[78-L] Pathes in an unexpected place.

[Doug Duncan]

Hi All,

Today I went to do an Energy Performance Certificate survey in a vacant 
modern warehouse unit in Ely, Cambridgeshire, UK.

After wandering around, photographing the fittings and measuring I 
finally went into a small cabin office on the mezzanine floor and found, 
leaning against the wall, a dozen or so Pathe discs in their original 
sleeves. There was one 12" and the rest were 16". A very quick scan of 
the selections revealed :

966 'The Church's One Foundation', ' A Few More Years Shall Roll' by the 
London Imperial Voice Quartette.
2071 ' Gems from The Pirates of Penzance , Act 1', 'Gems from The 
Pirates of Penzance Act 2' by Imperial Light Opera Co.
2154   ' Hear Me Ye Winds and Waves' ,' He Layeth The Beams ( Handel)' . 
by Mr. Harry Reynolds
2409 'He Shall Feed His Flock' By Miss Phyllis Lett with Piano 
accompaniement.

At that point I had to stop. Because it isn't what they are paying me 
for. But there were further chunks of Handel and Gilbert and Sullivan.

In the same location there was a pair of rather sad looking Kef speakers 
and an office shelving with about 2 or 3 hundred 78s. These were mainly 
HMVs including people like Paul Robeson and sundry 40s bands. Sadly I 
didn't really have the time to search through but I would bet that there 
are some things of interest at the least.

Overall the unit had the feel of somewhere that has been abandoned and I 
suspect that the remains are eventually going to be cleared.

But if Mr. Peter Matthews, The Principle Compliance Specialist of Medrad 
(whose name was on the office door) is reading this. Please let me know 
if you are coming back for them.

I will admit that I momentarily wondered whether I could rescue them but 
you can't really start having things away. It isn't ethical or honest. 
But I hope they don't wind up in a skip.

Doug