Photograph
Ang Matthews
The Hacienda
18th February 2018

PHOTO: Lloyd Wakefield

I was born and raised in Rhyl, North Wales where, from an early age, I became obsessed with music - I just loved it. I was desperate to escape from Wales and had glimpsed another life during my regular nightime forays to 'Eric's' in Liverpool. I ran away to Manchester to do my degree and follow New Order, The Buzzcocks, Magazine and all the bands I'd been listening to and reading about in NME.

Manchester was brilliant, all I had dreamt it would be. During my second year at Manchester Met Uni I realised that I didn't want a 'proper' job as such, so I went to see Elliot Rashman, who, at the time, was 'Entertainments Officer' but also manager of an unknown band called Simply Red. I worked for Eliot part time whilst I finished my degree and learnt every aspect of running a nightclub and putting on gigs. It was an invaluable experience and an exciting time.

I become the Social Secretary at Manchester Met (which I did for a year) then I became the Ents Officer at Leicester University (strangely enough I was only the 3rd woman in the UK to hold the position of an Ents Officer in a student union). It was the most boring 10 months of my life. I resigned and with perfect timing, moved back to Manchester to work at The Boardwalk as duty manager and put on a few gigs around town.

I got a call asking if I was interested in a position at 'The Hacienda'. I thought maybe it was time to get a proper job, ha! I had no idea what I was letting myself in for (it was '89 dance music was big and Madchester was reigning in her full glory) - there was no interview, no budget, no job description but, hey, what did that matter - we were about to become the most famous club in the world and I was the first woman in the UK to run a venue and hold the license for such a large building. It was a very male dominated world of club promotion, dance music and DJ egos and I loved every hedonistic moment of it.

The rest will be in my book...