S.V.’s Formative Years Festive 50 (1985 – 1986)

The Fifty Tracks of My Years from September 1985 to August 1986

Popular music can take us to a particular point in our lives. It is the soundtrack of our youth, birth, marriage, random bus journey, schooldays or not-so-happier times. Throughout my life, music has played a massive part. You can either see this on East of the M60 in written form, or in my professional capacity with Future Directions CIC on Fun Time Friday. As my co-star on Fun Time Friday Kevin Phoenix says, ‘music is also a time machine’.

Our Big Fat ’80s Tameside Quiz: The Answers

Is your knowledge of the ’80s Tameside acceptable in the 2020s?

We’re probably running a bit late with this one: the answers to your Big Fat ’80s Tameside Quiz!

Our Big Fat ’80s Tameside Quiz: Another Past of the M60 Special

Is your knowledge of the ’80s Tameside acceptable in the 2020s?

Following the success of our previous article, we have decided to follow this up with a quiz. This will test your knowledge on all things of a Tameside nature from the 1980s.

Fifteen Things You Could Do in 1980s Tameside That You Can’t Do Today

A Past of the M60 Special on the things we used to love doing in our borough back in the ’80s

42 years. 42 years ago at this time of writing was 1980. Thanks to Xanadu and Olivia Newton-John, ELO got its first and only Number One single in the UK. The 343 was extended north of Top Mossley to Oldham, taking over the 416 route. Tameside’s top football club was Mossley AFC, when Messrs Skeete, Moore and Smith made mincemeat of opposing defences. Back then, they went to Wembley and lost 2 – 1 to Dagenham in the F.A. Trophy Final.

S.V.’s Formative Years Festive 50 (1984 – 1985)

The Fifty Tracks of My Years from September 1984 to August 1985

Popular music can take us to a particular point in our lives. It is the soundtrack of our youth, birth, marriage, random bus journey, schooldays or not-so-happier times. Throughout my life, music has played a massive part. You can either see this on East of the M60 in written form, or in my professional capacity with Future Directions CIC on Fun Time Friday.

In Praise of Superman: A Cheesy Tunes Special

The understated genius of Black Lace’s party anthem

Once upon a time forty years ago, the son of Enrico and a mate of his wrote a cheesy tune called Gioca Jouer. The songwriters, Claudio Simonetti and Claudio Cecchetto (the former being Enrico’s son) did pretty well with their tune. It was used as the opening theme for that year’s Sanremo Music Festival and a smash in their home country, Italy.

The A to Z of the ZX Spectrum

Remembering Sir Clive Sinclair and his wonder machine

The 1980s was a very grim time for many people. There was high unemployment and high inflation. The Labour Party – who should have been hitting the right notes in attacking the Thatcher-led government – was split between its left and right wing factions of the party. If you substituted Thatcher for Johnson, you could be forgiven for thinking ‘deja vu’.

The Duffers’ Guide to 8-Bit Computing #2: Cartridge Games

The second part of a new Duffers’ Guide, celebrating the joys of 8-bit computing

Back in the 1980s, there was two main storage media for software and documents: cassette tape or floppy disc. At the start of the decade, our floppies were 8″ and 5.25″ in width. By the end of the decade, 3″, 3.5″ and 5.25″ discs. For many people, floppy discs were too expensive – especially in the UK when floppy disc drives costed almost as much as the computer itself. (Unless you had an Amstrad CPC 664 or 6128 which also came with a monitor).

Forgotten Fast Food Joints of the Last Half Century Extra #1: Huckleberry’s

Feast of the M60 looks at some more obscurities in the world of hamburger hawking

Several years ago, we did a Feast of the M60 Not So Perfect Ten on forgotten fast food joints. We included King John’s Restaurant in the now-missed Kings Hall shopping arcade in Oldham, and the Big Bite burger bar that was in the corner of Co-op’s Shopping Giant superstore.

Since 2012, the Great British Burger Market® has become a lot more competitive. Whereas McDonalds is top dog in the mainstream market, Five Guys and Gourmet Burger Kitchen have carved a niche at the premium end. In the middle ground, J.D Wetherspoon enjoys that position, once enjoyed by Wimpy. Where it trumps many of the burger giants is the fact it sells cask conditioned ales.

Alongside McDonalds and Wimpy, the close of the 1970s saw the rise of a third force in fast food in the South of England. It was Burger Queen’s first foray into the UK market. Enter Huckleberry’s.

S.V.’s Formative Years Festive 50 (1983 – 1984)

The Fifty Tracks of My Years from September 1983 to August 1984

Popular music can take us to a particular point in our lives. It is the soundtrack of our youth, birth, marriage, Bar Mitzvah, schooldays or not-so-happier times. Throughout my life, music has played a massive part. You can either see this on East of the M60 in written form, or in my professional capacity with Future Directions CIC on Fun Time Friday.