My first guest to be washed ashore on a loney island in the sea this year is Northern Soul Promoter and DJ, Ann Taylor.

Ann runs a monthly soul club in Teddington and the Dome Alldayers with Derek Mead in Tufnell Park. A resident DJ at Hoodoo Soul Club in Hersham, Ann has also DJ’d at Bisley, Oxford Soul Club, Isle of Wight Soul Club Rally Weekend and at various other clubs around the country. 

"I grew up in Lancashire, loving Motown and other Soul music since the age of about 11 and started going to Wigan Casino in 1974  (and like a lot of people – pretending to stay at a friends house overnight!!).  I went to Blackpool Mecca as well as local clubs around, finding new friends who had a real passion for the music and not simply a 'liking' for it. My 'normal' friends thought we were all crazy and never got the feeling we all had. 

Having left the North of England in 1980 to attend college, I was away from the scene for several decades (like a lot of people for one reason or another) and then I had, what I suppose you might call, a 'mid-life crisis' and decided to explore the Soul scene down South. 

I had a yearning to promote and DJ. I saw Martha Reeves at the Jazz Café and an ex-Wigan Soul fan I met that night encouraged me to go for it!  So I bought some decks, mixer and, of course, MORE records and started in a local pub in Teddington on Thursday nights. Some local Soul fans and DJs became regulars, we outgrew the pub so I set up at Teddington Constitutional Club down the road. And that’s how it all re-started…  

When Bill asked me to send him my choices for the blog, I thought 5… only 5 records!  That’s so hard to choose. Anyway here goes…. Some of my all time favourites on the list and those would always be there and some which may have been different if I was writing this next week!"

The Belles - Don't Pretend

 

"Great stomper!  I love the beat and Mirwood was a great label output too.. Brenda and Patrice Holloway, Sherlie Matthews : This seemingly 'unofficial' recording was made by these three as the Holloway sisters could not sign a contract under their own names as Brenda was already signed to Motown. I often like to start off a DJ set with this. I love the voices, especially Brenda - some of her best music (imho) was never released."

Jackie Wilson - This Love Is Real

 

"I find it difficult to play a set without Jackie – he can do no wrong… his voice was like a musical instrument and what a showman. I love the unexpected start to the record – quite laid back and then everything kicks in (love a big arrangement). 

What a beauty."

Martha Reeves & The Vandellas - Love Guess Who

 

"It's very hard to select a tune by her. I especially love the violins in this one. I think Martha was underrated and I love her edgy voice."

Constellations - I Didn’t Know How To

“There’s a flame deep within my soul – and it’s burning (burning burning) out of control. I wanna speak, but can’t find the words.. and you pass me by baby having never heard”.  

"What a tune…sends a huge shiver down my spine even as I write this.. I do like big round whole sounds and orchestration and I adore it played in a bigger venue. I lose myself."

Little Anthony and the Imperials - Better Use Your Head

"This again has a big dramatic orchestral sound and what a voice Anthony has – I like many other songs by them. Now… this one would actually be the one record I keep if I really was on a desert island and everything else was washed away. For me this sums up everything about my passion and love for the music and people, especially my teenage memories of Wigan Casino."

The Patch is Moving !

Because of google's  privacy issues, we're no longer using blogger to post news about the patch.

You can, however, keep up to date at our new site here :    The Compton Patch

We will be looking forward to your comments !
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Up The Pole !

When we first started at Compton Allotments, we were allocated a 15′ wide plot with a fence running down one side to separate our crops from the pigs in the neighbouring field.  In the following year the pigs were moved and the land used to create more individual allotment plots and our plot expanded from 15′ to 22′.

Our raspberry canes grow on wires strung between posts that we erected when it was a 15′ wide plot leaving a spare bit of land where we grew odd things that took our fancy.

This year we are growing hybrid berries (Tayberry, Loganberry  and Bosyenberry) and I have bought the materials to construct another wire frame which would stretch right across the 22′ wide plot.

Now being a man who likes order in all things (yes, I know there is another name for this !) it would be unthinkable to have one frame for the hybrid berries which was wider than the adjoining frame for the raspberries.

So, as you can see from the picture I have extended the raspberry bed by installing another pole and stretching wires across from the old pole. Once this was done, I removed the obsolete pole and this will be used when I constuct the frame for the hybrid berries.

Berries

We ordered three berry plants which arrived last week, so this morning we were down at the patch planting them.

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One Tayberry, one Loganberry and one Boysenberry have been planted in a 22′ row with 6′ spacing between them.  I will be erecting posts at either end of the row and then stretching wires between them so that we can tie-in the canes as they grow.

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Raised Beds

As it was a very pleasant morning in Compton, we took the opportunity to construct another raised bed.

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The new bed is the nearest one on this picture and was built around the carrots remaining from the summer sowing and the shallots which were planted in October. 

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The raised bed behind is one constructed earlier this year where three rows of garlic are being grown.

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Once these crops have been lifted, the beds will be topped up with a mix of fresh soil and compost and used to grow squash and courgettes.

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November wood smoke

We’ve had a productive afternoon down at the patch.  I finally got round to fixing the door handle on the polytunnel and Heather got a fire going to burn the prunings from fruit bushes… there’s something very evocative about Autumnal wood smoke.

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We have built one of our planned six raised beds in the polytunnel and have sown Winter leaves (mizuna, mustard greens and spinach) which we hope will provide us with a cut-and-come-again leafy greens.

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Mission Accomplished

The door is on, the floor levelled and the frames for the raised beds will be constructed sometime in the coming weeks.

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Meanwhile,  there are plenty of other jobs to be getting on with :

• The bed where we will be growing climbing beans has been cleared and two trenches dug out… these will be filled with newspaper and waste that would normally go on the compost heap.  The trenches will then be filled in and the bed covered with a layer of cardboard until we are ready to sow seeds in April.
• The soft-fruit bushes will be pruned back to maintain a good shape and encourage more fruits.
• The step-cordon apples will also be pruned and side branches tied into the wires.
• Another bin will be constructed to hold leaf litter… the leaves will slowly break down to produce a very rich compost.