Its said that if you play the A side of ‘Spiceworld’ whilst watching a 3rd generation copy of ‘Wake’ with the sound turned down, the true meaning of Goth is revealed!!

I do have a strange affinity with Dorothy, though I’m sure she was never known as ‘Oz Dorothy’ the way I’m known as ‘Whitby Jo’. But, like her I started out in the middle of a black and white small town mentality and my curiosity sent me tumbling into a weird and colourful world where things were never the same again.

Back then, I was the only Goth in the small northern mining town where I lived. Hell, even the freaks thought I was a freak! I placed an ad in NME asking for pen friends and got over 150 replies. I started to correspond with around 40 of them. Some months later I decided I’d like to meet some of them.

I decided to try and get everyone in the one place over the course of a weekend. It’s fair to say that I chose Whitby based on its Dracula connections, but only because a couple of Dracula societies had run events in the town and I was hoping the hoteliers wouldn’t be too freaked!!

I booked the Elsinore over the telephone after Len (the landlord) assured me that they regularly hosted live music nights. I don’t think either of us was sure what we’d let ourselves in for when over 200 people turned up that first weekend…

And here we are ten years later. It’s so nice that although the event has grown, The Elsinore is still very much part of the Whitby experience for without it and the support of Len, WGW wouldn’t exist. So next time you’re in there, buy the guy a drink. He’s a star!

It’s been a roller coaster ride for me over the past ten years, highpoints include meeting some of my teenage idols and watching you lot giving it loads on the dance floor or just feeling able to be yourselves. At times it’s caused amazing pressure and anxiety, but all in all I’m left with an incredible sense of achievement. After all, I did get to meet my pen friends didn’t I?!

The thing that makes me most proud about WGW is how it’s helped to dispel a lot of the old Goth ‘rules’ which include, you aren’t allowed to laugh, you must own a Sisters album, and you must wear black. Most importantly “Gother than Thou” seems to be a thing of the past.

WGW will be alive and kicking for as long as you all want to come and when the cloakroom gets over crowded with Zimmer frames, I’ll open the Whitby Floodland Retirement Home and Top Mum can promote the Bingo every Tuesday night!!

WGW is bigger than any single person. It’s an experience, a runaway train, my very own Oz and a spiritual home and as Dorothy said…

“There’s no place like home…”