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'Rag and bones!'

watton

master brummie
Every so often the 'rag and bone' man would come along Tower Road - a horse and cart affair. The children would go and pester their mums for something to give to him, so that we could have a goldfish in a bag, or a long twirl of coloured paper on a stick - which we could make lovely shapes and swishy noises with.
 
We used to live opposite the Rag n Bone man in Ward St off ~Summer Lane....... His daughter Molly was my best friend, they had a huge yard and it was fun to go and sort all the rags out and if we did well we could ride the horse around the yard.
I have fond memories of Molly Wallace and her brother John, I often wonder what became of them!???
 
Gosh I remember the rag and bone man - just glad my mom didn't give him any of my toys
 
rag and bone man

yes i can recall the rag and bone man,
when i lived on lichfield road , one would give you a gold fish if you gave him wollens and a little toy if you only gave him rags ,
that was in the forties ,and fifties era
but i wonder how many rag and bone men made there fortune
as the old saying as been said for years by many people who got rich
[ rag to riches ] there was one that spring to my mind
and alot of people do not know ;is ,
flights travel inter national ,
the grand father of flights coaches which was on victoria rd aston
started out as a rag and bone man then bought a coach from rags
and got a yard and started day trips at the same time for years
then the one old chara bang ,became two ,
doing the sunday trips to the cotswold and the sea side resorts
and progressed to to two yards for coaches
and now they are a multi pound bussiness world wide
and another ragger family i knew very well was the moult family
from heath street winson green ,there family made abit of money out off it
but sadly therefamily was it bye deaths
best wishes astonian ,
 
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What great stories you tell Astonian - Why don't

you write a book 'Old Memories Of Brum'
 
rag and bone man

I can recall when the rag and bone man comming round our streets in Ladywood on this particular time my young brother who was about 6 at the time wanted a gold fish,so he got our moms coat and gave it to him.
Well you cant imagine what happend when our mom found out,because her purse and family alowance book were in the coat,my mom ran after the rag man who at the time was a few streets away,and as luck would have it got the coat back and the purse and book were still in the pocket,
lucky for our kid.

Happy Days Moss:)
 
rag and bone man

Yes Moma P he was,but alas the gold fish lasted about a wick

Moss:redface:
 
goldfish

You are right Mossy, the goldfish didn't seem to last when you got them from the rag and bone man. Much better to get them from the 'Onion fair', then they lasted for ages. I seem to remember that I had 4 of them, so of course I had to name them...John, George, Paul and Ringo!
 
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