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I know that Darren Brown has had 2 copies in the last couple of years, an Ex that went for £2000 and a VG that was £1200. Don't think you did too badly!!!

Let me start by saying that I don't consider myself a collector per se. I have alway enjoyed dancing as much as spending time in the record bar at niters. I have, over the years, bought things that I like but generally not big ticket items. I have never amassed any more than a few hundred singles. Like most people on here I have owned, and still do own, some nice pieces (probably more by luck than judgement). When I saw the Groovettes listed recently on Anglo American with a very low reserve (£200) I must admit I was tempted. Obviously, I didn't think for a moment that it would go so cheaply, and bid accordingly. In fact my bid of £2100 was winning until the last minute. I must admit I was quite relieved when someone outbid me. Don't get me wrong, I love this record and it's firmly in my all-time top 10. Out of interest I did a search on Popsike and was surprised to see there were 25 entries for it. It wasn't the amount of money that bothered me, at my time of life with no kids and a pretty modest lifestyle I've got more than I know what to do with. I just couldn't justify to myself spending that amount on a record, no matter how much I love it, that doesn't appear to be as rare as I always assumed. On side note, I was having a look around the site and came across a copy of Dobie Gray 'What A Way To Go' on a Canadian issue for about a tenth of the price. This has been on my 'real world' wants list for quite a while so any disappointment I felt for losing out on the Groovettes was well and truly mitigated. This has got me thinking about record buying in general. I suppose it is an example of the free market in it's purest form. The only restriction on price is what someone is prepared to pay. This situation has been exacerbated by the increased use of the auction process nowadays. I can only remember taking part in one auction during the 1980's, for a Ray Pollard on John Manship's list which I didn't actually win but ended up with the record anyway. Whilst I'm not saying you can regulate the market in any way I, and a lot of other people, rely on a kind of self regulation. There have always been people who I believed were so desperate to own a record that they weren't bothered about driving up prices and spoiling it for the rest of us, a point of view which I can see has a fundamental weakness. The dealers whose lists I prefer at the moment are people like Darren Brown, Joe Dunlop etc. They very rarely auction anything and their prices are usually pitched somewhere between what I would prefer to pay and what could be realised in an auction. I am sure they don't do this out of any sense of altruism but it strikes me as a fairer policy. I don't mean this as a direct criticism of any other dealers, who when all is said and done are just trying to make a living.

Didn't he play a slightly different version of George Pepp (acetate probably) ?

Was going to Shotts with Sedge, Carla & Pablo. Set out from Gilly's, where Sedge left his car. We had an accident in Stoke and had my car towed back to Gilly's. Most normal people would have called it a night but not us. Finally got to Shotts about 5 in the morning. The next day had my towed back to Leighton Buzzard with me pretending to be Sedge as it was his AA card. When we finally got home I had to quickly explain the situation to my Dad so he didn't give the game away to the AA Driver!!

Regarding F L Moore's in Leighton Buzzard. I remember them clearing out all their old stock around 82/83. I wasn't very knowledgeable back then so have no idea what I missed out on!!! I think Gav Page got more from them as he had a proper job back then, I was only on a YTS scheme. I do remember the bloke who owned it had a really bad wig.

Really sorry to hear this. Had some great times at niters with him over the years. Condolences to his family and friends. Another soul gone the likes of which we will never see again. RIP

Not the worst experience but certainly the strangest. Went to Val Shiveley's shop in Philly in 1991 with Sedge from Stoke. At first he didn't want to know as we didn't have a wants list. After a bit he let us behind the counter to have a look, found a few nice bits eg 3 copies of the Volumes on Impact. Then he said he had just received a shipment from a radio station & hadn't had a chance to go through them. He said if we sorted them as we went along he was happy for us to have a look through. Only condition was we had to take our tops off so we didn't try to steal anything. Took us upstairs which was filled with these unsorted boxes. Just as well we didn't have our tops on as it was a hot as hell!! Spent the next day and a half going through them. Got some nice things pretty cheap but hardly scratched the surface. We were gutted we didn't have more time as who knows what might have been in there.