Christmas parties: Packed hotels and great nights at Fife clubs Suzi Qs, Jackie O, and Jordans in Cupar

The hotels would be booked out for months too with couples and works night out galore from the Royal Hotel Dysart to the Parkway (Beveridge Park) Hotel in Kirkcaldy. Some, like Dean park and Strathearn would have two running simultaneously and with a late bar to compete with the many town night clubs like Caesars, Bentleys, Jackie O’s, and even the Cue Ball club with licenced dancing till 2am. Well done the hotels and dances that keep going – and doing well, you know who they are.

Christmas at your local was always special even back in the day when you got jusr Christmas Day off (but two days at New Year). Places like the Methillhill club, Bowhill Club, or Lochore Institute were bulging to capacity and all generations would attend. I often played the Minto Lochgelly or the Gunners Kirkcaldy and you never saw a party like these. Even with a 7:00pm start they never wanted the music to stop.

We would have a charity raffle, dance competitions, smooch sections, and everything from Conga to Rock & Roll and whatever the dance craze of the day was from Macarena

to Gangnam Style. At some places on exit you could have had hot food, taxis waiting, warm rolls to take home for breakfast, and Sunday morning papers in what became a cosmopolitan social meet up in the street, like an afterparty but always orderly.

Today we have fast food delivery and Netflix, and, for me, part of our interactive encounters have gone, perhaps for ever. For the majority of these shows it was vinyl too on 45 rpm singles or 12” mixes for dances, tailored to suit the moods from house to pop, or indie to rock.

These were the days when Merry Christmas Everybody from Slade or I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday (Wizzard) were new and exciting yet few can match these today. Last

Christmas from Wham! was favoured for a while with its slower dance groove and storyline video. A quick glance at this week’s singles chart however suggests that with all that went before us nothing really has changed.