Memories Of the Old Rag & Tag Market

[kidley]

Hi

can anyone remember the fake Doctor he used to stand at the top of the market where the walkway was to the storage places he used to say he was a Quack that he had failed his medical exams because he did not go along with what he was taught. he used to have a small counter which he stood behind to sell all his potions - tablets and things, he used to have jars on the counter whith what looked like small pickled dead animals in them

 

ps

i remember the dancing Mickeys

[herbiegrass]

I used to buy my american horror comics from a stall in the market, and also from a shop way across the roundabout,roughly where the parkway exit is..still got some of em...

[denlin]

Does anyone remember a little greengrocers shop near there,? My auntie Irene Moore (now no longer with us) worked there when I was a child in late 50's/early 60s

[willybite]

Hi can anyone remember the fake Doctor he used to stand at the top of the market where the walkway was to the storage places he used to say he was a Quack that he had failed his medical exams because he did not go along with what he was taught. he used to have a small counter which he stood behind to sell all his potions - tablets and things, he used to have jars on the counter whith what looked like small pickled dead animals in them ps i remember the dancing Mickeys

 

hiya, i too remember the dancing mickies and the way he used to say gat your dancing mickies, as for the quack doctor and his wife/sister they used to scare me when we passed them and seem to recall the big jars behind the glass cabinet at the entrance before the animal market were they called mandrakes or something they were somekind of different shaped roots.

[Afilsdesigne]

I remember the old rag and tag. Every week, after school finished on Friday, mom would take me to see the grandparents who lived in Tinsley. We always stayed overnight and came back Saturday, calling in the market on the way home. My memory is we always entered the market through a vast shed type building accessed from Shude Hill (off Dixon Lane) and just behind the gas showroom. I remember it being full of colourful plants to buy and always busy.

 

Down in the bottom corner of the market and near the exit (Park Square now) was a tool stand. I bought a 12" stainless steel ruler from there, made by Picador, for use at junior school. This went all through school, being engraved with various emblems and school stuff; very faint and almost gone now. Then it went through college, university, work and is still here sat on my desk and used daily. A bit battered with an old acid burn from some long forgotten circuit board prototype and the actual markings are a bit faint too. But it dates from a time when you could buy quality things that lasted and weren't overpriced either.

 

On a Saturday I remember that market being crammed with stalls piled high with all sorts of produce, fruit, vegetables, carpets and rolls of cloth. Raised walkways in the mud under canvas awnings lit with pressurised paraffin lights that roared at you. It was always bustling with life, you had to squeeze past people and noisy too with hawkers shouting out offers. For a young lad, it was quite an exciting place to be in. Not quite the same as going around a modern supermarket!

[hazel]

Yes I remember the Mickys, they seemed to glitter as they danced on the elastic. I would have loved one but never got one.

 

The lady with the scaes was a source of embarrassment to me, I hated going on them, everyone looked because my Mom and my Aunt used to compete with which of us cousins had put most weight on.

An age when we were allowed to put weight on ---as if we could cos everything was on rations.

 

When it rained the awning over the stalls became full of water and the stall keeper without warning used to poke a long handled brush up to get rid and anyone passing got soaked in the deluge.

The Edward brothers always had a crowd round their stall and made personal comments as people passed so if you were a little sensitive you went the other way.

I'm remembering the 1940's but my Mom used to tell of the 1920's when she used to go to the market late on Saturday evenings and buy the meat and veg for Sunday dinner and then sitting with her Mother scraping tiny potatoes which were the ones left at the end of the day

 

No refridgeration --so things that wouldn't keep were sold off cheap.

 

hazel

[grinder]

I just want to say a big "THANK YOU" to all those who remembered the dancing Micky's...

 

You have made an old man very happy....

[sandorasbox]

was only young but remember it with good memories

[bazjea]

I just want to say a big "THANK YOU" to all those who remembered the dancing Micky's...

 

You have made an old man very happy....

 

I remember the Dancing Mickeys. The bloke selling them used to shout.

"Get your Dancing Mickeys, everyone a dancer"

[Arfer Mo]

I have a George Cunningham painting of the Rag and Tag hanging in my living room. I looked at it again tonight, for the first time in years. There used to be an old lady with a chair scale in the market. She would weigh you for a penny. Also on Saturdays there was sometimes a cheapjack who gathered a crowd with his entertaining talk, stopping at intervals to sell his wares. One of them was selling some pills which had no specific function except to make you young again, so it seemed. He did warn his listeners at intervals not to give it to young people as it would make them mature before their time. Being only 14 I didn't understand.

 

HI I remember the man selling quack medecine, one of his spiels was selling worm mixture he went on something like this +If you see that kiddie scratching its bum,picking its nose, that child has got worms, take this mixture to clear it+ever after when l picked my nose his words used to haunt me . l also used to get wieghed on the brass scales, and then on to to the watch and clock shed with its awning,l once bought a watch it lasted a week when l went back he said have you sent off the guarantee "l didn't get one " he went just out of sight and came back with some printed matter in Japanese' he said get it translated ,[ one of the rag and tag cons], just round the corner was the pets building a big square whitewashed place, you got a similar excuse if you went back there,then on to have a look at pottie Edwards, what skill he had ,all this was before the war started.Arfer Mo