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Rag And Bone Man Ragman Tatters

I lived off the Bordesley Green Road in Palace Road in the 50s-60s, and Raggy Allens was very well known then. My brother was forever giving the rag'n'bone man clothes so he could have the chicks or a goldfish in the bag. One time he gave away our dad's best suits ha ha ha... then I would help my brother shovel up the horse muck for the garden.
 
Munchkeen said:
Did your grandad have anything to do with Sparkbrook Metals scrap yard in Arthur Street, where we lived in the early 70's. I was brought up in Palace Road, by Bordesley Green in 1950-1965, but don't remember name of the shop. I just posted on here about Raggy Allen being famous to us in those days and my brother giving him my dad's best suits just for a gold fish / chicks and we used to shovel up the horse muck for the garden.
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Pat Sattar-Jennings said:
I lived off the Bordesley Green Road in Palace Road in the 50s-60s, and Raggy Allens was very well known then. My brother was forever giving the rag'n'bone man clothes so he could have the chicks or a goldfish in the bag. One time he gave away our dad's best suits ha ha ha... then I would help my brother shovel up the horse muck for the garden.
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Two enterprising youngsters. I’ve heard junk called ‘tat’ but never heard “tatting” used in this context. Only heard it used before in lace-making. Viv.

Source: British Newspaper Archive

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I think it’s also a term applied to rug making. I’ve only ever had one go at rug making and I’m sure the name tatting cropped up (similar sort of process to lace making I suppose). Maybe it was also applied to rag rugs ? Viv.
 
It interesting that a lot of clothing was recycled, there were whole industry’s devoted to the recycling of cloth. Have a search for Shoddy and Mungo.
 
Morturn said:
It interesting that a lot of clothing was recycled, there were whole industry’s devoted to the recycling of cloth. Have a search for Shoddy and Mungo.
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The recycling of fabrics resulted in shorter fibre lengths and Shoddy and Mungo were used in poorer quality fabrics. They were also used for Neps and Nops which were added to yarns for texture and additional colour as in bright colour specks in tweed fabrics. Possibly Shoddy and Mungo were used in felting too (hats?).
 
Remember when staying with my Nan in Yorkshire, the smell of shoddy. Yuk. It was collected from all over the place and I think used, among other things, for mattresses ! Presumably it was treated before going into mattresses. Viv.
 
postie said:
rag & bone

Yes indeed, there was a "Raggy Allens" it was in Garrison Lane by the Blues ground. :twisted:
He had loads of those wooden handcarts, which he hired out to the local rag & bone men. At the end of the day they would take the carts back to his yard and sort out the "tat" into different piles, i.e. rags, copper, brass, lead etc. then he would pay them the going rate and of course deduct the cost of the hire of the handcart.
It was a very busy place ! :wink:
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I remember Raggy Allen’s by the Blues use to bring all the old car batteries and solenoids of the cars from a car showroom where I worked part time.
One of the tricks the old Tat men use to do was to wet the rags (not so they were soaking) to add to the weigh in tally.
 
Astoness said:
hi folks thought we could have a new thread going to post photos of the good old rag and bone man...i am sure most of us remember them..will kick off with these 2 that new member gord has sent me..think it was gord who took them but i will confirm that...dated 1963View attachment 114329 View attachment 114330 ...look forward to seeing other photos members may have

taken in grange road aston..

lyn
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Is the photo on the right copyrighted? I am writing a memoir about my 60s childhood in Birmingham and would like to illustrate it - I remember the rag & bone man coming down Wasdale Road in Northfield, so wondered if I could include that photo - or a link to it (I hope to publish it as an ebook also paperback on Amazon). would give any credits.
 
Wasdale said:
Is the photo on the right copyrighted? I am writing a memoir about my 60s childhood in Birmingham and would like to illustrate it - I remember the rag & bone man coming down Wasdale Road in Northfield, so wondered if I could include that photo - or a link to it (I hope to publish it as an ebook also paperback on Amazon). would give any credits.
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hi wasdale those 2 photos were sent to me by one of our members...i think i remember which one so i have emailed him to ask if you can use them in your book and credit him..will get back to you when hopefully i receive a reply

lyn
 
Astoness said:
hi wasdale those 2 photos were sent to me by one of our members...i think i remember which one so i have emailed him to ask if you can use them in your book and credit him..will get back to you when hopefully i receive a reply

lyn
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Thank you Lyn!! When book is finished I will make available free downloads from Amazon for anyone that wants one on this Forum. I've got a lot more work to do on it yet, but it's shaping up nicely and I hope to have finished it before the year is out all being well !
 
me again ..the email i sent has bounced back so i have sent a private message via this forum to a member who i think could be the one who sent me those photos...will get back to you if i get a reply

lyn
 
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