Theresa

Ady I actually wrote you & Sylv a letter after the first one, thanking you as I'd had such an ace time, and advance reserving a ridiculous cardboard chalet with hip bath of rusty water for the next one. Found a copy of it the other day Tee x

The intro to my copy of price guide 6 is written by Barry Simpson, not Ian Stebbing? Not sure what you're getting at Pete.

Well I'm not a Geordie, more of a Queen's English sort of a girl, so for your reference Mr Johnson I roughly translated the first half of the article as follows: "And if anyone thould dare to wead another pwice guide not witten by me then I thall thcweam and thcweam and thcweam until I'm thick!!" ;)

A rather sweet old record shop sleeve in stitched cardboard with stitched-in polythene liner that I found recently when tidying up. I looked up the shop, which closed in 1972, on the net, and found this letter to Brian May of Queen on his blog, from the last surviving Waldren to have worked there... ** Wed 28 Apr 10** WALDRENS OF HOUNSLOW Dear Brian, My son in law sent me a copy of your Soapbox Aug 2009, in which you pay tribute to Les Paul. My reason for writing to you is because my name is Ernie Waldren and I worked in the family business in the 50’s and 60’s and until 1972 when the shop was closed down. The business had been started in 1899 by my grandmother selling penny toys from the cottage next door. The shop you knew was developed in the 20’s and 30’s by my grandfather and his four sons. In the 1930’s they sold a huge amount of bicycles and were the first business in Hounslow to have television on the premises when it was first broadcast from the ‘Ally Pally’. I believe I am the last Waldren still alive (born in 1936) who worked in the business. You might remember the shop was divided into two halves and you could walk down the arcade in the middle. I worked in the bicycle side of the shop with my father. His brother and my cousin ran the electrical side which progressed into records in the late 50’s. People packed into the booths on a Saturday to listen to records before buying them. I collected records (didn’t we all then!) and I believe I had a Les Paul / Mary Ford record “Some where there is Music” ?? We are pleased that you remembered and mentioned us and hope we were some help at the start of your career. All the best, Ernie & Sylvia Waldren --- Brian replied: This is a letter I never expected to receive, Ernie ! And very welcome it is. Thanks so much. My memories of Waldrens are indeed very warm. So many dreams ! A golden age when music was reborn. Records - still 78's ... big and brittle -from Caruso to Elvis. But 45's were the new thing. Elvis on those too ... but new new new things all on the 45's ... Everley Brothers, Buddy Holly and the Crickets ... The Mudlarks .. Lonnie Donegan, the Big Four ... Paul Anka .... I can still smell the perfume of the Vinyl, and hear the crackle of those pressings. Well, for us kids you were a big part of it all ! Thank You, all you Waldrens. Those were the days ! Record Shops Rocked - and yours kicked ass !! Cheers Brian

Myself and Dru, Roz, Tracy, Lucy, Angela, Andy & Julia will all be coming up to remember our lovely friend Chantel at this night - thanks for organising it guys. Looking forward to seeing Kev and you all, let us know if you need anyone to shake their tins on the night to help with the fundraising, it's our speciality Wonderful memories of Chantel always xx

Preee-statyn, lol Thanks Mark x

I've taken advice from Carol (Isis), she who knows all, and apparently for pure grime, baby wipes or glass wipes are about the most effective, done quickly and followed with a dry cloth to get the residue off immediately. I'll get her in the lab tomorrow to do a proper study x

Aim of the experiment To test whether a proprietary 'magic sponge eraser' is an effective label cleaning medium Hypothesis That said magic sponge eraser will miraculously remove up to 50 years of accumulated grime from the label of Richard's cheap but potentially singular record, lol List of equipment used Busy Bear Magic Sponge - available to purchase on your doorstep from scouse scally with holdall, whilst his mate scopes your back gate for break-in potential. When making your purchase, be sure to call upstairs to your three imaginary teenage rugby-playing sons 'to see if they have any change' in the hope that the scallies will rob next door instead Beaten-up Kent reissue with some dirt, ringwear and pen marks on the label Method Don suitable personal protective equipment - swimming goggles and kitchen apron will suffice Cut small piece of sponge from block Lick corner of sponge Rub marks lovingly Results Magic sponge does indeed remove pen, pencil, ringwear and grime However for anything more than very light soiling, its abrasive action also removes some of your paper, rendering your label clean but forever damaged Conclusion May work better moistened with a soupçon of alcohol. Let's face it, most things do. For best results, stick to Manship's proven method of using twice-digested civet droppings, dried and mixed to a fine paste with the saliva of unmarried Polynesian maidens, applied with genuine 1960s deadstock Johnsons cotton buds.

Rich I've got one of those magic sponge erasers under my sink. They're very soft and very mildly abrasive. In the interests of science, I'll go find a grubby inconsequential record and see what happens, and report back, lol

Top tune Billy love, I've got an original stone minter, unplayed, if you're in the market for one. 50 nicker. I don't usually sell records as you know, but three small children whose father pays no child support are forcing some sales lately Drop me a line pet x

Cautions now sold to Carl D. What a nice man, bought me coffee too

I've a minter if you're still looking Carl. Could let it go for £900 + special delivery. Dunno what part of London you're in, but I'm in Surrey if you want a butchers.

Aww, I rather look forward to the cornucopia of errata that are Manny's descriptions - it wouldn't be the same without them Perhaps if he'd concentrated more on his grammar and spelling at school and less on the arse of the geography mistress, then he might have become a real force in UK record dealing

Hi Stacey's Dad, Didn't see this before, but coincidentally have made contact with Chi Chi (Carole) Devine from our Facebook group Beat Ballad Heaven, and she's going to pop along tonight to answer any questions from our members. Is there anything specific you'd like to know? Or just a potted history? And yeah, we've already asked if she's got any records, lol Tee

Hello Mr D! Great idea, well done :o) We soul-punned the Olympics half to death on a drunken evening over on Facebook a couple of months back - some of my faves below to make you smile. Free review copies to me at the usual address please ;o) Tee x Maxine Brown - It's Torcher Little Richard - I Don't Want To Discus It Landlords of East London - Cashing In Invitations - Cross-Country Ski-ing In The Snow Del-Larks - Job Opening Ceremony Ron Grainer - A Touch Of Velvet A Sting Of Ralgex Hop Skip & Jump Mahoney - Tennis (Don't Be So Blind To Love) Paula Radcliffe - You Didn't Do A Turd Judo Street - Shot Benzine - Olympic Village Of Tears Winstons - Love Of The Commentators Johnny Nash - There Are More Equestrians Than Answers Edwin Starr - Running Back And Forth Johnny Howard - The (Steeple)Chase Is On Marvin Gaye - Where Are We Rowing? Willie Mitchell - That Diving Heat Platters - With These Rings Happy - Velvet Hammer Edwin Starr - (Tug Of) War Dana Valery - Judo Know If Your Drug Test Lies Marvin Gaye - I Hurdle Through The Grapevine Lou Pride - I'm Com"ží" 'neci In The Morn'un Junior Walker - Shotput Chairmen Of The IOC - Give Me Just A Little More Bribe Tommy Hunt - Never Love A Robin Cousins Melba Moore - The Magic Torch Carstairs - It Relay Hurts Me Girl

Ooh thanks Richard, love a raffle, me And well done sir, both for your achievement, and for raising so much money Tee x

It will be a vintage plate from pre-1982 when a 7-digit format was introduced here. I'm sure a helpful anorak will come on and tell us exactly when LAT 1N was registered

A couple I've seen locally recently that made me smile...

Hey up Russ boy, conferred with the lasses, and here's my really honest opinion. I don't DJ, I don't want to DJ, and I'm not knocking off a DJ (well, not at this very second anyway, lol), so this comes from an unbiased punter standpoint with your best interests at heart... Given the proliferation of events over the last decade, not to mention the fact that you're mainly working in downtown Baghdad, and I can no longer have my secretary mail out your flyers, ha ha, we'd suggest you just did an annual or twice-yearly do. Be sure to avoid the dates of popular southern oldies nights like Bisley (and my favourite nights out like Rugby & Just Soul ) One room venue, for 200-250 punters max, on until 3am. Preferably a hotel venue where we could stop over, Â la Just Soul, or at least somewhere reasonably comfortable. Proper permanent dancefloor. We'd travel anywhere, but recommend no further south than Dorset. Not Brighton & Hove - we think that's saturated with some good events already like Steve McMahon's. Town centre clubs tend to get problems with security & locals, so out of town suits us better for travel, parking, and because we're girls & we don't want any hassle ;o) Across the board northern, crossover & modern, really open-minded stuff, range of tempos but aimed at the dancers not the chinstrokers. And we don't want any other sort of music than soul, or any other sort of crowd ta. DJ-wise, have a core of 2 of 3 southerners with some visitors - we love Thorley, Woomble, Arthur, Hampsey, Ady Crowsfeet, Terry Jones, Adam, the Va Va Voom boys, and the usual northern hard-core niter names. Have some European flavour now & again too - eye-candy as well as ear-candy for us girls, lol. Dave Greet played some cracking sets at Abshot. Or even better, dig Ian Clarke out of retirement - you'd sell out in minutes. You could do a lot worse than take some marketing tips from Neil Self's Soulfusion at Gloucester, he's always used membership, website & email to great advantage and hardly anyone else seems to do it consistently. If you needed a promotion partner, how about Jason Desmond? Intelligent, universally liked, ran great well-attended dos in Bournemouth, I know he's been very poorly, but maybe he'd be up for a challenge? And as I said before, if you build it, we will come Tee x

Ha ha! Aww Rusty Knickers, you know you could put a dance on in a pigshed, with only orange squash being served, and we'd still come along because it was your do and we love ya Some of the best nights in the history of the South London Massive were at Abshot & Newbury. I'll have a little think and give you the feedback from the Massive later today. I've got a man coming to lay my floor in a minute, lol x

I would have said Love Ballad as well. Adam's been playing it out recently. Tune-o-rama

Oh bless! David I'm so glad you've recovered your records and your nightmare weekend is over Lots of love from all of us in South London xx

You know it makes sense Ian, just think how costly it could be if we were better acquainted! Best just keep me at arms length by tossing me a copy of everything you put out, before I start asking for a monthly clothes allowance, Maserati, and a serviced apartment at Chelsea Harbour, lol. I'll take the two Hampsey ones please, 027 & 030, thanks honey

Ditto, the whole series to date has been hammered in the Price Family Bus, particularly the Hampsey ones which are mighty fine. Really looking forward to these new ones - Ian are there any *ahem* 'review' copies for impoverished Surrey housewives? Hee hee. Promise I'll buy some as well as Chrissy pressies for the Sarf Larndon Massive. That's cos he's a Capricorn They make lots of lists.