You won’t find the shop on Camberwell Road, that sold Django Reinhardt’s Parfum.*
I have no idea exactly when W. Holley & Son traded from 285 Camberwell Road, or when their shop was demolished or perhaps even destroyed.
Today if I have got this right, the site is occupied by one of those large blocks of Council flats called Lamb House.
But I must confess I am well out of my comfort zone. As a kid in the 1950s, I seldom strayed to Camberwell from Peckham, and by 1964 had washed up in Well Hall, with no inclination to go back and explore the place.
The only clue I have is that Django Reinhardt recorded Parfum in Paris in April 1937, so perhaps that sort of fixes a date for the shop of W. Holley & Son. The best way of finding out is trawl the directories, but sadly I don’t have access for those which will include Camberwell, and Manchester is a long way from south east London.
But there is a connection between here and Camberwell, and that is the record collection of which this 78 rpm was part of.
Happily, the collection is quite large, and all the records are still in their dust sleeves. Their owner had an eclectic taste, with the range running from Django Reinhardt, to South Pacific, Sloppy Joe by Ted Heath and his Music, to Doris Day singing What Ever Will Be.
Nor were all the records bought in London, one came from Walkden in Salford, but most were from Manchester, and were sold by the big department stores, including Kendal Milne on Deansgate and Lewis’s.
What is particularly fascinating is the information printed on the record sleeves. So, Lewis’s were announced that they “sell everything for everybody to wear and most things for personal use and for the home”.
And “for ordinary purchases Lewis’s deliver free by their vans, by post, or to the nearest railway station”, and "paid the postage irrespective of the amount of your purchase”.
My favourite sleeve carries an advert for Songster Needles, which also came with a set of helpful hints of which there were ten, and purchasers were urged to “Ask your dealer for the full set, and use only Songster needles for purity and safety”.
In an age of “music streaming” there is something quite attractive about collecting as well as Holding your choice of music, along with reading the sleeve and record label.
All of which just leaves me to thank my friend Neil Simpson who found the collection while working as a volunteer for Wesley Community Furniture*, which provides “household goods to people in need.
To that end, the Wesley provides the transport and labour to collect donations from people throughout Greater Manchester & N Cheshire.
These donations are brought to the shop units where they are sorted, assessed for condition, repaired where possible, renovated when feasible and displayed for sale.
Clients either come off the street or are referred by agencies and are helped to choose from stock purchases which can then be delivered to their homes. Collections are free of charge (delivery with small charge).
Referred clients are offered our job lot/home start packages which consist of the basics people need for independent living for less than it would cost if the items were bought individually”.
So, there you have it ……….. a little bit of our music past, from Camberwell to Manchester, from Django Reinhardt to Doris Day, via Wesley Community Furniture.
Location; pretty much everywhere
Pictures; record sleeves, 2020, photographed by Neil Simpson
*Parfum, Django Reinhardt, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fijm2NNfyeE
** Wesley Community Furniture, http://wesleycommunityfurniture.co.uk/?fbclid=IwAR2d8XSmHHiZmE05nNx0Rr4R3DgRLfaoRmcmNfYpEWIfT0hFEbRz-rnWrVI
Today if I have got this right, the site is occupied by one of those large blocks of Council flats called Lamb House.
But I must confess I am well out of my comfort zone. As a kid in the 1950s, I seldom strayed to Camberwell from Peckham, and by 1964 had washed up in Well Hall, with no inclination to go back and explore the place.
The only clue I have is that Django Reinhardt recorded Parfum in Paris in April 1937, so perhaps that sort of fixes a date for the shop of W. Holley & Son. The best way of finding out is trawl the directories, but sadly I don’t have access for those which will include Camberwell, and Manchester is a long way from south east London.
But there is a connection between here and Camberwell, and that is the record collection of which this 78 rpm was part of.
Nor were all the records bought in London, one came from Walkden in Salford, but most were from Manchester, and were sold by the big department stores, including Kendal Milne on Deansgate and Lewis’s.
What is particularly fascinating is the information printed on the record sleeves. So, Lewis’s were announced that they “sell everything for everybody to wear and most things for personal use and for the home”.
And “for ordinary purchases Lewis’s deliver free by their vans, by post, or to the nearest railway station”, and "paid the postage irrespective of the amount of your purchase”.
My favourite sleeve carries an advert for Songster Needles, which also came with a set of helpful hints of which there were ten, and purchasers were urged to “Ask your dealer for the full set, and use only Songster needles for purity and safety”.
In an age of “music streaming” there is something quite attractive about collecting as well as Holding your choice of music, along with reading the sleeve and record label.
To that end, the Wesley provides the transport and labour to collect donations from people throughout Greater Manchester & N Cheshire.
These donations are brought to the shop units where they are sorted, assessed for condition, repaired where possible, renovated when feasible and displayed for sale.
Clients either come off the street or are referred by agencies and are helped to choose from stock purchases which can then be delivered to their homes. Collections are free of charge (delivery with small charge).
Referred clients are offered our job lot/home start packages which consist of the basics people need for independent living for less than it would cost if the items were bought individually”.
So, there you have it ……….. a little bit of our music past, from Camberwell to Manchester, from Django Reinhardt to Doris Day, via Wesley Community Furniture.
Location; pretty much everywhere
Pictures; record sleeves, 2020, photographed by Neil Simpson
*Parfum, Django Reinhardt, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fijm2NNfyeE
** Wesley Community Furniture, http://wesleycommunityfurniture.co.uk/?fbclid=IwAR2d8XSmHHiZmE05nNx0Rr4R3DgRLfaoRmcmNfYpEWIfT0hFEbRz-rnWrVI
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