To celebrate the 35th anniversary of legendary Bootle club, Quadrant Park, Sefton’s Library service is hosting an exhibition alongside Quadrant’s Salt & Tar reunion party in Bootle for the first time since the venue closed.
UK’s first legal all-night rave
Remembering the years of the UK’s first legal all-night rave, Queue Up And Dance drops on Friday 24th May alongside the first since the venue closed. It will then be open for the rest of the summer.
Sefton Council’s Libraries Service has worked with Rule of Threes Arts and artists Dave Evans and Melissa Kains, to bring the party Back to Bootle. Queue Up And Dance celebrate the legacy Quadrant and the vital role it played in cultural history.
Those who went to Quadrant Park back in its heyday, and young people living in Bootle today have been invited to develop an archive of photographs, flyers, leaflets and other ephemera. There have also been digital music production workshops with young people and interviews with those who donated to the archive.
DJ skills
Young people aged 16-24 have, over the past year been taking part in music production and DJ skills workshops with Scrapyard Studios CIC and Melissa Kains, DJ, producer and founder of female and non-binary DJ collective Sisu Crew.
Visitors to Queue Up And Dance can listen to the music made in these workshops, performed live by some of the young people.
There will also be screen printing with Rhonda Davies of Liverpool Community Print Station CIC making t-shirts and other exclusive merch.
Vibrant and active
Queue Up And Dance brings together displays of archival material and a timeline of how the style, graphic design and music developed in Quadrant Park’s short lifespan. It builds on conversations between Dave and the original Quadrant Park DJs, Mike Knowler and Andy Carroll, and the vibrant and active online Quadrant Park Reunions community on Facebook.
Visitors are invited to find themselves in the crowd in the photographs, learn about this explosive moment in the development of club culture and celebrate the memories.
A book will be available later this year, drawing together the archival materials and interviews.
Original QUAD DJs John Kelly and Andy Carroll will be playing alongside special guests for the reunion party on Saturday 24th May, as part of the as part of the Salt and Tar Bank Holiday Weekend Special.
You can use this link to buy tickets.
You can find out more about the Salt and Tar and the Fringe festival, which takes place from Friday 23rd to Monday 26th May 2025, at www.saltandtarbootle.com.
Queue Up And Dance has been funded by Historic England’s Everyday Heritage grant programme, celebrating working class histories. It is made possible with The National Lottery Heritage fund, with thanks to National Lottery players.
You can find out more about what’s going on at Sefton’s Libraries here. Do you have a story for Stand Up For Southport? Do you need advertising, PR or media support? Please message Andrew Brown via Facebook here or email me at: mediaandrewbrownn@gmail.com
