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Artists who played at Great Harwood Football Club
Great Harwood Football Club was one of those venues, which are all too common in
this country; a place where a common discomfort welded the audience together in a sense
of camaraderie not possible in more affluent surroundings. In winter it was so cold that two
members from Bury brought there own electric fire and often the horn players would have to
suck their mouthpieces for ten minutes in order to make them playable.
The beer had been standing in the pipes since the previous weekend so it was not
advisable to get the first two or three pints. The stage was miniscule and lit by three or four
forty-watt lamps of varied colours - not the ideal place to take photographs of contorting
jazz musicians. In spite of all that, we had some momentous nights and the atmosphere
could sometimes be electric.
Unfortunately I did not start to take photographs of the earlier
musicians and missed the likes of Barbara Thompson and the wonderfully phallic named
Dick Wellstood. I hope that the following photographs will capture some of the atmosphere
of those times.
photographs ©
derek woodall, 1975 - 1996
send an email to derek woodall