Post by coops on Dec 1, 2008 0:24:51 GMT
Hunstanton Ward, as measured in the 2001 Census,. was 5685, for the last weekend in November 2008 that number was increased to approximately 6,500 as over eight hundred people descended upon Searls' Holiday camp and devoured with relish a weekend of soul.
The main dish served up by Jamie trundle and his effective and efficient promotion team was a ballroom room bursting at the seams with memories infused into the minds of those present by purveyors of Northern including; Steve Gutteridge, Ady Bull, Tony Dellar, Rob Smith, Smudge, Martin Topley, Karl Boddongton, Paul Massey, Skip Stuart Ian Gee and Marcus Reid. Tune after tune battering those memorial senses into life on the three sectioned dance floor, a floor filled with dancer after dancer right through 'til the wee small hours.
But it didn't stop here, promoter Jamie trundle had a vision of infusing quality classic Northern with Soul of a latter vintage (from 1975 upwards) with classic club soul and Motown all in the same venue at the same time.
This was achieved, and achieved to the total satisfaction of those eight hundred plus Hunstanton invaders by hiring the right dee-jays for his or her respective genre and also basing it in an appropriate three roomed venue.
The above mentioned Northern Soul dee-jays (many of whom were able to multi-task and provide top tunes from the other afore mentioned genre as well) were supplemented by the likes of Reg Stickings,Chris Brown, Steve 'Jay', Kev Laws, John Bradley and Malc James.
So there we have three separate rooms, one home for Northern, one for Classic and Motown and a third for the more modern side of things, and the common thread to all these rooms is the lighthearted party vibes, the non-political atmosphere tainted with nowt but the love of the many and varied genre of Soul and Northern Soul.
There were many stalwarts of their chosen venue who had chosen to stay in the room which was filled by their beloved style of soul, there were others who used the event as a smaugus board of sounds dipping into each room and sampling the fantastic fares on offer and leaving satisfied from each and every one.
Hunstanton now has a weekender, a weekender which, in the eyes of many there already, after but one inaugrul event is a match for the likes of Whitby et al.
As if to underline this much discussed concept the winners of the Soul Quiz asked if they could swap the first prize of free tickets for the next Whitby weekender for the second prize which were tickets to the 2009 weekender in Sunny Hunny!
A weekend of laughs, of humour, of soul and also a weekender to forget the pending dip in economic fortunes and dive head long into the deep pool of Soul and Northern Soul served up this late Autuminal damp but bracing weekend
There was also a live act, Kenny Bernard took to the stage on Saturday night, but alas, on a personal note to my eyes he just put the breaks on an otherwise pulsating night of Northern Soul in the three dance floored main ballroom.
I wasn't Kenny's fault that it failed for me, it was my own.
Other than Edwin Starr (Wirrina 1975), Junior Walker, (Wirrina 1977) and Harold Melvin at Stafford (1983) I have not much liked the tempo of the night broken by a live act, but hey, I was only one of over eight hundred differing opinions, likes and dislikes
Over all I echo the whispering over the weekend as some of the paying public were already saying "The Hunstanton Weekender" will be the new 'Whitby'!
I'm not sure whether that's good or bad but what I do know is, over eight hundred people drinking between them selves over 55 barrells of beer (and a few bottles of something for the ladies) the Sunny Hunny weekender is already here to stay. Over two hundred People were already booking their tickets for next years' event before that last vinyl memory had;stopped spinning on the last of the six turntables in this multi-roomed, expertly appointed venue.
Sunny Hunny, new kid on the block? not one bit of it, 2009 will be as slick and welcoming as this years event, so book early if you want accommodation on site because it can be a chilly and wet coastal strip on occasions so the odd night in an on-site luxury caravan would but only enhance what promises already to be a top draw East Anglian Soul Weekender but it would allow designated drivers the facility to help empty a further 55 barrells
And for a pennies worth of free advice for the promoters…. "If it ain't broke, don't try to fix it."
ournorthernsouls.org/default.aspx
Maybe the tide is turning? 