The Charity Shop Hop

It’s been a while since my last proper Hop but I have been on a few without my
camera so I decided I would make up for my lack of Hoppage by doing a Multi-Hop!
Which really meant going to two towns in a day and hoping the fruits of such a
massive undertaking and huge petrol bill would yield good finds.

I did find some nice vinyl, not quite as much as I have done on previous trips
however it was an exciting experiment to hit two towns in one go, Towcester
and Milton Keynes never knew what hit ‘em!





Starting off in Northampton I visit World Compassion first as it is on my way out of town.




I find a few Elvis albums on the first stop - something of a record,
along with a 12” single which, like the tag line for the new Woman In Black
movie is “deeply scary” yes, its Jermaine Jackson and Pia Zadora together!





When I got to Towcester I pop into the Willen Hospice shop after picking
up my 2 sausage rolls for £1.25 and a tomato soup from the bakers next door.




Not exactly heaving with records yet someone had just donated a pile of kids vinyl,
unfortunately the albums were all scratched to hell.




The singles however were great, including a set of 5 unused flexi-disc
birthday cards all in beautiful condition with delightful artwork from 1977
as well as some charming Folk Songs EPs.





The nearby RSPCA shop is in a blink and you’d miss it back alley



They are so used to folk like me coming in pestering them for records
that they keep them out the back so you have to actually ask for them.
I am OK with this arrangement and was happy with the one single I did find
which was probably ignored by everyone else who had been through the box
though quite why anyone would name a label Titanic is beyond me, it was surely doomed.






I cut through the park on my way to pick up some lunch and noticed the swings
had seen better days and actual swings.





The nettles make the park benches look pretty uncomfortable too!





I land in Milton Keynes and headed to one of my more fruitful haunts in town,
the Age Concern shop where I nearly always find something.




I was not to be disappointed as there was a bounty of football vinyl booty
as well as some curious folk and 60’s pop albums.







Heading back to my car I had to walk through the shopping complex
known as The Agora, it was once a roller skating rink and then an
indoor car boot and fruit machine arcade, now I’m not quite sure what
it is but it certainly has pants!




Inside The Agora I discover poor old Bob The Builder is struggling to find employment
like eveyone else.





The Re-Use Centre on the Kiln Farm Estate gets all sorts of odds and ends
and err, crap.





Not exactly rubbish but nowhere near as popular as they used to be
De La Soul clog the boxes with their Daisy Age 12” singles.





Whilst in another box I saw this curious twist on a best of album.






Away from the industrial estate and off to the retail estate I find
this Community Shop which looks to be pretty popular.




Clutching this weird looking sleeve (but not to my bosom) I head for the till…




Seems I somewhat under estimated quite how popular this place is
as I could hardly move for folk!






There is usually something to be found in here, for example I once found
a copy of the Red Dirt album here, mind you that was a few years ago…





No such luck today but there were plenty of cheap DVDs including this
2 x disc Quadrophenia, I left the pile of unloved Madonna discs though.






On the last leg of my Hop I stop off in Newport Pagnell, home of Aston Martin
cars and yes, that is my shadow lurking in the corner of the shot.





It seems I may have landed in some alternate universe where
Val Doonican albums are valued at £3 so I don’t hang about long.




Another town another Age Concern, this one does have some nice vinyl.





Alongside albums by Stray and The Ventures I found this Kinky LP.






My final vinyl shop stop over the road had some nice things tucked away.





Hidden amongst the pants and pots and railway mags I found 3 albums.




A scarce soundtrack from a 1967 movie starring Yul Brynner and ELP’s
debut on pink Island along with a Lemon Pipers LP all good for a £1 each.





Coming back to Northampton however I am pass a shop who’d had
his windows smashed in but I doubt it was because he had no records!

This turned out to be an unexpected Hop as I only went into town to do some
shopping but one thing led to another and before I knew it I was Hopping again,
it must be in my blood, sorry! I was on my way to Milton Keynes when I stopped
off in Towcester, a pretty town quite near to Silverstone (home of the British GP)
on the A5 Watling Street. It’s in desperate need of a bypass as it has a lot of
heavy traffic rumbling past its old buildings, it does however have a few charity
shops which I naturally gravitated towards.




First stop was Age UK formally Age Concern,
I have had some good finds here on previous visits.




Despite a fine selection of common discs I was taken by the book
on top which was basically arty pictures of things that folk have collected,
now who would have thought anyone would be interested in that kind of thing?!








Next door to that shop is my favourite sweet shop, I have been
a regular customer of their homemade goodies for some time.




Despite the tempting display of confectionary I am still  waiting for
him to get his delivery of my favourite treats - the old bloke who
makes them is in his 80’s and is getting a bit behind with the demand
for his delicious sweets - c’mon old fella, pull yer finger out!









Round the corner and onto the main road is the Willen Hospice shop




Nothing but grubby old Wham on offer today, I did once pick up
an unplayed copy of #9 Bread Street in here, about 5 years ago…



A better selection of DVD’s were available including Sonic Youth
and Pixies best of’s - reasonably priced at £2.50 a go.









My last stop in Towcester was here at the RSPCA shop tucked away
in a blink-and-you’d-miss-it side alley. They refuse to put records on
the shop floor as “they look untidy” so I put in a polite request
to see the vinyl out the back.





A box is duly pulled from behind the door but they all turn out to be
classical, I suppose even this Japanese album of Mozart is quite rare
but I am ignorant to the genre so jump back in my car and head to MK.











Stony Stratford is a lovely old town I lived in for several years and is
where I started my first Hop a few years ago. It has been in the news lately
as a local Councillor has been trying to ban smoking in the town centre, it has
been enforced in New York so you never know, it may happen in Stony too!




I saw plenty of folk who had no intention of stubbing it out just yet,
like this brave chap who was really enjoying his lovely fag.






I only stopped by a couple of shops in the High Street,
there are 3 others but they were very poorly stocked with vinyl.

This old Folk compilation on Topic was a nice find, it features tracks like
Poor Paddy Works On The Railway rather than Down Under phew 

Out of all the shops I visit on my travels it is this RSPCA in which
I always seem to find something, and I was not to be disappointed today.

Nothing really rare but such a great haul of childrens EPs and
even some Ska comps and soundtracks - a bargain £2.60 for the lot!








I spotted another blatant smoker on my way back to the car, puff it
up love as your time is running out if Councillor Bartlett gets his way.










Out of town and up to the industrial estate at the top of the road are
two furniture warehouses, both offer plenty of stuff to root around in but
the bike rack seems to anticipate more cyclists than probably ever turn up.





There is no shortage of boxes here…






This album by Canadian singer/songwriter R. Dean Taylor on Tamla was
the pick of the bunch, it doesn’t have There’s A Ghost In My House
on it though, but still a nice find.







Literally around the corner is yet another second-hand warehouse




Amongst the sleeveless singles I found this one with it’s original
cover, I had not seen it before and it will make a fine addition to
my collection of space related records.









Despite what the sign says this shop does sell vinyl




However their stock has been reduced to a couple of sad and to be
honest rather overpriced albums - ah well, onto my last stop of the Hop









The Community Shop near our old studio in Crownhill
provided the best yield of my afternoon out and about.




The manager did me a good deal on this selection of railways EPs
and a lovely motorbike GP single I had never seen before, a fine
afternoon hopping and I was still yet to do my shopping.

For this Hop I trawled the city of Exeter way down in South Devon, I had not been
here for years and this was just a one off visit for the day. I did manage to squeeze
in several shops in the morning and spent the afternoon at the seaside before the
long drive home back to Northampton.
Driving round and round the city centre in search of a parking space was my first
task but I eventually gave up and succumbed to the dreaded multi-story car park.








Thankfully round the corner was a whole row of charity shops, my initial thought was
how do people decide which one is deserving of their donation, I was about to find out.



The RSPCA was my first stop, I was quite taken by their dog-heavy window display.








There was little in the way of vinyl delights but I did find this CD which looked scarily awful.





Next door was equally poor but at least they had some records, it seems folks
found it so hard to choose which shop to donate to here that they just didn’t bother
as most of their stock was pretty grim.









I took time out to have a hearty large breakfast here, friendly staff
clean tables & fresh food - no complaints and I got stuffed for £3.99







On the main road through the centre I found a few more shops
and got the strangest feeling I was being watched outside this one.






Cheap vinyl but nothing to tempt me, even a quite reasonably priced
K-Tel rack all wrapped up and ready to go at £1.99 didn’t sway me,
perhaps am I getting too fussy?!










A few doors along however and I come across a slightly overpriced album selection.



This Bowie album was scratched to hell, had no inner sleeve or poster
was priced at an eye-watering £15 - someone must have told them
“that David Bowie record is worth quite a bit y’know” hmmm…









On my last stop for this Hop I discover a treasure trove of records out the back,
including a very un-PC single featuring Susan Hampshire as well as a few nice
original 60’s and 70’s albums.







I managed to find my car park afterwards and was delighted by it’s neon lit stairwell,
I am obviously easily pleased today.





Driving to the coast I passed this roadsign warning me to look out for tanks!









No tanks in sight at nearby Ladram Bay on the Jurassic coastline and to be honest
not much in the way of sunshine either, but plenty of interesting looking rock pools
which as a Cancerian I find myself quite at home at, down amongst the molluscs.




So you can imagine my delight in finding a crab, I do remember finding ones as
big as my fist when I was a lad, but then I guess I used to have smaller fists!




All in all an enjoyable Hop down south and quite a few unexpected
bargains too on the vinyl front but I didn’t get that much of a tan.

For my latest Hop I headed north to Scotland and delightful Dundee,
not because I was forced to go further afield in search of vinyl delights
but because I took my wee lad on a short half-term break.

We took the overnight train and as we came over The Tay Bridge
(rebuilt after the infamous train disaster of 1879) the twinkling lights
of Dundee welcomed us, well it was 5.00 am!




Next morning we hit the city’s beach at Broughty Ferry with its great old castle built in 1496.



There were also 2 giant oil rigs which had been towed into port for repairs,
always interesting as they are not something you generally see everyday,
even if they were bloody miles away.





Broughty Ferry had the highest concentration of charity shops I have seen
for some time so while I had the freedom to tramp around its Greggs infested streets.






My first stop was the PDSA animal charity shop on the High Street.



I was about to walk out after 12 seconds as it looked like a vinyl free zone
but my eagle eye spotted albums lurking amongst the gents clothing section.



A couple of curious Christian Folk albums by The Fisherfolk took my fancy
at £1 a pop and as I can swear to God I know nothing about this genre I
picked them up anyway, if they are worthless I might be able to exchange
them for some loaves or fishes perhaps.







Onward Non-Christian Record Collector to The Salvation Army Shop…



where I get my first taste of real Scottish vinyl, but err no thanks.







I cross the road in search of something slightly better,



only to find more of the same only a wee bit weirder!








Thankfully better luck awaits me in Save The Children, gawd bless ‘em!



Some super cheap videos




50p records and £1 DVDs = result!








As I approach the nearby Capability Shop I spot one lady on the lookout whilst
another cases the joint, this looks more like my kind of establishment.



I can understand why they were so keen to keep tabs on this shop as inside
I discover this very rare unused paper hat given free with initial pressings
of The Rubettes album Wear It’s ‘At - yeah, hat/at geddit!
The women outside must be kicking themselves that I managed to get my mitts
on this first, ha, suckers!







Having exhausted the pleasures available in Broughty Ferry I walk the few miles
up the beach to Monifieth only to find my path blocked by this dire warning sign.






Undeterred I climb over the dunes in to continue my Dundee adventure and with
fingers (or rather paws) crossed I venture into the Cats Protection shop.



Hoots Mon! I canae get howay frae these Tartan albums! (och, my Scottish wife
is gonna kill me now…)








Heading into the city centre itself I find plenty of shops and men with beards,
I suppose thats probably better than women with beards…




Alas, even Debra have the same dilemma as the shops in the suburbs,
I guess no-one wants these auld albums anymore.







This charity shop superstore looks more promising




Indeed they have some proper Scottish music in their racks, however the £7 
price tag makes me think they have “a bloke who comes in” pricing them up.




Top price too for an old copy of kids TV mag Look-In complete with faults!








As I headed into the Shelter shop I was blissfully unaware of the vinyl sacrilege
I was about to come across hidden within its racks.



Some bright spark had turned a copy of a Jimi Hendrix album (ok albiet not a
very rare one) into a crappy clock and most bizarrely the sleeve into a bag with
handles, who gets off on doing this kind of thing to records?!







To help myself recover from that trauma I try my luck in the city’s main
independent i.e. only record shop in the whole of the city - Groucho’s,
where I bumped into comedian Andy Parsons having a quick fag outside.



Plenty of well stacked racks but unfortunately (for me) all at top dollar prices.



They did have a lot of singles however and I noticed they were selling
re-pressings of rare old Punk 7”s including Blitzkrieg Bop etc in picture
sleeves and on coloured vinyl for £12 a go.








I make my final stop on my Scottish Hop at the curiously named Con Amour Warehouse.



Which proves to be quite an Aladdins Cave of old formats!



There was no escaping the fact that up here the records may be misfiled
but they are unquestionably Scottish to the nth degree!

For this trip I returned to the streets of Wellingborough to tramp
the pavements in search of interesting vinyl booty. I remembered
where most of the charity shops were as I just wandered about
but soon ran out of them so ended up in nearby Rushden too.




Wellingborough is of course most famous for it’s bag ladies
and the streets are clogged with a fabulous selection on offer.
in all sizes and for all ages.






I only ever bought a CD once from BHF and they don’t do vinyl,
so thats me destined to burn in heartburn hell for eternity then.





Their racks may be heaving but I am leaving.







I usually fare better in Extra Care and I have to
take extra care just to maneuver my way into it.






You can imagine my disappointment upon finally finding this record box,
however after asking if they have anything else out the back, a kind lady
tells me to wait while she goes down into their cellar, great!


I can’t decide if that looks scary or quite exciting to be honest.





She pulls up a couple of boxes which look like they have not seen
the light of day for several years, they even smell a bit mouldy, hmmm.





Pick of the bunch was this weird Lionel Bart album which I had not
seen before, I buy it as it’s on Deram and in mono, oh yeah and it’s 25p.








The pavement outside the nearby Salvation Army
shop is all finished and my, doesn’t it look smart?




Their vinyl selection is pretty poor though but I did find this nice old
mailing envelope which I suppose I should have bought, but I didn’t.





Scope looks like a bit of a chav magnet.






A couple of what could have been interesting albums are ruined by
the facts that one is scratched to hell and the other has it’s sleeve
ripped and torn, probably just as well as it looks kinda creepy.








Next door has parking available for one.





As well as only one record for me, which is the soundtrack
to the 60’s movie Ice Station Zebra starring Patrick McGoohan.






Having exhausted all that Wellingborough had to offer I headed
to Northamptonshires Largest Second Hand Store in Rushden
which is behind these two imposing gates.





Locating the shelves of vinyl near the back I find my path is blocked
by Dr. David Kelly’s brother ignoring all the vinyl and perusing the cds.






After much digging I find allsorts of curios including a Hatfield House
Souvenir disc, a BBC TV theme 7” as well as this great spoken word EP
below which has probably the greatest title for a track like, ever!







The Age UK round the corner was my next stop even if it wasn’t everyone’s.




Another kind lady (aren’t they all?) tells me she has
“some good stuff out the back”  oh joy!





However it turns out to be quantity and not quality
but I thank her kindly for digging them out and move on.








In the street I come across someone else who is being advised to move on
by a couple of traffic wardens. He is politely told “you can’t park that there!”









The front of this second hand shop is slightly misleading as
everything in it has been reclaimed from local rubbish tips, so
I am not convinced I will actually find the top quality as promised.







It doesn’t matter how bright the lighting is, it still looks to
me like a load of old rubbish, and boy does it smell in here!








I do come across some boxes of vinyl so it’s not all shite, or is it?





I do find this odd addition to my Royal Family album collection,
a double LP of the Queen handing out Maundy money in 1978.
One of the narrators is a young Richard Madeley who sounds just
as irritating back then when he worked for BBC Radio Carlisle long
before his illustrious TV career and wine borrowing exploits.







I overhear someone mention the nearby town of Irchester
with it’s delightful church spire pictured here, has a great
charity shop where I am assured there are “loads of records”





But when I finally get there I find it’s shut, but I am gonna have
to make my way here again sometime as who knows what delights
are lurking in a plastic crate under a rack of old dresses, I must find out! __________________

I visited my old stamping ground of Milton Keynes yesterday where
I did my very first Charity Shop Hop in the summer of last year.
Not a lot has changed except now I have a much better camera and
for this occasion I brought along a friend to keep me company,
it can be such a lonely business doing all this hopping y’know.




Beginning in Stony Stratford once again and armed with the princely
sum of £15 pounds in my pocket, our first stop is the Willen Hospice Shop.






They have far less stock than when I was here last time but apart
from the World Of Children album at the front I spotted a curio I had
never seen before lurking just behind.
A nice gatefold ‘Look, Listen And Learn to Play The Recorder’ album
featuring Rod Argent and Tim Renwick on accompaniment.
Strangely I find out it is completely mint, but I bought it anyway despite
the knowledge that the recorder is a horrible instrument and it was only a quid.



Another pound goes on this album by Malcolm & Alwyn who I’ve never
heard of before but it has 2 posters in it and looks like it might be religious folk.




My favourite charity shop in Stony always has lots of vinyl.



Despite it all being piled up by the door I can tell at a glance it
has been well thumbed and all needs a better home in a skip somewhere.




Simon Cowell’s grinning mug on the counter sends me rushing towards the exit.




The Red Cross shop round the corner claim “we have a man who
comes in to price all the records” which doesn’t bode well for me.



Their nicer items are proudly displayed in a glass case, alas I am not tempted.



I spot the first Laura Nyro album in one of the boxes but its got nasty
seam splits, so leave it for someone else despite knowing it’s pretty scarce.





Stony Stratford is well known for it’s local history from John Wesley’s Tree
(the 18th century Methodist preacher, not the guitarist in prog rockers
Porcupine Tree) to The Cock & Bull story and the town’s location shooting
for Withnail & I.
A plaque on the High Street explains a royal connection too.






Our last stop shop in town is Oxfam, I did visit the Age UK shop opposite
but it was so rubbish I can’t even be arsed to post what I found there.



They have a curious mix of vinyl on offer, all reasonably priced for Oxfam
and I would have bought this Wild Willy Barrett album if I didn’t have it
hiding unplayed in my collection at home already.





The horrible buildings of the Kiln Farm Industrial Estate is the
next destination with its pair of warehouses offering a feast
of reused/recycled/rubbish spread out for all on 2 floors.



The more expensive stuff on the ground level has an original felt
covered double album by the Bee Gees titled ‘Odessa’ which I had
not seen before, but priced at £20 good luck to whoever decides
to take a punt on that.



I decide to try the tinsel decorated stairway to the cheaper stuff.



Plenty of crockery and things made of wood up here,



along with piles of vinyl but I feel someone has beaten me to all the good stuff.




Literally round the corner I had no idea of the goodies I was about to discover!



TONS of vinyl, mind you it could all be rubbish…



But, imagine my suprise when I uncovered this selection of £1 each
albums, from The Rolling Stones and Soft Machine debuts to a great
copy of Dub Syndicates ‘Stoned Immaculate’ - result!





To celebrate my good fortune we decided to pay the local landmark
a visit before we finish our journey in the north of the city.
The Concrete Cows of Milton Keynes have been the a long standing
joke to visitors and residents alike. What is their point and more pertinately
how do you cross this stream to actually get to them?!



By crossing a busy dual carriageway and scrambling down an embankment
and here they are in all their erm, glory.



Of course I couldn’t resist posing on one just so I could say “I was there!”



A small tweak of an udder proved to be too irresistible.




Back on the trail we drop by the Community Shop in Stantonbury.



Unfortunately all they have on offer is a Legendary Shelf Of Shite



My friend & I end up in Wolverton, where my dad once owned a chain
of second hand shops in the 1970’s (you can see where I get it from eh?)



No shortage of overly priced stock on offer here then.



There were several Iron Maiden albums in here at £5 a pop and
I just couldn’t even be bothered by Laurie Anderson’s 5 x LP box
set ‘United States’, like when am I gonna get time to play all that?!



I notice dad’s old shop is still empty after nearly 30 years,
which made me feel a bit sad, for about 30 seconds.




The final stop on my MK Hop is Age UK in the market square.



Quite unexpectedly I uncover a cache of pvc album sleeves which
are always handy and I gladly offer £2 for them.



However I am not tempted, even for only 25p to buy this signed album by
the rugged crooner Austin Kent despite his claim on the cover.
So all in all it was a worthwhile trip to Milton Keynes for the Kiln Farm
warehouse find alone, next time I will continue with part 2 of my hometown hop.

I set off for my Northampton challenge from the foot of the
418ft National Lift Tower, which I might add, is the only lift
tower in the whole of the UK and it’s ours all ours I tell you!









My first stop was the run Christian run Compassion World Wide in St. Leonards Rd.








With a polite request a large collection of rock and metal are kindly brought down from upstairs. The manageress said “our man has not come in and sorted these yet” when I told her “it’s ok I will be able to tell you if there’s anything valuable” she seemed convinced, but little does she know I had kissed The Blarney Stone when I was 10 years old.








Amongst albums I found this sleeveless Australian Hardcore compilation
lurking without permission. The shop assistant said “I would never allowed
that to go in the box if I’d seen it, as this is a Christian shop!”
A snip then at 50p, I also picked up late Deep Purple guitarist Tommy Bolin’s last LP for £1 and the Aerosmith Live bootleg “it’s a double so its £1.50”

Handily right on the other side of the road, Age Concern.








CDs by saxophonist Jan Garbarek is not the most common
disc that I usually find in the racks, only 2 quid too.









woah! creepy balloon alert!!
The Kinks are not scared though.








Passing Franklin’s Gardens home to our local rugby team a chap
allowed me to have a wander around if I promised not to touch the grass.









The National Lift Tower looms over the stadium,
you’d get a great view of a match from up there.









Outside the front entrance is a statue of 2 naked men chasing
after each other, for some bizarre reason or other.











Just round the corner the new recycling-centre-tip-shop is painted in bright purple to try and convince you that buying back the stuff you threw away is a really great idea. All the plants in the car park give off a warm, homely garden centre
vibe, err, not.










I am nearly tempted by this nice old Coronation Street 7” and an album
by transsexual disco diva Amanda Lear, but have the willpower to resist.









Also resistable was what I had at first thought was a chocolate covered
gingerbread man, until I looked a little closer and realised it was actually
just a candle, phew.








They now have someone testing all those old stereo’s & VCR’s as they can
proudly display them all now, still not sure if I would take the risk on them.










Luckily I did find these 2 albums, one a KPM Library record and
the other a Streetsounds Xmas disc with its cheeky advent sleeve.










The next 3 stops are my favourite local charity shops.









A few nice finds in the singles box including this EP of covers on the
Top Ten label featuring Bill Clifton’s tune ‘Beatle Crazy’ amongst others.









This curious Greek 7” which could have been Pink Floyd for all I knew by
the symbols on it’s label, but my what a lovely label & sleeve too, shown
here with a garter and cut-glass display.








No mistaking who this is though, why it’s The Lad from Coronation Street,
ahh, but of course, surely worth any gentleman’s spare quid?!










Across the road I set my sights on finding anything Dr Who
related for my lad George.









The Community Shop does not disappoint, I found a hologram drawing book,
a K9 model with stickers still sealed and a plastic wallet of stickers and
figures all for 45p - George will be well chuffed!










The only interesting vinyl I could find however was this album
by The Rambo’s, a real mean bunch of err, C&W singers.










My last stop was the shop that may or may not have been open.









An interesting looking box under a pile of stuff unfortunately turns
out to be the entire Max Bygraves back catalogue in one handy case.










The shopkeeper informs me these locally handmade cards are a big seller!










The previous owner of this melancholy looking doll couldn’t have stared at it for very long without sliding into depression, which may be why she ended up in here.










It’s owner was certainly glad to see the back of me and my cheeky quips!

I have never wandered the streets of Bedford in search of vinyl before,
but I found no shortage of charity shops. For this hop I brought along my
lad George for the trip and yes of course, I have got him very well trained!

First stop was the Canopy shop, it’s wonky letters were probably a bad sign.












I wasn’t convinced of their offer, I reckon it was only worth about £10 tops!










I must admit they did have 100’s of LP’s but 33+ years experience
told be that there was nothing here before I scratched the surface.












The curiously named RATS shop over the road looked a better bet.









How frustrating then to find this rare Massive Attack 12” with it’s
cover defaced with a different record entirely inside, rats indeed.












No mistaking this kind of shop this might be.









I picked up a few discs too, The World of The Goodies album for 20p
and a sealed 2 x 12” double pack by The Dream Academy, not sure if
it’s worth much but the price is right.












Hopefully this Shelter will be as good as the one in my hometown.










It’s not.












This shop gave off huge waves of nothing-here vibes.










This box gave off ha! told-you-so vibes.












Regular readers will know I don’t have much love or luck with BHF shops.












No vinyl of course but something in the racks caught my eye.











A lovely unplayed copy of NEU! 75 on CD, a bargain at 99p
BHF I take back all the rotten things I’ve said about you!












We headed into Oxfam not realising how busy it was and how tetchy
folk might get whilst being bopped by a boy with a balloon on a stick,
“George, don’t do that”

£3.50 for The Sound Of Bread? yer ‘avin a larf! tsk, who prices this stuff?











Only a couple of shops left before my 1 hour parking ticket is up.













But it’s all a bit grim, so I grimace and we move onto The Salvation Army shop.












Despite George’s best balloon bopping I knew where we were.











We were in Easy Listening Hell!










Thankfully I found something deep in the racks, this 50’s album of
Sports Cars In Stereo was a snip at 50p, so not a bad day in Bedford afterall. 

For this hop I ventured north east to a part of my county I rarely visit,
not for any good reason other than I couldn’t really be arsed. However
today I was arsed and so had my fingers x for what I might find in the
charming towns of Wellingborough and Rushden.

The mosaic on the high street was a friendly welcome.










With hearts on their windows BHF are taking advantage of the forthcoming Valentines Day.









Unfortunately I have no love for their sad old stock of overpriced VHS tapes,
and they still claim “we don’t do vinyl”.











The nearby Scope leave their big items out the front.








 
Plenty of CDs but alas nothing for me.










However a kindly gent recommends I “look down there for records”.











I would probably have been tempted to buy this live Kiss double LP
even with half a sleeve if it was on red vinyl, but it wasn’t so I didn’t.











I know that The Salvation Army like to stock records.











But I could not have predicted the horror of finding an album
featuring all 4 of these Easy Listening titans in one basket.











A few doors up and a more teddy orientated window display.










With delightful stock on offer too, but I am yet to be persuaded
to part with my folding stuff.













I drive on to Rushden and after parking up am greeted by a sign proclaiming
‘Northamptonshires Largest Second Hand Store’, which sounds quite exciting!










They have a lot of vinyl which looks quite promising at first glance
but has been so well thumbed it soon becomes clear this is an awful
lot of Mantovani, Acker Bilk, Debbie Gibson, Hipsway, James Last, etc, etc.











So I head onto the High Street with my hopes of finding a bargain flickering.









Not much chance of finding anything in here then.










But I did see a box of fake plastic trees on offer for over a fiver, hmmm tempting.











So I entered my last shop hopeful that I had to find something/anything!
little did I know what vinyl pleasures awaited me out the back.










It only took the tried & trusted question “have you anything else out the back?”
to be offered a box yet to be put out the front of £1 albums including
‘The Mothers Live At Fillmore’ and some fancy Jazz album by Johnny Almond,
both of them in lovely nick, so I was chuffed to come up trumps in the end.

Continuing upon my adventures I visited several charity shops in
Milton Keynes as well as nearby Woburn Sands and thankfully managed
to avoid Bletchley altogether, it’s simply too depressing there.
I plan to do another swoop around Northampton before the end of the year
as well as venturing out to Bedford, so all that is to come and in the meantime…







Starting at the newly opened Re-Use Centre on the same industrial
estate as the previously visited charity warehouse in Milton Keynes.









Several well thumbed boxes on offer which I sadly had to Re-fuse.










Across town to Westcroft to what was once a good hunting ground.









Despite a selection of old Motown albums I came away empty handed mainly due to their poor condition.











Age Concern in the market square in Wolverton is one of the longest established charities in the city.









The huge box of records yielded a few good pickings, amongst all the bloody U2 albums I found this middling-period Doors album.










I used to work for the Willen Hospice charity (helping to sort their stock)
so know that they do come up with all sorts of records from time to time.









I couldn’t resist these 2 singles in the box I found under the wedding dresses.
I never knew Jackie Wilson recorded with The Chi-lites, so that was a nice suprise.


















A few doors down was yet another Age Concern.










I was not too concerned about their old record stock.











Over the road to a shop where I once bought a copy of
Velvet Underground’s White Light/White Heat album for £1.









Those were the days, now I only find the curse of all charity shops,
the Mrs Mills album!











Unfortunately for me Oxfam now take the 2nd hand music business very seriously.











So to see common albums by the likes of Queen at £4.99 and finding some chap deep in the stock, I swiftly snap away and move on.











Way across town and the closest charity shop to our studio is in Shenley Church End.










No vinyl but plenty of cheap cds, however I couldn’t find anything to take my fancy, mainly because I had donated most of them.












So I headed just out of MK to the village with its own wildlife park, forest and sprawling country estate, hmmm, I can tell there’s a bit of money round here.









As well as yet another Age Concern shop.









Their tatty box promises much with The Glove album at the front
… upon closer inspection I discover why it’s been left to fester,
it’s scratched to hell and isn’t all that good anyway.










My last chance to find a gem on this trip takes me into another Mind (shop).









Where joy of joys, I find a great Desmond Dekker double album just waiting there for me ready to be exchanged for the handsome sum of 50 pence, not a bad result!