Were you part of Peterborough’s Northern Soul scene in the 70s and 80s?

At its height, hundreds of music lovers would dance through the night at city venues such as The Wirrina or The Fleet.

Some would travel hundreds of miles to dance in clubs in the north of England - including the famed Wigan Casino - where the scene got off the ground.

Some - including local DJ Jamie Trundle (pictured with legendary Northern Soul DJ Ginger Taylor, a regular visitor to the city) - are still involved. Jamie regularly puts on Northern Soul events at the Braza Club in March and the Sunny Hunny Soul Weekends in Hunstanton.

Now, city based Jumped Up Theatre has been awarded funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund to team up with students from Peterborough Regional College, and Vivacity’s Heritage Festival for a local history project with a difference.

The students will be taught interview skills and then share the memories of the golden era they have collected as a living history performance at Peterborough’s highly popular Heritage Festival in June.

“This is a local project inspired by local people”, explained Jumped Up’s Creative Producer, Kate Hall.

“From the stories I have been told already there were a lot of local people whose youth was filled with dancing and listening to Northern Soul.

“We want to hear from everyone. We are also looking for loans of memorabilia, like posters and badges, which we can document for the city’s archive, and clothes for the students to wear at the Heritage Festival.”

Kate is keen to hear from Northern Soul promoters, dancers and DJs who were part of that Northern Soul scene in Peterborough. All are invited to come forward and share their stories via the Jumped Up Theatre website (www.jumpeduptheatre.com/northern-soul), or by emailing [email protected]

“This is a great learning and career development opportunity for our students with over 50 students benefiting from a high quality industry related work experience project,” added Rachel Nicholls, the Acting Principal at Peterborough Regional College

“ This is a fantastic collaborative project with our journalism, media and performing arts students using their passion for their subjects to capture and celebrate the youth culture of their grand and great- grandparents, and then share it with the city.”

In addition, from March to July there will be weekly fitness and social sessions at The Key Theatre, to Northern Soul floor-fillers, thanks to the lottery funded Health Xchange programme. Participants can improve their fitness and get on the decks to share their favourite vinyl.

More information about how to get involved at www.jumpeduptheatre.com/northern-soul