Records of Southmead

Ron (aka the wedding photographer) - bought his first record, This Ole House by Rosemary Clooney in 1954 at a record shop in Denmark Street.

"I started work with the Port of Bristol Authority on 4 October 1954 and bought it with my first week’s wages of £3.17.6d per week (very good money because I was on the Higher Clerical scale as opposed to the General scale and the much lower woman’s scale). It had just been released, cost me 4/6d and I played it to death."

He remembers being able to listen to records in booths in the shop.

Ron still has his father's gramophone in full working order.

"When I took off the turntable to check everything over, on the underside was written: Greased and oiled December 1934 which was typical of my Dad."

Janet (aka Phyllis) - first record was the Three Bells by The Browns that she got in the late 1950s from her Uncle Walter's shop, Bristol Radio on East Street, Bedminster.

"The gentlemen’s outfitters 2 doors away was where his brother, Uncle Lawrence was a manager. I actually earned the pocket money to buy the record by altering trousers for Uncle Lawrence. Guys needed jeans really tight at that time so my mother and I spent our evenings ‘pegging’ jeans."

In the shop, white goods were sold downstairs and records upstairs. Janet didn't know the name of the song so she had to sing it to the shop assistant.

Pat (aka Vera Meadows) - was buying records all the time, often in "Bemmie" and may well have bought what she thinks was her first record, Love Me Do in 1962 in Janet's uncle's shop.

Michael (aka Stanley) - "The very first piece of music that I could call my own, was a 7” pop single. Called “Jesamine”. By The Casuals. Released 1968 on the Decca label.

"A great song and well produced with rich orchestral accompaniment.

"I wore that record to death on a donated record player that I fixed up. Merrily chewing up the grooves with an indifferent and heavy pick-up arm, sporting a ceramic 78/45 turnover cartridge. The B side remained in pristine condition!

"This record was bought at Peter Barnfields record shop, Cross Street, Abergavenny. Pocket money bought it and years later, I wish I had kept this record in all its scratchy glory.

"Objects like this are part of growing up. As we move on in life, we junk so much that were part of life’s journey."

Jacqui (aka Gloria) - bought her first record, Ride a White Swan by T-Rex in 1970.

She was 15 and working on Saturdays in W.H. Smiths in Marlow, Buckinghamshire. She saved her wages up and then bought the LP from the shop.

Deana (aka Rose Meadows) - First ever 45 record bought was Brand New Key which was written and composed by Melanie (Safka). She was a folk singer and this hit number 1 in the charts in Dec 71/Jan 72. This was a pop song that was also known as the Rollerskate Song because of the chorus.

"Me, my sister and 2 brothers chipped in to buy it (50p) I think. My older brother was given the sole responsibility of walking to a record shop In Westbury-on-Trym Village to buy it."

Craig (director and 1970s wedding DJ) - His first album was Slayed? by the group Slade. 

"I was born in Wolverhampton and we moved to Telford New Town in 1970 when I was 8. My older brother and younger cousin (who also lived with us) would get teased about our broad Wolverhampton accents by the local kids. But our comeback was 'we’re from Wolverhampton-where Slade are from!' Throughout the early Seventies Slade were big news and this album in particular had two great singles on it “Gudbuy T’Jane” and “Mama Weer All Crazee Now”.

"It was 1973. This album had just come out. I was 10 and I bought it from the new Hypermarket Carrefour which had just opened built as the flagship shopping mall in Telford Town Centre. I remember being taken to the opening where Radio 1 DJ Dave Lee Travis made a personal appearance. I probably bought the album with Record Tokens given as Christmas presents from uncles and aunties.

"Going to Carrefour was a new and thrilling experience, You could buy anything there! As kids we were obsessed with pop music and here was a place where a whole aisle was filled with singles and albums. I still have the album with its iconic front cover and it still sounds great."

Sher (aka Iris Meader) - got her first record in 1979, We Don't Talk Anymore by Cliff Richard from her older brother who was a DJ. He kept his records in wooden crates that Sher would often cheekily rearrange.

Sher remembers the listening booths for chart records at the old Woolworths store in Broadmead.

This Woolworths was demolished in the 1980s, reopening on the ground floor of the Galleries shopping centre that replaced it and Fairfax House.

Ruth and Pete of Local Learning moved to Bristol in the early 1990s. Pete in particular frequented several record shops in the city at the time. One of the first records bought in Bristol was probably Mars Audiac Quintet by Stereolab. He heard this playing in Revolver records on the Triangle and after summoning up the courage to ask what it was bought it there and then.

One of Ruth's favourite records that she first heard in about 1994 at the Malaap Club on Cheltenham Road (where the Tescos is now) was Aldeia de Ogum by Joyce that Pete bought from Replay records in the Bearpit.

Ruth's actual first record was a 7” single that she sent off for with a Kellogg’s Rice Krispies offer in about 1983. One side was Paul Young’s Love of the Common People and she still needs to check what was on the other side.

"I would have probably sent off for whatever record was on offer. I remember being really excited about it arriving in the post and I do still have it somewhere – it has pictures of the Rice Krispies characters; Snap, Crackle and Pop in the centre."

Ali (aka Carol Meadows) - bought her first CD, Jagged Little Pill by Alanis Morissette in 1995 from HMV in Broadmead.

By the 2000s, Pete of Local Learning was spending too much of his wages at Imperial Records (formerly Tony's or Sidetrax) on Park Street.

Abdul (aka Hassan) - listened to Hip Hop on the radio with his brothers and would record from the radio to make mix tapes.

He bought his first CD, Until the End of Time by Tupac Shakur in 2003 from HMV in Broadmead.

Andie (aka Valerie Meadows) - received her first record, The Sound of Music soundtrack from her friend who was a record collector in 2012 when she was living in Winterbourne.

Andie had recently bought a record player from B&Ms in Cribbs Causeway and needed some music to play on it.

Carlota (assistant director) - was given most of her CDs by her brothers when she was growing up in Porto.

"My very own first CD might have been Em Fuga by Tiago Bettencourt & Mantha. I asked my parents to get it for me for my birthday and I think it had come out quite recently so it must have been in 2010, my 13th birthday."

Carlotta bought her first record in the UK, The Mamas and The Papas Greatest Hits when she moved to England in 2016 from a record shop in Farnham in Surrey called 101 Collectors Records.