Once upon a time a long, long time ago, so it seems and sometimes feels, in the cold, cold winter of 1997, in a dank candlelit room Andy Kennedy was tapping away with his mitten covered digits. Then he found a keyboard and set up "The Paul Weller Message Board - It's a MOD, MOD, World"

A thaw was upon us…..and May 1998 a message through the grapevine saw the first meet up of like minded chaps and chapettes, an event organised by Andy K and Lee Bullen. A studio was hired and those with a bit of musical talent strummed away, swirled an arm, banged a skin and sang a few tunes we all know. 2 days and one eventful night…."When can we do it again"

1999 and the seeds sown in the previous year appear to have blossomed. A bigger crowd more strumming, more beer supping, some collected their fags, and a lot more head thumping.

2000 saw us now camp in and take over what was to become our retreat for the weekends. The Jarvis Hotel or as it is now The Guilford Hotel. Dj's, bands, quizzes, studio sessions and impromptu karaoke's in the hotel bar. Jim "Pink Shirt" Piddington and Karen helped with the organising and the legwork in getting the word spread far and wide.

It's getting bigger…….oo'er missus.

Woking Wonders, as well they might, we certainly thought so……so did "Mag".

AK: ee'r Mag, do you fancy getting involved
Mag: I'm not that type of bloke Andy
AK: No, I mean do you want to get involved
Mag: I've told you once already
AK: Can you help us out with the weekend
Mag: That's your Doctor's job surely
AK: NO….the Weller Weekend
Mag: Aargh………of course, no worries (yeh right)

May 2001, a Friday night meet up at a Guildford pub within close crawling distance of the hotel. More fresh faces and a few still free from botox, just. Saturday saw the event visit the scene of the video "Solid Bond In Your Heart"…Woking Football Club…..a very hot night made even hotter by - The Jamm and The Paul Weller Connexion. A great touch this time around was the appearance of Ann and Nicky Weller. Ann was heard to say as she pulled up with Nicky in the open top MG, nice reg plate, "Doesn't he sound like our Paul", no one had the heart to say it was, as the DJ was still spinning a few tunes. They set up shop selling memorabilia, and had many a chat, mainly with Nobby J

May 2002, back to the football club for the Friday and an appearance by The Paul Weller Connexion. Saturday saw the H G Wells suite play host to a night of tributes to The Who, Small Faces and The Jam. Don't think the venue had ever experienced anything like it. The beer flowed, quite literally, the crowd surged, the room sang, sweaty faced youths, well once upon a time they were, danced, moshed, pogo'ed and fell over a lot. The event had become global, friends from far afield turned up from all over Europe, Japan and the USA. And so the story continues…….

May 2003………..oh s**t, problems with venues, they know what they were and what they tried to do. Anyway our friends at Woking FC made us feel as welcome as ever and a night of DJ mayhem took place. The original Saturday venue was changed at very short notice and all hands were called upon to help out. A big thanks must go out to the Sheerwater Community Centre (another one of the early Jam venues), who helped us considerably and put in a great deal of effort for us. The Jamm, The Paul Weller Connexion and The Ten O'Clock Scholars treated us to a night of nostalgia and a vision of the future. The dodgy DJ and his dicky decks kept the crowd ………..amused J

It was becoming clear the event was becoming much bigger, and whilst the spirit of the weekend was to be kept, an event run by fans by fans…we needed to spread the load.

At about this time another event which was supposed to be an annual event but seemed somewhat hit and miss, "Jam Day" was incorporated into the weekend events, with the consent of one of the organisers. Now what to call it…………POW! And on we went.

May 2004………..oh s**t, not again. Our venue for the Friday was double booked……..help. Out of the gloom rode Sir Peter Kelross, "worry not I have a venue for you". Shalford & District Social Club hosted our antics for the night. Saturday saw us in a new venue at the University of Surrey. 17 Black, Small World, Ian Page & The Affair, The Ten O'Clock Scholars and The Jamm kept it very loud and very proud. We didn't do too bad back in the hotel bar afterwards either.

Phew………..on to 2005, another year older, a little greyer and Andy's mittens are a little more threadbare. An event separate to our usual Weller/Jam nights was already booked in at The Star, Guildford, on the Friday night so rather than compete with it we tagged it on to our weekend. Again, well within crawling distance of the hotel, and the dodgy kebab shop……..mmmmmmmmmm kebab. Saturday saw us return to the University with a line up to appeal to all tastes- Mark Joseph, The Selecter, Buzzcocks and The Jamm.

Well didn't we have a nice time……

And what of 2006, just take a look at the line up on the main page,
a few faces in there we recognise.

It started with Andy Kennedy and Lee Bullen and grew and grew and grew.

Big thanks must go out to all that have made these events so successful:

Andy, Bully, Martin (HS), SK, Steve Collister, Hywel, Jim, Karen, Graham, Jen, Ossy, Hils, H, Jon "Do I Love You", Kev Lock, Soulful Sally, Dave "The Mod", Mag, Pete K, all the venues and staff except one, the hotel particularly the night porter and barman, all of the bands, DJ's.

The many messageboards, forums and newsgroups:

"It's a Mod, Mod, World" "Who Brings Joy" "Splinters" "Modrophenia" "Solid Bond" "ModRevival.net" "Mods re-united" "Paulweller.com" "Newsoftheworld"