Queue Up And Dance celebrates legendary Bootle nightclub Quadrant Park, the UK’s first legal rave all-nighter. Although the club was short-lived, growing popular in early 1990 and closing at the end of 1991, it played a pivotal role in the evolution of club culture in the North West and beyond. Demolished in 1992, and with nothing at the site now hinting at its rich history, the story of Quadrant Park runs the risk of being lost.

Queue Up And Dance invites those who went to Quadrant Park in its heyday, and young people living in Bootle today, to collaboratively develop an archive, exhibition and new creative projects inspired by the club’s history and the early DIY culture of rave.

Queue Up And Dance is a collaboration between Sefton Libraries, Rule of Threes Arts and lead artists Dave Evans and Melissa Kains. It builds on conversations between Dave and the original Quadrant Park DJ’s, Mike Knowler and Andy Carroll, and the vibrant online Quadrant Park Reunions community on Facebook.

Queue Up And Dance is being funded by Historic England’s Everyday Heritage grant programme, celebrating working class histories. Made possible with The National Lottery Heritage Fund, with thanks to National Lottery players.

The aim of Queue Up And Dance is to celebrate the importance of Quadrant Park during its later years, between 1990 and 91.

The project does this through making, sharing, and learning together with people who went to the club, and a younger generation who didn’t. Things like flyers, photos and memories relating to Quadrant Park will be documented to produce a lasting archive of material that will be available for future generations via Sefton Libraries. This will happen both online and in person, through callouts, invitations and events. The archive isn’t an attempt to create an official or complete story of Quadrant Park, as the club was different things to different people.

Do you have a Quad story to tell? Or a flyer in a drawer somewhere? We’d love to hear from you. If you’d like to volunteer to support the building of the archive, or you’ve got memorabilia or photographs to share, please email joe.goff@sefton.gov.uk.

DJ Skills Workshops

Are you aged 16 – 24 and interested in the history of dance music and rave culture? After a successful summer of taster sessions we’ve got a course of DJ skills workshops throughout October with the founder of Sisu Crew, Melissa Kains and Shauna, a producer and member of Sisu Crew.

To take part in the sessions at Bootle Library and find out more about specific dates and times please email joe.goff@sefton.gov.uk.

We are looking for volunteers! Would you like to be involved in Queue Up And Dance by doing things like helping to capture Quad-related stories and digitising ephemera such as photographs, flyers and tickets? Helping with these vital tasks means they can be stored for the future in a permanent archive in Sefton Libraries’ collection. No experience is necessary, just a desire to help us tell the story of this amazing venue! Sign up to be a volunteer or tell us what memorabilia you’d like to have scanned or photographed for the archive by emailing joe.goff@sefton.gov.uk.