time were Ed Saxton, "Dad" Tattersall, Vince Lacey, Rene Pickles, John Pashley and Alan Emmett (to mention only these names which may still ring a bell). The late fifties were, of course, the era of skiffle and trad jazz and the Topic didn’t escape the influence. This was before my time but I have heard it said that there was a time when you couldn’t get into the clubroom for the tea chests, jugs, washboards etc. Purists may cringe at the thought but to my mind some fine music was played by, for example, the Delta City Spasm Group, which included such names as John Pashley, "Tet" Powell and John Hockney (John is the brother of David and Paul who are perhaps better known round Bradford than him). By the time of the first A.G.M. the Topic had made its first acquaintance with the Order of Oddfellows, having moved a couple of hundred yards to Unity Hall in Rawson Square. With the exception of a short spell at the Fox and Goose the club was to stay at Unity Hall for over five years, and to many, who like myself were not founder members, "Unity Hall" and "Topic" must sound like one and the same thing. It is not easy to put one's finger on what it was that made the five years at Unity hall so outstanding. There was no shortage of good singers. Such names as Alan Emmett of the Heritage Singers, Dave Brady, Mark Newman, Neil and Sue Roc, Martin Cummins and Rene Pickles (later of the Cropper Lads), to mention but a few, were all regulars. But singers are not all that makes a club go. The clubroom also played its part in creating the right atmosphere. The stair to the basement went straight into the room which held about 80 jammed in tight (as they always were) and the atmosphere just hit you as you walked through the door. To my mind, the great thing about The Topic in those days was it lived up to the name of "Club". It was more than just a place you went once a week and paid 1/- to hear folk songs. Most members became friendly with most others and went to the same parties, pubs etc, during the week. As many as 30 or 40 would set off together "up to the dales", for a weekend's camping. Many tales come to mind about such expeditions e.g. the night someone (no names mentioned) ate the landlady’s plastic Daz roses at the Kings Head in Kettlewell, and the night a Very rocket went off on the campsite causing something of a commotion around the Dales. The club also had its own collection of books and records, which were loaned to members, but unfortunately these together with other equipment etc, were eventually "misplaced". Another aspect of the club’s corporate life, which continued till fairly recently, were evenings of music provided for any local organisations with enough members who were prepared to listen. The Y.M.C.A., British Council and Zionist Federation were amongst those who singers from the Topic took their music to. But perhaps I am sentimentalising a little too much and giving the impression of too much harmony within the club. In fact one of the things which made the early Topic such an interesting place was the difference of opinion within the membership as to what its ends should be. A glance through old minutes gives plenty of evidence of these. As early as 1958 Alex Eaton, who was president, resigned “in view of the hatred that existed for him by several members of the club”. One A.G.M. which I remember lasted until 11 o’ clock one Friday night and was then adjourned to the following week since no agreement had been reached on any of the matters on the agenda, although the audience had been treated to lengthy quotations from Trotsky. Another classic row amongst the committee concerned a donation of £5 made by the club to the newly formed Harrogate C.N.D., causing lengthy arguments and some resignations. Despite what has been said so far, however, the Topic was far from being an insular group of individuals arguing amongst themselves. Few will appreciate now how small the number of followers of folk music was before the boom, or the consequences of this fact. Singers from different areas travelled around to a far greater extent, as they had to in order to find any activity in the folk field. The Topic benefited from this by establishing a wide contact with singers from various parts of England and beyond. In the sphere of bookings, the small following for folk music generally had the effect of making fees unbelievably low. Many singers who later became top names were prepared to turn up purely for the chance of singing. Amongst singers heard by Topic audiences in those days were for example, Rambling Jack Elliot (whose fee is reputed to have been £5 plus free whisky), Carolyn Hester and Dick Farina, Jerry Silverman (who was paid petrol money), Robin Hall and Steve Benbow (both for around £8) and Martin Carthy and Lou Killen who both travelled up from London by scooter for a joint fee of £5. Of course professional singers were relatively few in number before the boom and bookings were therefore less regular but to compensate for this the floor singers included many who work professionally or semi-professionally nowadays (or would do if they were still around). Around late 1963 the Topic was forced to leave Unity Hall as the room was taken over for business premises. For a short while a different room was hired from the Oddfellows, but this lacked the atmosphere of the old basement and was more expensive. Finally after a police raid which resulted in the bar closing down (although only orange juice was discovered in the club room it has to be said that not all the members were teetotal. An alcohol-free room was due to a tip off we had received about the raid), the club moved to its present meeting place at the Sun Inn, Sunbridge Road. In the five years since we moved to the Sun the club has fluctuated between some of the best nights of folk music I can remember and some which I would rather not remember, but I am happy to be able to say that over the past year or so both audiences and singing have taken a marked turn for the better-so much so that the "House Full" signs have been dug out and dusted and singers coming in after 9 o’ clock have been lucky to get an hearing even on singers' nights. So, folk fans take note. We meet every Friday and a list of bookings until December is in this issue of Tykes News. |
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