£800 was raised towards our project to bring Cefn Fforest Miners Institute back to life, at a fund raising event in The Blue Club, Cefn Fforest on Friday 8th March.

Porthcawl based band All Mod Cons, together with legendary Soul DJ Nigel Graham, provided the entertainment and had the sold out crowd up and dancing the night way in aid of a good cause.

All Mod Cons

Many arrived early to get a good seat and the venue was full before Nigel had put his needle down on his first record. With an evening of Mod/Soul music on the cards many ‘faces’ had gathered from the village and beyond, with some making the effort to travel from as far as Merthyr Tydfil, Porthcawl and Pencoed Avenue. Fred Perrys, Harrington Jackets and Parkas were in abundance, and even a few Paul Weller haircuts.

Wigan Casino veterans reunited, Andrew Nelmes and Bob Hibbert

The crowd were initially hesitant to get up and dance, no doubt anxious, waiting to see if they would win a prize in the mid set interval raffle. The Raffle alone raised £200 towards the charity.

Raffle prizes for boozers, chocaholics and smelly people

Raffle (and club tote) over, the band came back for a second set, playing covers of bands like Spencer Davies Group, The Who and The Jam. No longer needing to worry about the raffle, and with a few shandys down their necks, the crowd started to lose their inhibitions and the dancefloor soon filled up.

Keeping on keeping on

Once the band had finished, Nigel Graham, veteran of the Manor Suite in Porthcawl, kept the vibe going with a selection of seven inch vinyls from his extensive Northern Soul collection.

Last night a DJ saved my Stute

The dancefloor was a bouncing collection of smiles as the crowd forgot about the outside world and threw shapes like they were nineteen years old again. Our own celebrity charity Chair Ron Stoate was spotted cutting a rug, sparking talk that he maybe making an appearance of Strictly Come Dancing next season. Ron, of course, denies these rumors.

His Ronness doing the Fforest Shuffle

We would like to thank all that turned out to make the night a success, we promise to put the money raised to a good use. A big thank you must go to All Mod Cons and Nigel Graham for the entertainment and The Blue Club for once again letting us use their facilities.

Tickets will soon be going on sale for our next event, and evening with the Incredibly talented guitarist James Oliver, who will be taking a break from his world tour to perform for us on Friday 31st May. More details to follow shortly.

Next gig, James Oliver – watch this space

If you would like to learn more about our charity and our aims, please visit the ‘about’ page on this very website.

Follow us our Facebook page and join our Facebook Group to keep up to date with future events – and to see a selection of photographs from last night’s event.

By clint