Born and raised in North Manchester, Liz Campbell is currently studying film studies at the University of Salford. Alongside this, she has volunteered at HOME and worked at Pilot Light TV Festival. She has a passion for writing, mainly about film, but she also loves over-analysing TV and music (especially funk and soul). When she’s not writing, she enjoys going to gigs and the theatre and grabbing a drink in Fab Café (as long as she can sit next to the TARDIS), followed by a chilled Sunday with her cat and a cuppa.

She also had a stint in London working for a now defunct red top newspaper as a feature writer. She’s quite proud that she managed to write about the campaign for women victims of domestic violence who had been freed from prison on appeal among all the kiss-and-tells.

Paul Clark

Paul Clark is a St Helens-based writer, freelance journalist, musician, and lecturer. He has previously worked as a sports journalist but these days is following his passion and writing more about music. He is an avid gig-goer and can often be found crate-digging in a number of the region’s record stores. He has just completed an MA in Creative Writing and is in the process of editing the novel produced on the course. When he’s not drafting/editing his novel, he has a keen interest in the theatre, literature, music, comedy, and poetry.

If his life wasn’t busy enough, Paul is currently trying to master the ukulele, although he has yet to learn a George Formby number which he realises is a major oversight for a uke player.

Lucy Clayton

Lucy Clayton is a third year Broadcast Journalism student at the University of Salford. A proud Geordie at heart, despite lacking the accent, Lucy has a passion for all things North East, from Northumberland’s rolling hills and picturesque coastline to Newcastle’s vibrant clubbing scene.

Specialising in travel writing, Lucy is a scriptwriter for Love it Book it, promoting the latest worldwide cruises. She has also contributed to Salford Now and Quays News throughout her studies. A lover of theatre, music and good food, you may find her at Newcastle’s Theatre Royal before a night out on the Bigg Market, and having worked as a bar waitress for three years, she definitely knows her bevs.

You can follow Lucy’s words on her blog hereand her pics on Instagram: instagram.com/lucyclayton99/

Nancy Collantine

Nancy Collantine used to work in public relations until she left Manchester to live in Queensland in 2017, which is when her love of painting became a full-time preoccupation. She is now back in Manchester doing painting and site-specific art and continues to write on the side. She is currently a Turps Banana student of painting and runs an artist-led temporary exhibition programme called Dez-Rez Projects.

Karen Connolly

Karen Connolly has been a journalist for thousands of years. She started her career on her home town’s paper, The Wigan Observer, and has been a crime reporter, business correspondent and, her favourite, music journalist in the 90s – a right indie kid at heart.

She’s now a regular on BBC Radio Manchester drive-time where she drones on about what’s trending. She’s also a contributor to regional and national press.

Music is still her passion and, after years of ‘being with the band’, she’s now the ‘mother of the lead guitarist’ of the band MazeBound.

Matthew Connolly

Matthew Connolly was born in Manchester and lives in the Lake District. He trained as a journalist in London where he worked for a variety of newspapers including The Guardian, The Observer, the Evening Standard, The Sunday Times and The Times, where he was a classical music critic. Matthew’s first novel, Dances with the Daffodils (set at the time of the poet Wordsworth), was shortlisted for Lakeland Book of the Year and his latest novel, due out in 2018, is a contemporary recreation of Wuthering Heights. He is also writing a first book of poems and a novel set in Paris at the time of composer Claude Debussy. As a Lake District tortured artist in residence, Matthew plans to ‘re-wild’ the Lakes by introducing pretentious melancholia and bohemianism to some of its more conservative villages.

Mark Connors 

Mark Connors is an award-winning writer from Leeds and has had more than 150 poems published in magazines, anthologies and webzines.

Mark’s debut poetry pamphlet, Life is a Long Song, was published by OWF Press in 2015. His first full-length collection, Nothing is Meant to be Broken, was published by Stairwell Books in 2017. His second poetry collection, New Ways of Looking at Light, will be published in 2019 by YAFFLE. A joint collection, Reel Bradford, written with fellow writers from the team behind poetry publishers, YAFFLE, in partnership with Bradford City of Film, will also be published in 2019. Mark’s debut novel, Stickleback was published by Armley Press in 2016. Stickleback was long-listed for The Guardian’s Not the Booker Prize. His second novel, Tom Tit and the Maniacs, was published by Armley Press in 2018. It was selected as one of Culture Vulture’s novels of the year.

Mark’s award-winning short fiction has won him prizes and commendations at North London Literature Festival, Dartmoor Literature Festival and Otley Word Feast. Mark also won the open mic competition at Ilkley Literature Festival in 2014 and 2015. He features regularly as a guest compere at literature festivals and also runs WORD CLUB, his own poetry night, at The Chemic Tavern in Leeds with his partner Gill Lambert and co-runs Shaken in Sheeptown in Skipton. Mark and Gill also run a monthly poetry radio show on Chapel FM. Mark is a founding creative partner of Poetry at the Parsonage, an annual poetry festival with the Brontë Society in Haworth. Mark is the managing editor of the independent poetry publishers, YAFFLE, and a writing workshop facilitator and is training to be a bibliotherapist.

Cathy Crabb

Cathy Crabb is an award-winning writer who has written extensively for the stage. Her plays include Beautiful House, Moving Pictures, and Beyond the 4th Wall. Her critically acclaimed play The Bubbler toured in 2014. Earlier this year, she co-wrote the musical Dreamers with Lindsay Williams. Her poetry appears in Best of Manchester Poets 2013 and her first collection Beside The See-Side is published by FlapJack Press

She is currently writing The F**k It List– a sit-com with actor Sally Carman, a new musical with Lindsay Williams, her new poetry collection and a play for Proud and Loud about two young people with disabilities who fall in love online called Oh For God’s Sake. Her poetry will be placed on four sculptures in Oldham by the sculptor Emma Hunter in January 2016. 

Damon Fairclough

Damon Fairclough is Northern Soul‘s Liverpool Correspondent. A freelance writer based in Liverpool (via a long-lost Sheffield of the soul), in a career spanning a shocking number of years he claims to have written about ‘brutal grey music, ultra-brite passions and the dogged persistence of memory’. In practice, this means writing about mix-tapes, cities, theatres, haircuts, concrete, drizzle and bus stops – among other things.

You might find his words in publications including Northern Soul, Louder Than War, Bido Lito and Stuplex, or you could well discover them over at his own writing archive, Noise Heat Power. You might also wish to know that he’s available for hire as a freelance copywriter and content creator, having previously written for Sony, Toyota, Motorola, Interflora and more. Yes, actual brands you’ve actually heard of.

Find his portfolio at damonfairclough.com, stalk him on twitter by following @noiseheatpower or, failing that, simply whisper rumours about him when he’s out of the room.

Claire Fleetneedle

Claire Fleetneedle is Northern Soul‘s Gardening Correspondent. She is also a voice, public speaking and acting coach. In her spare time she is a trainee herbalist specialising in remedies and edible uses for local wild plants. In a world where free healthcare may soon be a thing of the past, she seeks to revive and pass on our ancient and largely forgotten herb lore. 

Angela Ferguson is a freelance journalist and the founder and editor of We Are Chester, a website which looks at all things artistic and cultural in and around Chester. She is also a lecturer in journalism at a university in North Wales and a presenter on the community radio station Flipside Radio in Chester.

Angela is hugely proud to combine all of this with being a single mum to three children. And yes, she should probably be doing more housework rather than taking on new writing and broadcasting projects. But journalism is in her blood and so joining the team at Northern Soul was a no-brainer. Just don’t pick her up on her slatternly ways should you ever visit her at home.

wearechester.co.uk, @WeAreChester

Susan Ferguson 

Susan Ferguson has lived in Birmingham, Manchester, Barcelona and London. She has picked strawberries in Norway, olives in Spain, vegetables in Bolivia and fights in bars. She has worked in nightclubs, schools, galleries, offices, archaeological digs, shops and marquees. 

She cut her journalistic teeth on Debris magazine and after a 30-year hiatus is back. When she is not travelling, Susan divides her time between Salford and Manchester.  

She is a minor player in her own life story. Follow her on Instagram @sferg10

Georgina Gilbert 

Georgina Gilbert is an aspiring journalist with ambitions to work in the music and arts industries. Originally from Worcester (yes, where the sauce is made), she is currently studying a degree in Multimedia Journalism at the University of Salford, with a drive to embrace the expansive arts culture of Manchester and the North. 

In her short yet promising career, Georgina’s passion has already led her to Hollywood film sets in the Northern Quarter and interviews with actors in the upcoming film, The Batman (2022).

Bernard Ginns

Bernard Ginns is a director of www.branksomepartners.com, a communications advisory firm based in the North of England. He works with clients across a range of sectors including technology, engineering and healthcare. He is Visiting Fellow of Journalism at Leeds Business School and a member of the regional leadership group at Mosaic, a Prince’s Trust charity which inspires young people from deprived communities to realise their talents and potential. 

Bernard served as Business Editor of the Yorkshire Post from 2008-16, leading the newspaper’s highly regarded business coverage and chairing the flagship Yorkshire Post Excellence in Business Awards, attracting blue-chip sponsors and political speakers such as David Cameron and George Osborne. Previously, he was Editor of the award-winning new media start-up Kent on Sunday (2005-08) and a Reporter at The Mail on Sunday (2002-05), chasing stories across Britain, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. 

Bernard started his journalism career at the London Newspaper Group and is a philosophy graduate of the University of Manchester. Outside of work, he enjoys squash, yoga, the outdoors and researching urban subcultures of the 1990s.

Jan Green

Harry Kretchmer and The North were introduced by the BBC, first at its old Manchester base (RIP Oxford Road), then in Salford Quays. From 5 live late night argy-bargy fixer to Breakfast business producer, Harry got to know the city through those who would house him: Castlefield YHA (stunning ironwork, snoring tourists); Fallowfield engineer (Corrie cobbles); Whalley Range Mastermind exec (leafy, strangely empty streets); Sale artist (cats, canals – now home).

He read history at Oxford, as they say on University Challenge (RIP Granada), then completed a postgraduate diploma in broadcast journalism at Cardiff University.

These days Harry likes to explore the area’s canals and poke around interesting old buildings, taking the odd snap before he gets chased off. Occasionally, Harry can also be found sampling the varied cuisines and refreshments of the area.

Stephen Longstaffe

Lucy McNamara used to be the producer and presenter of The Northern Soul Podcast. A freelance radio presenter, podcaster and voiceover artist, until recently Lucy was the Weekend Breakfast presenter at 2BR, Lancashire’s local commercial station. Lucy started out as a journalist 10 years ago and has worked for BBC Radio Leicester, Norfolk, Cambridge and Stoke, presenting, news reading and reporting.

Prior to 2BR she was BBC 6 Music’s regular cover for Elizabeth Alker’s music news on Radcliffe and Maconie. During her time at 6 Music she presented the music news on the Shaun Keaveny breakfast show and also took part in BBC Music Day appearing with Craig Charles. She has also assistant-produced for Guy Garvey and Marc Riley. During her time covering music festivals for radio she has interviewed Nile Rodgers, Everything Everything, Jean Michel Jarre, Tim Burgess and many more musicians both national and international.

Danny Moran

Danny Moran is Northern Soul‘s Manchester Correspondent. Born in Radcliffe, he’s been a bartender, a life model, a musician and a journalist, contributing to City Life, Dazed & Confused, Attitude, The Face, Manchester Confidential, Guardian Guide and The Express.   

Andy Murray is Northern Soul‘s Music & Film Editor. He has been an arts freelancer since 1999, initially for City Life magazine and more recently for The Big Issue in the North, among others. He edited a story anthology for Comma Press, and currently teaches Film Journalism at the University of Salford.

Michelle Nicholson

Michelle Nicholson is Northern Soul‘s Sports Correspondent. She was born in Finsbury Park. After a Legal Studies course at the University of Bedfordshire she travelled north with love in her heart and has remained here ever since. Previous roles have seen her as a children’s librarian, hostess at Ewood Park, and a sales executive for an educational computer supplier. For the past 14 years she has worked for charities and the arts. 

Her interests include Batman, Arsenal and tattoos. She is partial to a long Dark & Stormy with extra lime.

Michelle can be found on Twitter @PurpleGooner ranting and cheering on her beloved Gunners.

Henry Normal

Henry Normal was born in St Ann’s, Nottingham in 1956 and now lives in Brighton with his wife, the screenwriter Angela Pell, and their son, Johnny. He is a writer, poet, TV and film producer and founder of the Manchester Poetry Festival (now the Manchester Literature Festival), and co-founder of the Nottingham Poetry Festival.

Chris Payne

Chris Payne is a Manchester-based photographer and arts marketeer (which makes him sound a little bit like a pirate).

He studied theatre and film at Glasgow University before heading down to Manchester at the turn of the century. He soon joined the team at Cornerhouse, working as box office manager for several years. Chris recently ended a ten year stint as host of the monthly film quiz – as a result he has an extensive knowledge of random bobbins which will almost certainly be of no use to him at any point in his life.

A saxophonist, he has played in a variety of bands, ranging from a ten-piece celtic folk big band to a traditional ska outfit, supporting legends such as The Beat, Bad Manners, Neville Staple and, erm, The Drifters. He currently plays soprano sax with Ears in Excellent Condition – a trio performing live scores to silent films.

You can see more of Chris’s work at chrispayneimages.co.uk.

Phil Pearson 

Phil Pearson is a journalist and playwright.

He has worked at the BBC, The Guardian, The Independent and the Manchester Evening News.

Phil has written five short plays, all of which have been performed in England and Ireland. From Barrow-in-Furness, he now lives in South Manchester.

@philpearson67; pafpeo@gmail.com

Colin Petch

When he grows up, Colin plans to write meaningful feature pieces about Northern folk – and what they get up to. While working as a lecturer in the North East he was inspired by the work the creative community were doing to record the lives of ‘ordinary people’, and this was the inspiration for his own embryonic project, From the Pennines to the Sea, a digital archive capturing something of life in the North now.

When not writing for regional titles or loitering around the School of Journalism at a well-known Northern university, he can be found on a hillside in Nidderdale where he is generally given the run-around by family members and assorted livestock. His interests include social justice, youth and community engagement, the arts and cakes of various types.

What he says about himself: “The opportunity to capture the stories of others is a privilege.” What others say about him: “His agitation peaks when the council change the recycling collection day because of a bank holiday.”

www.penninestothesea.com; @cpetchwriting

Ollie Plumb 

Ollie Plumb is an MA Journalism student at the University of Salford. Having moved to Manchester three years ago, Ollie quickly found himself at home in the city’s hospitality and live music scene, which he documented in the photo series Service Please. Ollie specialises in writing about music, art and youth culture. He has previously written for Dazed, where he interviewed NME 100 band PVA and wrote about nightclub closures for The End of the Decade campaign. He has also reviewed a number of singles and EPs for Coeval Magazine. 

With a particular interest in independent publishing and zines, Ollie has worked with Manchester-based art studio and publisher Desire Press, contributing to their zine A Gallery of Figures and releasing a research project titled Who Am I that a King Would Die in My Place. 

You can follow him Twitter and Instagram, or email him at ollie.plumb@gmail.com.

Phil Pounder

Phil Pounder is Northern Soul‘s North East Photographer. A Durham University maths graduate whose artistic/creative side has taken 40 years to fight its way out of his logical brain, Phil is originally from County Durham. Via a seven year stint in London, he now lives in Low Fell and works for an IT consultancy based in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Can often be found down the Quayside with his ‘way too expensive camera’ (not his words obviously) looking for new angles of the Tyne Bridge. A keen photographer who is discovering the joy of ND filters, bokeh and pano stitching. Can be found on twitter @glasses502.

www.philpounderphotography.com

Wendy Pratt

Rachael Richards is an award-winning PR Manager with 12 years of PR experience, working both in-house and for agencies.

She has worked with a wide variety of clients including Manchester Pride, the RNCM, LEGOLAND® Discovery Centre and Love Hearts sweets, gaining coverage on Daybreak, The Jonathan Ross Show, ITV News at 10, The Sun, The Mirror and The Telegraph.

Rachael has a passion for the arts and has lectured in music PR at BIMM Manchester (The British and Irish Modern Music Institute). Having previously worked promoting established acts such as Echobelly and Mike Joyce from The Smiths, she used this experience to help the college’s young musicians publicise their work.

Born and raised on a farm in mid-Wales, Rachael moved to Manchester 14 years ago and has always been an avid supporter of the city’s cultural scene. As a former arts reviewer at Large magazine and Chimp, she regularly attends theatres, arts centres, galleries, gigs and festivals around the North West.

Drew Savage

Benjamin Stacey

Benjamin Stacey is a third year Broadcast Journalism student at the University of Salford. Born in Belfast but often told that he sounds Scottish. Benjamin’s biggest love in life is music and there’s no better feeling than being front row at a gig. Benjamin specialises in musical interviews, creative writing and reviews and has contributed to Salford Now, Shock Radio and Global Radio throughout his studies. You’ll probably see him on a Friday morning queuing for concert tickets or working as a part-time bartender where he’s the only Irishman who pours a terrible Guinness. You can see some of Benjamin’s musical chats here.

 

Richard Stephenson

Richard Stephenson caught the political bug early in life which turned into an obsession for communications. He worked on his first political campaign in the UK at the age of 15 and took a trip to Washington DC aged 16 to work on his first of two Presidential campaigns.

He studied politics, international relations and history at Coventry University before going to Cardiff Journalist School to complete his post-grad. Since then he has developed his political and professional careers and in 2004 became the youngest ever President of the Conservative Party Convention at the age of just 28, chairing the party conference in Bournemouth that year. He has trained politicians in Europe and Africa and toured the five regional capitals of Pakistan to debate East/West relations.

Professionally, Richard has been the Director of Public Relations for Royal Mail Group and Director of Corporate Affairs for AXA, as well as holding board level positions in consultancies. Richard is also passionate about charity and organised his first fundraising event aged seven, raising £80 for the local Help the Aged. He is now chairman of Kids Count, a charity that brings the voice of young people to Parliament and seeks solutions to the problems faced by kids in urban and rural areas.

Richard is a frustrated writer and constantly tries to capture his experiences in notes and memos. Married to Liam since 2010, the couple live in central London and are totally besotted with their recently adopted Jack Russell Dachshund puppy, Bobby, who is bound to be an inspiration for future columns.

Ly Stewart

Ly Stewart is a third year Broadcast Journalism student at the University of Salford. Mostly cynical, sometimes critical, but always analytical, Ly has a love for looking far too deeply into the topics she cares about. Those being video games, films and music no one has ever heard of. She’s even got a show about it on the university’s radio station called The Obscure Hour.

Lizzie Wood is Northern Soul‘s Travel Editor. Originally from Essex, Lizzie moved to Nottingham to study Ancient History before slowly gravitating further North and settling in Manchester to start life as a PR at Fourth Day. With a passion for food, fashion, gigs and art, Lizzie has written for titles including Creative Tourist, Made in Shoreditch and Northern Soul.

Fran Yeoman

Fran Yeoman spent more than a decade on national newspapers before returning to her native Liverpool in 2016 to join John Moores University as Senior Lecturer in Journalism. Before that, she was Assistant Editor of i, where she oversaw the paper’s news output. She previously worked for The Independent and The Times.