Chronicles of a life in northern clubland - the new book by Wakefield entertainer Mark Ritchie

Titled The Clubland Empire: My Part in Its Downfall, Mark, who was a columnist for the Express for many years and is now editor of show business magazine UK Cabaret, takes a personal journey through the working men's clubs that were at the centre of traditional working-class life.

The mighty clubland scene that saw its heyday in the north of England during the 1970s has now all but disappeared. From the wakes weeks to the club seaside trips, the machinations of the club committees to the mass club closures during the 1980s, Mark has lived through it all.

In The Clubland Empire he shares his tales of the gigs and personalities he met along the way. With a father who was a part-time club singer and full-time coal miner and mother who worked in variety and clubland as a pianist accompanying visiting artistes, it may have been inevitable that Mark would end up in the then burgeoning club scene of his youth.

Mark, who followed his father to work as a coal miner, began as a club member, before being elected to a club committee while still in his teens and played part-time in a clubland covers band. He then acted as a club concert secretary (talent booker) at his own local club, before starting his own clubland entertainment agency.

He went solo in the clubs in 1983 and became a full-time professional, originally as a singer. Turning more to comedy, Mark has been booked in the clubs ever since winning regional comedy and entertainment clubland awards in Blackpool, The Midlands and in his native Yorkshire.

The Clubland Empire is published on January 14, 2022, price £14.99.

It will be available to order from bookstores or www.mark-ritchie.co.uk and deserthearts.com