Sisters Mysteries I

As we have seen in recent posts (particularly covering the Plan K alleged gig in Brussels), one of the biggest difficulties for TSOM aficianados trying to piece together the early 'live' history of the band is the lack of precise information available, even in these days of the internet and social media.
It's even harder when the gig took place at a tiny venue in a small town, and with a population just a couple of thousand shy of Retford's 20,000, Colne in Lancashire wins the accolade for the smallest town visited by the band on their early peregrinations across the UK, with the band stopping off to play in the Franc's club (allegedly named after the owner manager) in March 1983. Various other bands also played there on tours around that time (including King Kurt, New Model Army, Skeletal Family and the touring Batcave evening), but the precise date for the gig remained a mystery until recently, with two dates circulating, Monday 14th and Saturday 26th March.
It has become apparent that the former date was entirely due to the date on this pass :

which a fan had in his collection. However, the current owner of the pass, French TSOM specialist Phil Verne has been in contact with the original owner, and as the club was members only, this pass was in all likelihood issued in advance and the date marked on it was not necessarily the date of the gig. All other tour adverts and listings at the time, including the dates read out on The David Jensen show on Radio 1, indicate that the gig actually took place on Saturday 26th.

Unlikely corroboration for the gig having taken place comes from well-known anti sex abuse campaigner and Rochdale MP Simon Danczuk, who last year had the following Twitter exchange with former Word presenter Terry Christian amongst others :

Danczuk confirms that he saw TSOM at the venue, which he correctly describes as being on the corner of a shopping street. The two floor 250 capacity venue has undergone many different name changes over the years since the TSOM gig there, and was for a long time known as Zebras nightclub. These photos give some

indication of the size and location of the venue next to a pub, as does this one earlier this decade in the short-lived guise of the T3 club, before it became The Sugar House a couple of years ago, a name it retains to this day.