VINYL WORD IN WEDDING PRESENTS!
ARECORD shop has been lovingly recreated for newlyweds who met there 40 years ago – in the form of a scale model. Mike and Mandy Scott, both 62, were gifted an exact replica of the store where they met four decades ago as they last week tied the knot at the third attempt.
In its heyday, Phase One Records in King Street, Wrexham, was the go-to place for vinyl enthusiasts.
Mike and Mandy’s miniature replicates the shop in every detail, right down to the albums displayed on walls to the latest releases arrayed on a sales counter.
Phase One contained more than 1,000 albums and so does its scale model. Each one is recognisable from its cover and every single sleeve contains a tiny black disc inside.
Display racks, scribbled notices, VHS tapes, shopping bags and a fire escape sign have all been lovingly recreated. The couple have scrutinised it in minute detail and cannot find a single item out of place.
“A friend of mine who was a regular visitor saw the pictures and did not realise it was a model,” chuckled Mike, from Johnstown. “It’s incredible, a work of art.”
Mike, now a business consultant, was one of the shop’s four founding partners in early 1982. By Christmas, as trade flourished, extra hands were needed and Mandy was hired, having previously worked at Rabbit Records with co-founder Alun Hughes.
Theirs was an instant but unfulfilled attraction, as both had partners at the time. It would take almost four decades until both were single again and able to get together.
They got engaged at Christmas 2018 and planned a wedding reception at the Cock O’Barton, near Carden Park, Cheshire, in May 2020. Covid wrecked their plans and the rescheduled matrimonials were again postponed by the 2021 lockdown.
In early 2019, Mandy was approached by friend Barbara Taylor, an artist and modelling expert from Ruabon. A retired police inspector, she had dreamt up the perfect wedding gift for the couple.
“She had wanted to keep it a surprise but she couldn’t find the photos she needed of the shop,” explained Mandy. “So, when Mike was away, we had some sneaky meetings in his office at home where he keeps his old photos.
“Barbara went through them, taking copies and, to get the detail she needed, she enlarged some of them. She then took around 12 months to make the replica using a variety of different materials.”
For more than three years, Mike remained blissfully unaware of the subterfuge going on behind his back. So when Barbara was finally able to present her masterpiece last week, it came as a shock.
“I knew nothing about it,” he said.
Barbara Taylor has produced a series of models of shops, bars and hairdressers in the Wrexham area. Photos of them can be found at miniworldsandwatercolours.com