NH Events have been hosting ‘Disco Fever’ online parties since the lockdown in March 2020…which means we will be celebrating one year of Disco Fever shows this Thursday 18th March 2021!
To celebrate this milestone, we will be hosting our very own 1st birthday party. The party will be streamed live on Mixcloud from 7.30pm UK time this Thursday night, and will be free for anyone wishing to tune in. Come and join in the fun to help us celebrate a whole year of Disco Fever entertainment and British Heart Foundation fundraising!
Tune in at: www.mixcloud.com/live/neilhardingham
If you would like to make a donation to the British Heart Foundation, please visit our Just Giving page: www.justgiving.com/fundraising/nhevents.
Our Story…
During the first lockdown in 2020, we hosted ‘Disco Fever’ shows 7 nights a week. Each show was streamed live on Facebook for 30 minutes and was jam-packed with fun, laughter and entertainment.
Each night had a different sponsor/theme – complete with fancy dress, themed song choices and homemade props!
To the left, fancy dress outfits from the ska, soul, country and 70s disco themed shows. To the right, VE Day Celebrations from Disco Fever Studio number 1! Neil stretched out partner Bethany’s dress, with fake bubblewrap boobs, a full face of make up and THAT POUT!! He sure did get into character!
Hit me baby one more time – with a ‘pop hits’ themed show, Neil dressed us as Britney Spears! Neil had the complete school girl look with pigtails, mini skirt, cardigan and some very dodgy make up – another character that Neil made his own!
Did Neil grow hair overnight?? Oh no, just some more acrylic paint… a Disco Fever favourite! This was one of Neil’s favourite outfits as he loved playing the character of Freddie Mercury!
Who can forget the much anticipated garage night? Featuring none other than Neil dressed as regular viewer Gemma… but also as a garage mechanic! Overalls, tattoo sleeves, Gemma’s sunnies and fake tan (nope, more acrylic paint)… oh dear!
Dominos pizza in Ibiza! The Disco Fever Studio was transformed into Cafe Mambo for one night only for a night full of Ibiza classics.
B
y popular demand, Neil hosted 2 rock and punk themed nights! Maybe not Neil’s favourite genres of music but he definitely got into character with his cardboard guitar! Not forgetting the hand painted rock tattoos! Possibly the happiest (and most camp!) punk you’ve ever seen?
T
he outfit that got featured on BBC Look East! 118 came to Disco Fever Studio 1 for a night of 90s cheese!
Pussaaayyyy
Patrol! Jane Rice-smith and her famous pussy (cat!) have made quite a name for themselves in Disco Fever circles… so this was the perfect outfit for Jane’s birthday show!
Is it a b
ird? Is it a plane? No, it’s one Hit Wonder Man! 3 guesses for the theme of this show… After nearly 3 months of lockdown lager milkshakes, I’m not sure Neil needed the extra padding for this outfit!
Everybody in da club…ea
t a club biscuit! Another themed night with more cardboard and paint!
The show on the right was sponsored by Little Footsteps of Dereham. All of the artwork and the t-shirt were painted by DJ Neil and his partner Bethany, with the help of a bottle of wine or two (a lockdown favourite!)! Neil’s ‘nappy’ is actually a pair of swimming shorts turned inside out, with some socks for padding. And baby Neil’s bonnet is a shower cap with some lace tied round his chin! Absolutely mad!
Slig
htly concerning how much Neil loved to wear dresses in the shows! He wore this little 50s number for two shows sponsored by Andy and Adele of Foot-Loose Modern Jive.
Neil really did get into character for this next one! Inspired by our show sponsor Darren George (Dereham’s very own Freddie Mercury!), Neil did his own rendition of I Want to Break Free. Neil wore partner Bethany’s clothes yet again – including a pair of stockings!! – and handmade his own wig out of paper and gaffer tape (a true Disco Fever essential!).
Introducing Disco Fever Studio number 3! It took Neil all day to clear out his garage enough to be able to get the Mini inside – thank goodness for convertibles or this show would have been very difficult! And who can forget the disastrous balloon drop? Partner Bethany stood on the bonnet and shook a bag of balloons on top of Neil – it looked great from inside the garage but only one balloon was actually in shot! Thank you to garage king James Causton of Causton Motors Ltd for sponsoring this show.
One ba
ld head, some cardboard and a bit of acrylic paint = Humpty Dumpty of course! Thank you to our sponsor RG Construction.
M
ay the 4th be with you… featuring none other than Yoda doing yoga! Neil had his face painted with acrylics, and stretched out some more of his partner Bethany’s clothes.
H
e sure does love the props! Neil seen here with a large length of wood, a saw, Barnett’s recently published book and a bottle of Sandford’s home brew! A big thank you to our sponsors for these shows: NAP Scaffolding, I C Barnett Ltd Builders, Fenscape Fencing and The Railway Tavern. Neil even did a full show whilst DJing from a wheely bin for show sponsor The Bin Doctor!
Acrylic p
aint is a favourite for Neil’s DIY fancy dress outfits – Neil’s partner Bethany has transformed Neil using a selection of acrylic paint, cardboard and duct tape! The acrylic paint helped Neil make his baywatch transformation with his swimming hat and goggles! Thank you to NES North Norfolk Hot Tubs for sponsoring this show.
A full head of oran
ge acrylic paint turned Neil into the ‘Jaffa’ for a show sponsored by Trudy of Tangerine Creative.
The cardboard lightbulb was definitely one of our favourites – and yes, Neil had his full face covered with acrylic paint yet again! Thank you to NES Electrical Fakenham for sponsoring this show.
Yet more ac
rylic paint – this time to turn Neil into Roland Rat! This show was sponsored by James Bayliss Pest and Predatory Control Services.
Anoth
er one of our personal favourites! This outfit featured another full face of acrylic paint, plus a mysterious package in the letterbox for added comedy value!
I
n amongst the many fancy dress outfits, we also hosted special shows to thank key workers and the NHS, plus a 100th birthday party for Captain Tom Moore, as well as various birthday parties and even a Hen Do!
In April 2020, we hosted our first 80s night, transforming the living room (also known as Disco Fever Studio #2) into an 80s set, complete with rubix cubes and backdrop. Live-streamed through Facebook, the show lasted 2 hours and provided over 100 viewers with free Saturday night entertainment. It really did look cool, but my god did the confetti canon finale make a mess!
The shows then evolved to include games and competitions – ranging from quizzes and What’s in the Box? to Play Your Cards Right, bingo and even a one-off Blind Date show!
We gave away lots of prizes to our competition winners, including Disco Fever mugs, a world exclusive Disco Fever clock, Disco Fever shopper bags and Disco Fever key-rings! Not forgetting some of the amazing auction prizes that helped to raise funds for the BHF. We even hosted our very own Disco Fever awards night – the DAFTAs! The show even featured the new Disco Fever BHF mascot Denny.
When lockdown eased, we started to take the shows on tour. We entertained outdoors for a 21st birthday party in Suffolk, partied the night away at for 1st birthday celebrations in Norwich, reached our 100th show milestone at a garden party in Norfolk, and enjoyed a night in the newly reopened Stiff Cock garden shed pub! The shows even ventured across the seas (virtually of course!) with a night of fun at the Chateau and hosted a virtual beach party in ‘Bermuda’!
We received various publicity for the Disco Fever shows and fundraising, including articles in local newspapers, a snippet in BBC’s Look East and a feature on BBC Radio Norfolk.
When lockdown restrictions eased further, the ‘Disco Fever Family’ united at Retrofest in August 2020 – an outdoor 80s v 90s Socially-Distanced Outdoor Music Festival, hosted by NH Events and Filthy Rich in Norwich. The event was a huge hit after months of lockdown and featured some of our show favourites, such as bingo and Play Your Cards Right.
In September 2020, the weekly shows then made their way across to a new platform – Mixcloud. The new platform allowed the shows to venture into a an unknown territory – the world of onscreen graphics! The Friday Night Fever Show was born, with radio show features, such as the Triple Tracker, On This Day and Meet The Listener.
This was soon followed by the ever-popular Late Night Love Show, featuring a selection of love songs, ballads and smooth soul until the early hours.
The party then took off on Saturday nights with house bangers, disco re-edits and mashups.
The fancy dress made a comeback for Halloween weekend 2020! Friday night featured a Halloween spooktacular with DJ Boney Bones! Then, DJ Neil got a clown makeover for a Saturday night Haunted House party.
After a couple of months hosting weekly Mixcloud shows, we then hosted our first Big Night In for the British Heart Foundation in November 2020. We brought back some of the old favourites for this show – bingo, Play Your Cards Right and the big quiz!
A month of festive-themed entertainment then followed in December 2020, with Christmas graphics aplenty!
T
o celebrate our first Disco Fever Christmas (and our first Christmas in lockdown…), we hosted the Jingle and Mingle Online Christmas Party. Featuring DJ entertainment, bingo, a festive quiz, Play Your Cards Right and more festive games, the event was packed with entertainment. Viewers embraced the Christmas spirit, donning santa hats, reindeer antlers and of course sipping a seasonal beverage or two, whilst enjoying the festive fun from the comfort of their sofas! The Jingle and Mingle Party saw us smash our target of raising £5000.00 for the British Heart Foundation!
We may not have been able to go out for New Years or celebrate with friends and family, but that didn’t stop the Disco Fever Family from having some fun and partying the night away! 2020 was a year that none of us will ever forget, but we feel so privileged to be able to cherish so many happy Disco Fever memories in amongst the various challenges that we all faced in 2020.
A new year and another lockdown! The weekly Mixcloud shows continued in 2021, with the Friday Night Fever show, Late Night Love and Saturday Night House Mashups, as well as the new Wednesday night Request Fest. When lockdown 3.0 was introduced in January 2021, we also brought back everyone’s lockdown favourite for a one-off special…Bingo Fever!
Snow hit East Anglia in February 2021, meaning DJ Neil was snowed in….thankfully with his decks close by! For 2 consecutive days, Neil hosted Snow Day Breakfast Shows – the first of which lasted from 7.30am all the way until 5pm! All whilst producer Bethany was working from home in the same room as the Disco Fever Studio!
A few weeks later, we then hosted a one-off Sunday breakfast show. This featured 2 hours of feelgood tunes, as well as some fun graphics of everyone’s favourite Full English foods!
We then hosted our third Big Night In for the British Heart Foundation for Valentine’s 2021. This one-off show not only featured the usual favourites of bingo and the Where’s Denny? quiz, but also saw the introduction of two new games – Bullseye and Mr & Mrs! For the first time ever, DJ Neil and producer Bethany participated in the show, with regular listener Dawn playing the Mr & Mrs hostess.
Bingo Fever then returned once again for a Mother’s Day Special. This was a very emotional show for DJ Neil , since the sad passing of his Mum almost a year before. The show really highlighted the passion that Neil has for the Disco Fever shows, and gave an insight into the true meaning behind the NH Events British Heart Foundation fundraising story.
So that brings us to Thursday’s show – a whole year since our very first ‘Lockdown Lunchtime’ Facebook live stream. A year on and we still have a strong following of regular viewers who tune in to join the ‘Disco Fever Family’. To date, the shows have had over 250,000 views, with viewers as far away as Bermuda, Italy, Canada and Saudi Arabia! And new viewers are still joining in the fun!
T
he shows have really just been aimed at spreading some happiness during these strange times, as well as raising some pennies for a charity very close to our hearts. We truly cannot thank everyone enough for all the support over the past year – it has meant the absolute world.
Come and join in the fun this Thursday night from 7.30pm on Mixcloud to help us celebrate a whole year of Disco Fever entertainment and British Heart Foundation fundraising! Tune in at: www.mixcloud.com/live/neilhardingham
If you would like to make a donation to the British Heart Foundation, please visit our Just Giving page: www.justgiving.com/fundraising/nhevents.
