“Ah Geese! My super-high-waisted, wide-leg flannel keks with wide, wide belt (above) made sure I felt like I belonged with the Manc avant-garde. Great little shop, great little days....”

“This has just unlocked a memory! I was at this gig. Another band that got a lot of stick but I really liked.”

“I saw Birdland and The Manic Street Preachers here. I remember both were much maligned in the music press but the gigs were brilliant.”

“This was one of the first gigs I went to when I moved to Manchester to go to the Polytechnic. My very vivid memory is of Ian McCulloch standing in front of me with his big hair blocking my view. It was a brilliant gig. I saw so many great bands during my time there.”

“RUBBER RECORDS. PO BOX 402 MANCHESTER M60 4AU”

“I should also have pointed out that the celebrated soloists named in your summary of the Society were not members of it but paid celebrity soloists attracted by the considerable reputation of the Society in the fifties and early sixties. My father's great friend James Hyde did much to establish this. Some of the names mentioned in the 1955 press cutting (from the Middleton Guardian) are familiar to me - particularly Marjorie Crossley and Irene Yates - but possibly for the wrong reasons.”

“I was interested to encounter this newspaper report when searching the web for "Middleton Musical Society". My late father, Frank Reddish was a long-time member of the Society. He was treasurer for more years than he might have liked and was also, for a time, the Musical Director. Your entry for the Society confirms that the Society was founded in the 18th century. It may have been one of the first choral societies in the country. In his book "Leisure and Society" Professor James Walvin says (quite wrongly, I believe) that "by the late 19th century there were thousands of [chral societies] but their numbers belied their relatively recent history. They emerged rapidly from obscure origins. The first mention of a Yorkshire choral society was in Halifax in 1817; the next in Bradford in 1821". Lancashire deserves better than this.”

“Wow I think I saw these once or twice. Coincidentally I dug up my Up Jumped The Blues album which was a Manchester Blues compilation album. A couple of mates were in Stormy Monday and they of course had two tracks on the album Give And Take, and Stems And Seeds which I thought was an amazing track. John their drummer uploaded a gig of theirs on YouTube. https://youtu.be/CFUDbCL4pXk?si=i4CUDRDoKOEbqYgX”

“I keep up with Glez's adventures and went to see his photo exhibition in town. We went to the Mccartney gig at the Cavern together and the Concert for George at the Royal Albert Hall. I did post some old posters and tickets on this site somewhere. I suppose I should catch up with Igg as I haven't seen him for ages. I'm still in regular contact with RF Tweedy who lives on the Isle of Wight.”

“Went to school with Nessy, he left at 16 but still saw him at the International and other clubs”