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Maybe this should be posted under “things you don’t see any more”. A coal man, and a lorry piled up with sacks.



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On Clifton in the early 60s, almost every house still had a coal fire, so they all had deliveries. In the early days it was the Co-op with their red lorries; but later a firm called Nevin's came along and within a couple of years nobody had Co-op coal, everybody had it from Nevin's.



Coalmen and milkmen. Used to be everywhere, but both are almost extinct now.


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Maybe this should be posted under “things you don’t see any more”. A coal man, and a lorry piled up with sacks. On Clifton in the early 60s, almost every house still had a coal f

A lot of people don't realise that the coal doesn't find it's way into the sacks on it's own ! It has to be shovelled in & weighed as well. Trading standards were always hot on coal men, by law sc

I got a temp job as a teenager delivering coal, I stuck it one morning only ! Sod that !

S type I believe.

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Before the sacks of coal we had our coal delivered by a Bedford three ton tipper truck. The load tray was divided into three, a ton of coal in each. It was tipped half on the corseh and half on the road and you had to barrow in to the coalus.

Time progressed and we then got it delivered in bags most often by a Foden flat bed truck with posts and chains to keep the coal bags on. Even then after delivery you had to go out with a shovel, broom and bucket to pick up the coal that they had dropped.

I was not particularly careful when picking the last of the coal up and often got a lot of stone chips off the road in with the coal which crackled and spat when you put them on the fire.

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I was born in Lenton Abbey and I remember the coal delivery coming in a horse and cart ! mum used to send me out to pick up the horse poo and any dropped coal after he had left.

Dad had a big garden and an allotment with lots of veggies so the poo was always welcome.

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#5 Catfan yer lazy bogger!

My gran had coal delivered to Woodthorpe in the 70s. I remember playing on top of the coal in the outhouse. Me mam still uses the milkman today but she must be about the only person who does.

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A lot of people don't realise that the coal doesn't find it's way into the sacks on it's own ! It has to be shovelled in & weighed as well. Trading standards were always hot on coal men, by law scales had to carried on the wagon at all times.

That was the easy part, the hard part was actually delivering the bags of coal, up entry's, around the back, up steps etc, you get the idea ! Then in adverse weather with snow & ice around it could be lethal !

Then there were the nasty dogs, old biddies would say he won't bite you ! All the time the dog was ripping the bottom of your trousers, try giving a sly kick to a nasty dog with a cwt sack of coal on your back ! Not easy.

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I remember the coalman coming,we used to say he comes when its raining so that the sacks were heavy so less coal,the grate to the cellar was lifted off(some had a chain on them) and we would stand at the top of the stairs and count to bags being tipped in,I can still hear the sound can you?

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I'd just about forgotten about the coal house we had round the back of the old house in Netherfield. It was a long trek for the coalman from the street round the back. I didn't envy them that job.

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I remember working at a boilerhouse in Basford, that had coke fired boilers, stacked in big piles behind the boilerhouse. If you peed on the coke it smelt terrible!!

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Anyone know (or knew) Georgie Johnson? His dad was a coal merchant in Arnold when I knew him in 60s/70s. Seem to think he was a Funeral Director too .....

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  • 2 years later...

In the years just before he retired, my dad worked for the NCB at their Bestwood offices. As such, he was entitled to a coal allowance of one ton a month but two tons per year of that were to be donated to the widows of miners (all well and good).

 

At this time, he lived alone in a small semi. Can you imagine the difficulty of using that amount of coal?. He wasn't permitted to give it away, sell it on or otherwise dispose of it except by burning.

 

Sensible? I don't think so.

 

Anyway, my point is that the NCB delivery men were the most miserable lot of whatevers I have ever come across. They would take great pleasure in dropping their delivery almost anywhere except where it was supposed to go - in the coalhouse. He had an ornamental fish pond and came home one day to find it full of coal.

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I was just looking back on the coalman threads and saw the reference to Nevins. Mr. Nevin snr. used to live in Morton and regularly frequented the Full Moon. He wore a toupe and I remember the night when a lady flipped it up and it came down over his eyes. He often came in a pony and trap which on occasions he had to be bundled into at the end of the evening. The pony could find its own way home!

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When we were first married my husband got a job at the Rossington pit near Doncaster where his dad worked. When we got our pit house we used to get the coal allowance of a tonne a month less the widows allowance. The first load we got arrived after my husband had gone to work on “afters” which meant he would not be hone until about 8 at nite and it was delivered at about 11.30 in the morning. It was dumped outside the front gate of the house blocking the footpath and spilling out into the road, I had never seen so much coal! It had to be cleared as quickly as possible so I had to do it. I just had a plastic bucket and a coal shovel to do it, it took ages and ages but I did eventually clear it. Later we found out there was a guy who would put it away with a barrow and shovel for 2 bags of coal and a cup of tea, I gave him chocolate biscuits as well I was so relieved I didn’t have to do it as you could guarantee it always came when he was at the pit.  When we moved to a council house we had a solid fuel burner which was better as the coal wagon used to measure it out in bags which the men then put in the coal bunkers. It wasn’t supposed to be sold but we could never use all that we were given and did used to sell a load when Bunkers were full and it was piled against them. I must admit I like a coal fire in the front room (very un-pc I know) as it makes the room seem more cosy, don’t like the messing around with the ashes though.

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My grandparents had coal delivered onto the pavement close the cellar grate (Jubilee St Sneinton). A chap followed the delivery man and would shovel the coal into the cellar for a small fee.

 

My brother worked at Gedling and had the coal allowance. If he didn't use it all he was supposed to 'sell it' back to the pit.

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Blue pallets are owned by CHEP and should be returned, not burned.  How do I know this?  My son was Southern Area Manager for CHEP years ago, he didn’t stay long with them as he realised his job mainly entailed going to customers (like Costco) and counting how many they had.  He had a nice company car though.

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Local company (Aalin dairy) recently started up delivering milk in bottles. Younger folk astounded!

Castletown fuels still delivering coal but never see any dropped on the streets for the kids to fight over... !

 

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Come on CF, you've missed one !

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It must be tiring being a member of the Mutual Backslappers & Egotists Society Lizzie.

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