When I was growing up we didn’t possess a record player.
The first that came into our house must have been in 1964, and was followed by one of those stereograms, which sat on its elegant legs and took up half the side of one wall in the front room.
But we did briefly have an old 78 rpm player which as befitted the period, was a solid and grand piece of furniture.
It was powered by electricity but was not something I ever really bothered with, given that our radio collection in the 1950s, consisted of Bing Crosby, Burl Ives, some light opera and a mix of the classics.
They lay forgotten in one of Dad’s old leather suitcases in the cellar after having come up from Well Hall.
But last week they came out into the daylight for the first time in four decades.
On one level there is nothing remarkable about them and all of them belonged to mother although a few are in record sleeves from shops in Newcastle where dad grew up.
As with most things about mum, her tastes were eclectic and so I am not surprised that Burl Ives should nestle beside Caruso and opera.
Dad like Kathleen Ferrier, a heap of the old romantic Scottish ballads about Bonnie Prince Charlie and on occasion would admit to liking the marching songs of the Orange Order.
What fascinates me about the collection are the sleeves. Most are plain but a few carry the names and addresses of the shops they were bought from.
And as you do I went looking for them.
Dalton’s of London Road, Derby has long gone, and the site like so much of where mum grew up is a car park.
But J.G. Windows of Newcastle still exists and still trades from the Central Arcade.*
When Dad walked out of the store with his record, they occupied 4-7 Central Arcade, and now they are spread out over three floors from 1-7 Central Arcade.
According to the web site they opened in 1908 selling both records and musical instruments.*
In the 1920s they opened a second shop in Darlington which neatly dates my record sleeve to the 1920s because the Darlington store is advertised on the cover and I know that by the end of the decade Dad was in London.
It’s not perhaps page turning history but it is our family history and that will do for me.
Location; Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Picture; record sleeve, circa 1920s from the collection of Andrew Simpson,
*J.G. Windows, http://www.jgwindows.com/about-us
 |
| The record sleeve, circa 1920s |
But we did briefly have an old 78 rpm player which as befitted the period, was a solid and grand piece of furniture.
It was powered by electricity but was not something I ever really bothered with, given that our radio collection in the 1950s, consisted of Bing Crosby, Burl Ives, some light opera and a mix of the classics.
They lay forgotten in one of Dad’s old leather suitcases in the cellar after having come up from Well Hall.
But last week they came out into the daylight for the first time in four decades.
 |
| Dad and friend, circa 1920s |
As with most things about mum, her tastes were eclectic and so I am not surprised that Burl Ives should nestle beside Caruso and opera.
Dad like Kathleen Ferrier, a heap of the old romantic Scottish ballads about Bonnie Prince Charlie and on occasion would admit to liking the marching songs of the Orange Order.
What fascinates me about the collection are the sleeves. Most are plain but a few carry the names and addresses of the shops they were bought from.
And as you do I went looking for them.
Dalton’s of London Road, Derby has long gone, and the site like so much of where mum grew up is a car park.
But J.G. Windows of Newcastle still exists and still trades from the Central Arcade.*
According to the web site they opened in 1908 selling both records and musical instruments.*
In the 1920s they opened a second shop in Darlington which neatly dates my record sleeve to the 1920s because the Darlington store is advertised on the cover and I know that by the end of the decade Dad was in London.
It’s not perhaps page turning history but it is our family history and that will do for me.
Location; Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Picture; record sleeve, circa 1920s from the collection of Andrew Simpson,
*J.G. Windows, http://www.jgwindows.com/about-us
No comments:
Post a Comment