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Working Men's Clubs in Sheffield


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I started playing on the WMC club scene in 1963, in those days concert secs went around looking at prospective acts and if they were suitable they would be engaged.

After a spell in the army I returned to the WMC scene in the 70s.

The major difference by then was the emergence of the entertainment agencies.

Had it not been For the smaller agents such as the two Alberts (Little Albert Hitchen & Big albert) we would have very rarely worked the local clubs.

 

The larger agents sent you out of Sheffield swapping you with Leeds/Bradford agents (who'd never even seen you); this was to bump up the fees ("You'll have to pay more they're from out of town").

 

I was present on more than one occasion when concert secs were given 'hand warmers' by the agent who'd just secured 6 months work at a club.

 

We owed a big debt to people such as Geoff Clayton at Walkley WMC who still kept on booking his own acts and we had great respect for him; we were able to work for less fee due to it being a local gig and the club also benefitted.

 

I went back to the pub scene after being sick of the excessive travelling, the infamous 'No Pick Up' and the amount of commssion that we had to pay, I don't know what it is now but the last fee we played for was £300 less £52 for the agent.

 

Whether it suits or not the agents have played more than their part in the decline of the WMC scene

 

All true.....and thanks for the memory jog re...Albert Hitchen........what a character, with special memories of his Reid & Taylor suits that always looked smart (except 3 sizes too big !)

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All true.....and thanks for the memory jog re...Albert Hitchen........what a character, with special memories of his Reid & Taylor suits that always looked smart (except 3 sizes too big !)

Albert was such a nice guy we'd pay him his commission which was always followed by him buying us a round of drinks.

The La-Plata and Philadelphia were always favourites especialy Sunday noons with the strippers and better still the La-Plata only had one dressing room.:D

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Albert was such a nice guy we'd pay him his commission which was always followed by him buying us a round of drinks.

The La-Plata and Philadelphia were always favourites especialy Sunday noons with the strippers and better still the La-Plata only had one dressing room.:D

 

Funny that you should mention the La Plata........for my sins....I played drums there for a short while, which is of course how I met Albert in the first place.:)

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Funny that you should mention the La Plata........for my sins....I played drums there for a short while, which is of course how I met Albert in the first place.:)
We; along with two Strippers were doing a Sunday noon session at the Philly for 'Little Albert', after hearing us play the second stripper asked us to play some impromptou soul music for her two strip sessions, the first lady who had completed her first strip then asked us why we weren't playing for her, so, with an enormous amount of pursuading (I lied about the enormous and pursuading) we agreed.

Ahh those were the days.

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  • 6 months later...

My first "love" was a bloke called Phil who was the lead singer of a group called Beeba. He didn't know I was madly in love with him - I was only about 17 at the time and very shy. Used to travel all over to see the group and he ended up "seeing" my mate.... I cried and cried

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