We had a wind up gramophone when I was young which had strange rectangular 'needles' which you played until they went blunt, then you put it into a sharpener fixed onto the side of the cabinet and used a lever and a very sharp blade to slice it at the right angle and it was good as new again - just slightly shorter. We used those until they were all so short the end of the arm hit the record.

The gramophone and records were inherited from a couple of maiden aunts of my fathers, and ranged from classical to Spike Jones and his City Slickers - and there was one of 'Bugs Bunny' that was rather fun too - I think the other side was 'Tweety' with 'I taught I taw a putty cat'.

I don't think I learned any folk songs from the collection, but I did learn to use washing up liquid to wet a record, then play it and get a clearer rendition - and it lifted the dirt out of the groove plus reduced the effects of scratches.

At school we had a peripatetic dance teacher who used to arrive on a butcher's boy bicycle with a rather smaller wind up gramophone and play such things as 'Teddy bears' picnic' and 'Nellie the Elephant' for dancing the Long Morris around the playground - or in the hall, if wet.

Wonderful things those wind up gramophones.