Wigan grandmother's joy at being reunited with vinyl record she bought as a teenager

Now That’s What I Call Music II was the first record Lesley Puckering ever bought.

She has fond memories of listening to songs by Cyndi Lauper, Queen, The Smiths and other top acts on the album, which was released in 1984.

So she was delighted when her husband Ian came across the album last Thursday while they were browsing in Games ‘n’ More, in The Galleries shopping centre.

Amazingly, it turned out to be the exact copy that she had bought all those years ago and featured her maiden name - Lesley Griffin - which she had written onto the cover as a youngster.

Lesley, who moved to Wigan at the age of nine and now lives in Whelley, said: “I noticed a box under a table with ‘80s pop’ on. I told my husband to look in there and he picked my album out that I had when I was 15. It had my name on that I wrote when I was at school.

“I felt like something had told me to go in the shop. It felt really strange. We weren’t even thinking of purchasing any records. It was there and I told him to buy it.

“It brought all the memories back from when I wrote my name on it and why I did it. I did it because we used to have a disco at school and I took the album to the disco for the DJ to play. So it wouldn’t get mixed up with everybody else’s, I put my name on it.

“I have done it ever since. I write my name on everything, I don’t know why.”

Lesley, 53, was very happy to be reunited with the record and was keen to listen to it once more.

“I put it on when we got home. It was weird to hear it. It’s just strange,” she said.

While Lesley is very happy to be reunited with the record, she has no idea where it has been for the past decades and how it ended up for sale at Games ‘n’ More.

Lesley, who has four children and two grandchildren, said: “I don’t know how it got there. I can’t even remember what happened.

“The last time I saw the album was when I was about 18 or 19 and I left it at my mum’s house and I had moved out.

“My mum passed away more than 20 years ago so I’m presuming my stepdad got rid of everything and it was in there.”

Thanks for reading. If you value what we do and are able to support us, a digital subscription is just £1 for your first month. Try us today by clicking here