Rediscovering The Joy of Vinyl

When we moved from a house to a small at, I gave away my record collection, which was mainly from the 1980s. I hadn't had a record player for a few years, even though we had plenty of space for one, so felt like the best thing was to go completely digital now space would be tighter.

But somehow, last year during the lockdowns I started wishing we had a better way to listen to music. At Christmas, my lovely partner and daughter surprised me with a record player, and a whole load of records rescued from the attics of various family members. It's a very eclectic collection, and it's been a lot of fun getting to know the music of famous and less well-known artists including Joan Baez, Dolly Parton, Banjo Pickin' Girl, Bessie Smith, and a clutch of records that look like holiday souvenirs – 16 Top Hits from Malta, and Epic and Popular Songs from Cyprus are two examples.

Now that charity shops have re-opened, we love having a look to see if there are any jewels among the boxes of tatty vinyl. We've picked up some Motown, a bit of Tanika Tikaram, more Nina Simone, some blues and funk. Who knows, at some point we might even buy some new music on vinyl, but for now, I'm loving my collection of Golden Oldies!

Fiona Hale