The Rag & Boneman.

[PWC1973]

Who remembers the Rag & Boneman?

I was telling my son this story the other day.....

I was telling him as a young lad me and my mates used run and shout (Ragbone) as the Rag & Boneman used come round the streets on his horse and cart calling Ragbone.
And he was so surprised that a man on a horse and cart used to come round collecting all bags of rags and alsorts of junk....

He asked how old was i when this used to happen and i said i could'nt remember.If anyone does let us all know.........
Watching the Steptoe & Son repeats now that's how it used to be.


RAGBONE............

[pedro]

Re: The Rag & Boneman.

see previous thread on this very subject PWC. Around our way this probably died out in the early 70's when I was a teenager. Our guy had a hand cart but no horse. The local Co-op used to deliver milk and bread by horse drawn carts till about this time as well.

[Heather74]

Re: The Rag & Boneman.

we still get the rag and bone man round here, not very often I grant you, but he took our old fridge freezer only about 6 months ago.
I do remember it being more of a weekly thing, when I was young though.

[SG1973]

Re: The Rag & Boneman.

PWC, I remember the rag & bone man coming round our way (sunny Denton) with his horse & cart when we were kids. This would've been late 70's / early 80's. If your parents gave him anything to take away he would give the kids a balloon! Seemed like a fair trade when I was a nipper.

Not seen any of them since then though.

[koukou]

Re: The Rag & Boneman.

We still have a rag and bone man here. He takes all sorts but seems to like metals more than anything else. You can hear him shouting 'ragbone' from quite a way away, he's got good lungs!

[Moomin Dave...]

Re: The Rag & Boneman.

The r'n'b man used to frighten the living sh!t out of me as a small child! As soon as he got to the top of the street I'd pick up my ball and go in 'for a bit for a glass of lemonade'...

[joybee]

Re: The Rag & Boneman.

The Ragbone man round our way used to give goldfish or day old chicks for your old clothes. Many a kid in our street did a trade with him for their best coat, only to have their mum or dad racing after him to get it back ready for school next day !!

I also remember the Co-Op bread man - his name was Harry and he used to let me sit on the horse if my mum said I'd been good.

I can JUST ABOUT remember the wet fish man too - he came round with a cart heaped in ice with fish laid out on it - all sorts from eels to soles and prawns to lobsters.

[karenbrown18]

Re: The Rag & Boneman.

I know this is an old thread, but I remember the rag & bone man - used to frighten me... reminded me of Steptoe!!

Also had a "Toffe-Apple" man too, his voice was louder than the R&B man! He used to dip the apples in the toffee while you waited, didn't have one very often though!!

Oh and I also remember the "Evening News" chap that used to shout on most Street corners!!

[joybee]

Re: The Rag & Boneman.

We still have the newspaper sellers dotted around our town centre. Some of the lucky ones have been given kiosks and therefore a regular pitch (lock-ups that look like those new fangled self-clean lavvies you have to put money in !!) Others still stand on the street corners.

All of them still yell VERY loudly 'Senalllllll, Evnin Senallll' which translated is Sentinal, Evening Sentinal *lol*

[moonvisage]

Re: The Rag & Boneman.

I recall a type of rag and bone man coming around once in a blue moon.he just had a hand cart type thing.Now i think,i do seem to remember a gypsy group doing that for a short period of time aswell.We never had a steptoe and son type rag and bone man or cart,just one off individuals or groups helping out in that way.I wish they would come back and clear a lot of the junk around here now.

[AmethystWitch]

Re: The Rag & Boneman.

I live in a very old town, which actually atracts tourists and we still have a rag and bone man lol

[Jacqueline]

Re: The Rag & Boneman.

We still have a guy come round playing a bugle very tunelessly, shouting for "Any old iron?"

When I was little the rag and bone man used to give the kids magic painting books (just add water) in exchange for old clothes etc.

[memoman]

Re: The Rag & Boneman.

I think scrap men replaced rag and bone men around here .One knocked on the door last week.

[Grosh62]

Re: The Rag & Boneman.

I lived in West Yorkshire and we had rag & Bone men with horse and carts. They would give us a balloon for a bag of rags but I never understood the 'Bone' bit. I wondered about giving him next doors dog's bone but he would never part with it. A few of the carts gave out Hotel plates and dishes, They were printed with the hotel names and logos on the backs. We had a cupboard full of a mish-mash of plate styles and very few clothes.
Nowadays its White Van men who come. These are mean people who take but give nothing in return and will even steal from gardens if no one is around then screech away up the road; Something that the humble horse and cart did not enable the Rag & Bone men to do.
I did see a genuine rag & Bone man with horse and cart come past about 2 months ago (1st one for a decade) and It brought a lump to my throat. I Didn't have any rags to give.

[Heather74]

Re: The Rag & Boneman.

the bones were for making glue