TAMWORTH town crier Errol Bourne realised he had to do a radical musical cut to his collection when it got so heavy the shed started to sink in the backyard.
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That’s where the retired drum major, former bookshop owner and long-time familiar face at civic ceremonies had started storing
his eclectic collection of records, including LPs, 78s, 45s and CDs.
So, 50 years of collecting later, he’s stacked them up ready for a garage sale this weekend, motivated by the fact he and his wife Vanessa are also moving house.
They can’t take the shed with them either, but while he’s got 8000 up for sale this weekend, Errol’s culled about 300 to take when he and Vanessa downsize.
When he first owned the shop in Robert St in Tamworth he sold records, and that’s when he started hoarding a few.
“When records went out in 1980 I just thought one day they might come back and be worth something,” he says.
“But yes, if you say it became something of an obsession, I don’t think that’s too strong a word for it. But I’ve collected books too, and I’ve got a lot of sheet music, as well, which we have to sell.
“It was only when we decided we had to move that I thought, ‘shit, we have got to do something’.
“We’re both not well and we have got to look after ourselves so we will make the move without all that, not that we’re about to drop off the perch, but we have got to do something about it all. It got to the stage the onsite office started to sink because the records were so heavy.”
So, out they will go. And there is, according to a bloke who describes himself as a music illiterate who just collected a bit of everything when it comes to musical tastes, a wide variety of talent, including vocalists like Matt Monro and Deano (Dean Martin) to Aussie country stuff and, of course, a fair bit of big band music.
They include old Edison 78s; big, flat things that are a half-inch thick.
Errol reckons he first started collecting them as a bit of an investment or to go towards the kids’ inheritance, but it’s now a retirement fund and an absolute necessity.
He’s hoping to clear out a lot from his house at 94 Rawson Ave with the garage sale. It will also keep Vanessa from hounding him, which will be music to his ears, he reckons.
