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Rag And Bone Man Ragman Tatters

Some great pics on this thread and nice to know that they were still busy into the tower block age.

Likewise, Viv, I remember it being dug out and levelled but I've no idea what happened to it. And were the removals done on a contractual basis? Perhaps that was part of the contract if it was. I'm sure it wasn't a neighbour that dug it out. Anybody know?

Maurice
 
Hi Maurice. We had our Anderson until at least the late 1950s. If it was taken away by a contractor under a special scheme I'd have expected it to have been taken away before that time. That's what made me wonder if the rag and bone man took ours. It was horribly rusted by that time too. Viv.
 
Viv,

Ours had gone before we moved to Kings Heath in 1950 and I thought that was long overdue. Surprised ours wasn't rusted to hell as it was two feet deep in water under the duckboards. The outside had about a foot of soil on top and covered with a plant that had silvery leaves and masses of white flowers. No idea what it's called and I haven't seen it growing outside the Midlands.

Maurice
 
We lived on The Broadway, Witton, and had a rag-and-bone cart most weeks. There were two of them, an older chap who never spoke and who my mother said had been gassed in the war (that is, the First World War) and a younger man who may or may not have been the older man's son. Sometimes they had balloons for the kids, but usually not. What happened to our Anderson Shelter I can't remember, but at some time in the 1960's my dad replaced the old hinge-down bath in the kitchen with a modern upstairs bathroom (which he paid for himself, even though our house was rented...those were the days!) and the old bath had to be got rid of. By then the horse and cart had given way to an ancient lorry, and the old bloke was no longer seen. However, the younger of the pair was still doing the rounds, and I have this memory of him struggling down the entry with our old bath on his back and swearing all the way. It took him and several of the local kids to hoist the bath onto the lorry, and taken away. I never found out where their yard was.

These days, about three or four times a week, we have the Diddicoys along our road, and I have to say that they provide a very welcome - and free - service. Anything with metal in it, they will take away for nothing - washing machines, old fridges, clapped out bikes, bits of cars, you name it. From what I hear most of them are East Europeans, and good luck to them.

G
 
i dont believe it carolina..apart from a great pic of the rag and bone man i have been searching for years of a shot of that section of icknield st because it surely shows on the right the posts that were joined by heavy chain link...we used to swing them back and forth when we went past...

thank you..thats another one off me hit list..:)

lyn
 
absolutely pen...a childhood memory bought back in a flash.. also good to know i did not imagine it:D think i spy the no 8 bus stop as well..
 
Are the chains those that had big spikes in them (like out of torture chambers) that were supposed to stop us sitting on them.
Never put us off as we sat between them but they put you a bit off balance.
Cheers Tim.
 
yes those are they tim...god we were tough brummies wernt we...nothing put us off ..if our mom knew half of what we got up to:eek:

lyn
 
I remember the rag & bone man from my childhood in Copeley Street, Aston, we were given a couple of day old or very young chicks, all lovely and yellow, my mother would put them in a cardboard box with a bit of old blanket inside to keep them warm near the fire, sad to say they never lived beyond a couple of days.
 
i dont believe it carolina..apart from a great pic of the rag and bone man i have been searching for years of a shot of that section of icknield st because it surely shows on the right the posts that were joined by heavy chain link...we used to swing them back and forth when we went past...

thank you..thats another one off me hit list..:)

lyn
Gosh Lyn who would have thought it how one items leads to another. Yes I remember those chains as well.
 
I remember the rag & bone man from my childhood in Copeley Street, Aston, we were given a couple of day old or very young chicks, all lovely and yellow, my mother would put them in a cardboard box with a bit of old blanket inside to keep them warm near the fire, sad to say they never lived beyond a couple of days.
Indeed. That was much the same for the baby chicks sold in the Bull Ring for 4d. (2p for youngsters :D)
 
Why didn't they survive long? And how come the rag and bone man gave them away? Viv.
 
Viv,

We used to rear baby chicks with a reasonable success rate, but I think that sheer shock and changing temperatures played a big part in the high death rate. Having said that, my mother would buy the day old chicks from an address in The Smallholder and they would be shipped in a stout cardboad box by rail. Yes, we had proper railways in those days! We had very few that were dead on arrival and most went on to lay eggs Two large chicken runs took up most of our Knowle Road garden once the aforementioned Anderson shelter had been removed. Of course, my brother & I gave them all names, and it was part of our growing up.

Maurice
 
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