Vinyl finds new life under Roy’s hands

A GLENWOOD pensioner has found a good use for old vinyl LPs, and is appealing to the community to support his project.

Roy Wood, (93), is turning old vinyl records into clocks.
“The idea came to me after I was asked to make one for Glenhaven, the retirement home where I live. It broke and they kept the pieces and asked it I could fix it. I thought I should get into making more and sell them! They keep perfect time and it is the perfect use for records that people are no longer able to listen to,” he said.

Roy, who is fortunate to have a few old vinyls on hand, purchases the parts needed to make up the quirky clocks.

“I have sold a few already and have a few orders. If anyone wants to buy one, I will gladly make a clock out of one of my records, or specific ones people have and want used. I am now making one a day. It's quite easy once you know how to do it. The measurement between the numbers is the hard part, as it's important to ensure they are in the correct position,” he said.

Roy is a man of many talents, and this is just one of the man hobbies he has to keep busy. He is a self-confessed hoarder, and enjoys collecting stamps and coins (he is a member of the Highway Philatelic Association), owl figurines and pictures, as well as interesting historical items, such as pamphlets and souveniers on the British royal family. He helps out with odd jobs at Glenhaven, and enjoys playing 'Canasta,' a card game, with other residents at the home. He also runs the bingo club at Glenhaven.

Roy was born in Pietermaritzburg and left school at an early age to go work as his mother needed his help in running a boarding house. His first job was as an apprentice carpenter, but he was fired by the owner, who claimed there was no way he would ever be a carpenter.

He went on to join the Pietermaritzburg municipality as a meter reader and was afforded an opportunity to join the team in the drawing office. After resigning from the municipality, he took up a position as cinema matagraph operator which was a very mechanical type of job, and required that he do a three year apprenticeship.

“After I qualified, I was given a cinema to run and after a few years a company opened a new cinema in Durban called The Piccadilly Cinema. I saw an advert to run the projection side, so I applied for the position and got the job. I was the projectionist who opened the Piccadilly with a film called The Dancing Years, which ran for seven weeks,” he said.

He was approached by Lever Brothers to take over the running of their mobile cinema which meant he would have to travel all over South Africa. After being at Lever Brothers Durban for a couple of years, they decided that Rhodesia was a good place to use cinema vans.

“I was transferred to Rhodesia to start the system going and I designed and equipped a recording studio. This was when television came out, so it turned out to be my job to try out all the different makes of televisions. Unfortunately, after working in Salisbury for a few years, my wife, Sylvia, could not live with the altitude there, so we moved back to Durban,” he said.

Roy then became a salesman for Bears Bros furniture and while he was there, he did the Dale Carnegie Course for sales and received a prize for the highest award for achievement. He was then approached by the manager of Wakefields in Yellowwood Park to try his hand at selling property, where he was branch salesman seven times.

“Living in Yellowwood Park, I got interested in playing bowls and was president a couple of times at Wood Park Bowling Club, as well as competition secretary. While living in Yellowwood Park, I was a Town Board member for eight years, which I enjoyed very much,” he said.

Roy left Wakefields after 20 years, deciding to retire. Sadly during this time, he lost his wife. After a few years he met another 'lonely lady' and decided to buy property in Richmond.

“There we played lots of bowls and I was president and competitions secretary of the Richmond Bowling Club a few times. After a few years we decided to move back to Durban, and unfortunately things did now work out, and I was single again!” he said.

Roy said he has had a very full life and has always kept busy with his hobbies and fixing things.

“I take care of myself now with the wonderful help of my daughter and son-in-law who live in Yellowwood Park, and have regular phone calls from my daughter in Cape Town,” he said.

If you want to order a clock, at R75, from Roy, contact him on 031 205 1914 or 072 539 4839.