We used to plunge old records in boiling water to soften them, then mould them into plant pots. The hole in the middle was just the thing for drainage. The 'pot' was then painted with gloss paint and voila!
(Just imagine how many super records from the fifties and sixties were ruined by us in this way.)
I lived in Hayes (not far from Uxbridge) and the EMI factory churned out records. My friend's mum worked there, and got us all these 'spare' records.