My Precious!

 

Being in the beautiful Peak district National Park is putting me in mind for all things Tolkien.

The woods, the valleys, the rocky edifices, I can well imagine the Rohirrim chasing Wargs right through them! 

With Middle Earth in mind, this week I'm hoping to acquire a cassette box set of the 1981 BBC radio production of Lord of the Rings, which I heard at the time and have hankered after ever since. My Precious! 

Do you recall the radio serial readers? What were you doing in 1981?

Buxton Bounty

On a frosty day trip to the Peak town of Buxton nestled betwixt snowy hills the Missus and me mooched among the many charity shops.

Prices of vintage toys and games have shot up in Charities of late, especially old board games, of which I saw a few like Airport, Hotel, Escape from Colditz and Totopoly.

I did pick up some some old tech, namely a 1989 VHS pre-cert Kung Fu Horror film called The Men from the Monastery, a 1974 Shaw Brothers production. I collect old horror and thriller videos, preferably big box but small and pre-cert are fine too. This is the first 1980's horror video I've seen in a charity shop for years, so I was chuffed.

I also got a set of BBC Radio cassette tapes of their 1981 production of Lord of the Rings. This is the 2001 re-issue and just part 1, The Fellowship of the Ring, which I first heard, along with the rest, in the Spring and summer of 1981, whilst volunteering for the RSPB at the Ouse Washes. It was all very Middle Earth!

I like Tolkien tapes and books and have a few. The older the better and preferably with classic art on the covers. I have sold some old computer games like the Hobbit and regret it, as the box art was fabulous.

Have you any old VHS or Videos or Lord of the Rings books and cassettes?

CAWTHORNE ANTIQUES

Spent the afternoon mooching round a local antiques centre in the lovely Barnsley village of Cawthorne. Here's a few of the goodies I saw in the aisles, floors and cabinets.

Go For Broke was always around when I was a kid. It may have even been my board game. A real blast seeing it again here!

Some lovely cars and soldiers with some discounts.

I really liked the red Rolls Royce to the left and the Corvette to the right, both £20 each.

The boxed horsebox was interesting.

Waddington's Starships was a new one on me, a board game from 1980.

Always good to see a boxed Pelham Puppet too.

These mint Superfast cars were a thrill but the prices, £25, weren't.

Annuals always draw me in. I never see a SWORD annual in these types pf shops anymore but there's usually a TV21 annual, this one here from 1973. Is that one you have? Interesting to see a No Hiding Place annual too, a TV programme I think I saw in the Sixties. You?

Cawthorne is a gorgeous heritage village and small water wells like this pepper the streets. There's also a fab small museum with an amazing selection of Samurai weapons!

After Cawthorne we hit the local charidee shops and I saw this interesting montage of model military planes set against a backdrop of a photographed Lancaster bomber flying over the beautiful Ladybower reservoir in the nearby Peaks. It must have been an amazing sight!

I bagged a twenty year old die-cast fantasy car made by Bandai for 50p.

All it needed was a little black and red dabbing. No idea what it is. Do you readers?

Have you got an antiques centre and charity shop near you?

HATHERSAGE: THE RESTING PLACE OF LITTLE JOHN

November 2020

Hathersage, 

High Peak, 

Derbyshire, 

England