The definitive history of Passion Spent – by Patrick (the parrot)
PART 13: ‘There’s no turning back….’
Go to part: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 |14 |
As mentioned earlier in this chronology, the first charity gig the band ever played was at the request of Dick Lovejoy, landlord of the Endyke Hotel. This was with the band’s original line-up—before the name-change from RIO to Passion Spent. But a quick browse of the band’s list of gigs reveals that they played at least one charity gig every year they were active (1983-87); and they also re-formed on multiple occasions specifically to undertake further gigs for charity.
The Passion Spent archive doesn’t document every single detail of every charity gig the band played, but I’ll try to provide as much information as I can.
As noted in Part 4 of this history, on Thursday, 6th October 1983—the year RIO was formed—the band took part in a charity gig organised by Dick Lovejoy, the landlord of the Endyke Hotel, Endyke Lane, Hull. I can find no record of the particular charity for which funds were being raised, but RIO was one of several bands who played that night. Incidentally, the band archives contain a photograph of Dick Lovejoy with a video camera the size of a bazooka on his shoulder. (It looks like he has the band in his sights!) But none of the band members can remember hearing anything about a video recording of the event.
On Thursday, 29 March 1984, seven weeks after the name-change to Passion Spent, the band played a charity gig at the Charleston Club, Walliker Street, Hull. I’m reliably informed that this gig was to help in raising funds for a children’s marching band. As it was the first and only time the band played at the Charleston Club, I think we can safely assume the event was organised by someone not directly associated with either the band or any of the venues where the band regularly played.
On Monday, 25 February 1985, the band played a charity gig at Hull’s Tiffany’s night club. Promoted as a ‘Breakdancing, fashion and hair show’, the event was organised by Julie and Ian Fawcett of Hairaisers hair salon, in aid of the David Pinder Appeal. The evening was compered by Radio Viking DJ, Dave Jameson, and it featured models provided by the Waterfront. The aim of the event was to raise as much money as possible for Everthorpe baby, David Pinder, who needed a liver transplant.
Sport Aid:
The band organised their own ‘Race Against Time’ event in May 1986 to raise funds for Sport Aid. According to Wikipedia, this was ‘the sporting event with the most participants in history’; and the band and their family and friends (a total of 19 people) raised over £650 for the charity, which equates to around £2,000 in today’s money.
In the week prior to the Sport Aid event, which took place on the 25th of May, the band made collections at two gigs: The Barham (on Thursday, 22nd) and Chalk Lane Club (on Saturday, 24th)—where they managed to persuade the audiences to part with £45 and £16 respectively. With the band donating their fee from the gig at The Barham, the total raised in advance of the six-mile run was well over £100. But the get-together of band members and their family and friends for a 6-mile early-summer fun-run outing was priceless.
On Wednesday, 4 November 1987, Passion Spent returned to Jacksons Club for another charity gig. Jim’s wife, Julie had organised the event (in aid of Hull’s Dove House Hospice) with the help of Jacksons Club. Her efforts managed to secure more than 50 raffle prizes by way of donations from various national and local companies. These included gift vouchers from Sainsbury’s and Marks & Spencer; as well as tickets from Hull Truck Theatre and Hull New Theatre, who each donated two tickets for upcoming shows: Oliver Twist and Humpty Dumpty, respectively—the latter, it was pointed out by Hull New Theatre’s marketing team, was ‘starring Keith Harris and Orville’.
Both Jacksons Club and the disco for the event, provided their services free of charge. More than 200 tickets were sold for the gig. A note from Julie in the Passion Spent archive sums up the event succinctly:
all the attention the band has had from family, friends, media over the last 4 ½ years came together tonight to hopefully provide comfort for people less fortunate, one of the better sides of the strange world of entertainment
Unfortunately, by this time, the band was approaching the end of the line. Just two weeks earlier, they had played what would prove to be one of their last gigs. This was in the 1987 Scunthorpe Rock Open talent contest.
I think I need to first explain that even entering and playing in the qualifying heat of this talent competition (on 31 July 1987) had proved problematic, and it was this, I would suggest, that sowed the seeds of the band’s initial disintegration.
Obviously, as a talent contest, there was no guarantee that members of the band would receive any kind of payment—and might not even progress to the final. Consequently, two members of the band weren’t really interested in participating, so Dave, Ian, and Jim decided to recruit (and pay, out of their own pockets) session musicians Paul ‘Huey’ Hewson (drums) and Merv Dobson (bass) as a stand-in rhythm section to play in the heat.
As an aside, Jim and Paul Hewson had been in the same class at secondary school, and it was Paul who gave Jim his first guitar ‘lessons’.
Paul and Merv worked stunningly well on the night of the heat, helping the band to proceed to the final. But having qualified for the final with the help of Paul and Merv, the band’s drummer, Mark Johnson and bass player, Andy Bowering decided they would now be happy to take the risk of not getting paid, and wanted to take part in the Rock Open Final. Since Mark and Andy were officially the current Passion Spent rhythm section, Ian, Dave, and Jim agreed and the final featured the complete authentic band line-up.
In the final of the competition, held at the Scunthorpe Baths Hall on 24 October, the band finished joint-third (with Rotherham’s Spring-Heeled Jack), winning £100. The contest was won by Lincoln band, Simba, with Hull’s The Push coming in as runners-up.
Despite the fact that one reporter’s review of the Rock Open Final noted that he had been impressed with the band’s performance in the heat but felt their performance in the final was comparatively disappointing, Ian, Dave, and Jim remain convinced that it was the right thing to do, to have the band compete in the final on their own merit.
Returning to the band’s charity gigs, just over eight years after Passion Spent split up following the Jacksons Dove House Hospice gig in November 1987, Julie Orwin, as part of her role as WH Smith’s local branch (Prospect Centre, Hull) charity coordinator for 1996, asked the various band members if they would be interested in re-forming to help raise funds for cancer research. The result was the band’s first two reunion gigs: The Springhead (Saturday, 24 February) and The Barham (Saturday, 24 March), which raised more than £750 in total. New to the band line-up for these and for subsequent gigs was local singer and musician Carrie Martin.
Jim’s local pub was The Highway on Willerby Road, Hull. And he tells me that one day—at the time the band was rehearsing for the gigs—when he was (he says ‘passing’) the pub, he heard a band rehearsing in the upstairs room (he thinks he remembers the windows being open). Though he can’t remember the name of the band (I really don’t think he ever knew), he later discovered that the vocalist whose voice he was so impressed with was Carrie Martin. With the approval of the rest of the band, Jim invited Carrie to join the line-up for the two charity gigs—as a ‘backing singer’. Despite Carrie being a superb and accomplished singer in her own right, she accepted the invitation, much to everyone’s delight.
Both the above gigs were captured on video, so posterity (if it so desires) should be able to see just how successful Carrie’s contribution to the band’s sound actually was. Suffice to say that a third 1996 charity gig was arranged a couple of months later. This time, it was in support of the children’s ward at Hull Royal Infirmary after keyboard player Ian’s six-week old daughter (coincidentally, also called Carrie) was diagnosed with the rare but potentially-fatal condition of Vitamin K deficiency, which prevents blood from clotting properly.
That gig took place at the West Side Club, West Dock Avenue, Hessle Road, Hull on Saturday, 18 May, and resulted in Ian and his family, a week or so later, presenting a cheque for £475 to the hospital in appreciation of their interventions regarding daughter Carrie.
The band also played another charity gig at The Barham in 1996. This was, at bass player Steve Sanderson’s request, to support the family a friend of his. The gig took place on Saturday, 14 September. As well as their fundraising initiatives on the night, the band donated their fee for the gig, which contributed to a total of £527 being donated by the Thomas Craig Johnson Fund to the Special Care Baby Unit.
Despite these last three gigs, Passion Spent wasn’t quite finished with fundraising in support of babies. Two years later, another call for a reunion would materialise.
In 1998, after 18 months trying, Carrie Martin and her husband Darren welcomed twin baby boys. However, the twins (Ben and Ryan) were born five weeks prematurely.
A year or so after their arrival, Carrie asked the band to re-form to play two gigs to raise funds for the Castle Hill Special Care Baby Unit, which had been crucial in ensuring the boys’ survival. Including her own car-boot sales and funds raised at the two associated Passion Spent gigs: The Springhead (Saturday, 6 June) and The Barham (Saturday, 1 October), Carrie managed to raise over £1,200 for her cause.
As well as appearing on the front page banner headline of the Hull Daily Mail of Saturday, 7 November:
BAND AID — MUM SINGS FOR JOY AND HOSPITAL
Carrie and her two boys were pictured on page 3 of the edition handing over a cheque for £1,245 to a nurse representing the unit.
The article also reported that Nick Lawler, director of Medical and Women’s Services at Castle Hill, had expressed his thanks by saying: “We are extremely grateful for the money. It will go towards improving services at the special care baby unit.”
The last charity gig the band played was once again at the request of Carrie. This took place on Friday, 10 November 2006 at the Milburn Leisure Centre, Wheeler Street, Hull and was to raise funds in support of Carrie’s friends Sue and Simon Smith, for the Motor Neurone Disease Association. Simon, a former Hull Ionians, and Hull Rugby Union Football Club (HRUFC) player—a tough and previously robust individual—had been diagnosed with MND in early 2005.
More information about Simon Smith, including his own story, can be found via this website’s MND page, but with the unavailability of any of the band’s previous drummers, Pete Sherwood agreed to take on the role behind the kit. In addition to this, with the unavailability of the band’s most recent regular bass player Steve Sanderson, Ben Lourie agreed to temporarily rejoin the band on bass (and in the spirit of doing whatever he could for the cause, convinced his brother Dominic to join the band on saxophone).
The night after the MND gig, the same line-up played a second gig (a private 50th birthday party for Steve Snaith, a friend of Ben’s and a committee member of HRUFC) at the club’s premises at Wadsworth Avenue, Hull. Despite over a year of subsequent discussions, rehearsals, and meetings, that gig was the very last gig Passion Spent played, but what went wrong?
There are still a few more tales to tell, but in part 14, I’ll try to bring together a more comprehensive consideration of the talent contests we haven’t yet discussed, including the one where bassist Steve Sanderson had his bass guitar stolen (which my favourite Passion Spent archivist has just reminded me about!)
Go to part: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 |14 |