IN MEMORY OF JIM JOHNSTON
AKA ORVILLE J HEAP
Well! who'd of thought? Nearly thirty years on and the old building gone (and almost forgotton about) and yet someone decides to put together a Winter Gardens reunion.Well done Dave Hanson and everyone else involved.
Unfortunately the Barlow sense of timing did not do the evening any justice what so ever. Still eating tea and downing copious amounts of alcohol at 8.45pm was not the best start to a wonderful evening but never the less we did make it to the Aberconwy Center for 10.00pm. Not a bad time to start under normal circumstances but a bit late for such a special occassion methinks in hindsight.
It was a good start in that my eldest daughter Claire and her fella Neil had offered to get us to the do and home again, allowing us to have a drink or two without worrying about taxi's, driving etc.. It was a wierd feeling having a daughter and her fella at such a reunion and in fact her baby bump or in proper terms our next grandchild:) but she has been to a few of the Fleetwood Weekenders with us and thoroughly enjoys herself with a bit of Northern Soul being played
(and that is an even bigger plus for the myself).
So, we give in our tickets and follow the suggestion that it's easier to get a drink downstairs, get in a round, have a slurp and join the action upstairs. On climbing the stairs I got quite a good feeling, if not a little nervousness.
Would it be a good turn out? Would I meet anyone I knew? What if..........? Oh bugger it, we're here for a night out what ever the case:)
Well! First impressions?
Well impressed with the venue, never been there for a disco. Pretty good turn out and some seating in the middle for us poor old fogies which was much needed as I was knackered just climbing the stairs. Not sure if I was correct in thinking it but there were a lot of younger looking faces than I expected, even if I didn't recognise anyone:] Got comfy, had another slurp of lifeless lager and had a listen to the sound system (old habits die hard?). Sorry to say this though bearing in mind the amount of work that must go in to organising such a do but there was a horrible buzzy sound to the mid/top range somewhere. Anyway I think Glyn Ross Jones was DJing at the time but I didn't recognise him (sorry!) but Phil did so we went up to say hello and there were some good choons emerging so the feel good factor was getting even better. I almost felt the urge to spin a few disks but the shock of seeing no vinyl was a little off putting:) So back to our seats and just a few slurps later and Babs turned up with her three gorgeous, grown up girls, Donna, Georgina and Charlotte and the reunion was complete for me. In what seemed like no time at all but was probably ages and ages we talked of times long, long ago, reaquainted ourselves and remembered exactly why we were there. A lot more talking, hugging, kissing and reminissing followed by more drinking and a little dancing which amusingly led to the formation of the Rick James line dancing formation team:) My God it's been years since I heard that track or even saw that dance:))
It was nice of John to come over to say hello to Phil as he was one of the guys that went to Wigan/Wrexham to see Jr Walker all those years ago and Lynne says she saw a girl that used to live in Llanddulas some time ago but apart from that I didn't see or recognise anyone. Sorry and all that. Just in case anyone ever reads this I was the overweight one with grey, short, receding hair and wearing a lime green shirt and black jeans. Anyway, before I knew what was happening the bar had shut and it was time to go.
The wacky bit was the closing of the venue to a sing-along of 'Hen Wlad' and a final rendition of Oggy, Oggy, Oggy :))
Can't remember that happening at Winters so I had to join in:))
Had a few drinks at home and shared stories of days long gone with Supertrucker and played some old tracks (anyone remember Dillinger's - Cocaine (running around my brain) (Jim used to love it:)) 'till about 4.00am and decided it was too early for breakfast so we toddled of to bed for a few hours sleep at least, which was about the first time I realised I was in need of an urgent double hip replacement operation.
On The PLUS SIDE: Good night out with family and friends, had a few drinks, shared a few memories.
REGRETS: No camera, sound quality, didn't know anyone, bar closed much too early, Jim wasn't there.
As for The Winter Gardens, Llandudno "they think it's all over";
but how can it be whilst the soul and the sounds survive?????