Bid to republish Steve Chapples' social history book on Nelson Imperial Ballroom ‘Going down th’Imp’

Lyndsey Chapples, who now lives in Australia, has teamed up with George Grimshaw, a friend of her late father’s, to launch a GoFundMe page to pay for the printing of the book about the Nelson ‘Imp’, a venue which saw some of the world’s most famous musicians perform in its heyday.

Lyndsey said: “Dad wrote ‘Goin down th’Imp’ some years ago, which was his bestseller. I’ve had over 300 requests to get it re-printed but I don’t have the money to pay for the printing.

“I’ve started a GoGFundMe but people are complaining they don’t want to donate then have to pay for the book as well. I’ve explained that if we can’t raise the funds we can’t print the book and would be essentially giving it away for free, which is not what we want to do.”

Steve, a former teacher, died suddenly in 2014 at the age of 67. He was brought up in the Pike Hill area of Burnley and wrote several books on local history. He attended Nelson Grammar School and also studied at the world famous Paris-Sorbonne University in 1968.

He also expanded on several books written by his late father Leslie, who worked as a linotype operator at the Burnley Express.

Lyndsey added: “Myself and George, a member of the local historical society, are trying to get the republishing off the ground. I don’t know which actual year dad released the book but it took him many years to put together.

“When he came to Perth for my wedding we went to see Hank Marvin play gypsy jazz Django Reinhardt. He gave my copy of the book to Hank.

“When he died I went to all the local guitar stores in Perth and managed to find the one Hank gets his strings from. They contacted him and explained my situation, he brought the book back for me the very next day. He wrote me a note inside the sleeve expressing his sincere condolences for my loss. I was gobsmacked.”

The link can be found here https://www.gofundme.com/f/get-going-down-thimp-re-printed?type=copyLink