Bicycles?.....

[wini]

Message Boys were still going strong when my husband was a schoolboy born 1937 so around the age of thirteen and fourteen he did a milk run in the morning and delivered groceries in the afternoon after school on one of the bikes with the basket in front.
Must have been for the Co-op.
Did we stillhave ration books then?
wini

[DavidWW]

My tuppenceh'penny worth is the very traditional (licenced) grocer's shop in Ayr, where I worked after school 1962/63, as well as school and later university holidays, where the system verged on the Russian, - the handwritten payment docket was sent via an aerial wire system to the centrally place cashier, where the customer went to pay the amount on said docket, said docket then stamped as paid, with customer then returning to the counter to collect paid for goods on presentation of docket stamped "paid" !!

The situation in terms of the various scrums that developed at Hogmanay had to be seen to be believed

David

[Russell]

Hi Wini

Ration books weren't issued until the war started. That's before even my time!!!

Sweeties were thaelast thing to come off ration after the war though.

The Co-op had Dividend books which you presented when you went into the shop. This gave a record of the sale so that you got a divdend at the end of the year or every 6 months depending on which Co-op you belonged to. You had to remember your number and a lot of the 'old' folks can still quote you their number its so ingrained.
Leith didn't have a Co-op - it had 'Leith Provident' so I had to remember my Grannie's number too.
My milk deliveries in the 1950's involved shoving a barrow up long driveways to places like Loretto School in Musselburgh.
Those were the days but Please don't bring them back!!

Russell

[Thrall]

My milk deliveries in the 1950's involved shoving a barrow up long driveways to places like Loretto School in Musselburgh.
Those were the days but Please don't bring them back!!

Hi Russell, another milk boy! My run was Trinity, with a pick up at Elder´s dairy on Craighall Road. Wages were 17/6 for the week, a whole pound if you turned up every day. 6.30-7.30 on weekdays, an hour later on Sundays, with a metal barrow taking about 80 pints of gold top, silver top or Jersey. Only one major accident, when I couped the lot in a hurry on a hill. Glass and milk everywhere and then a late start on the bike uphill all the way to school in Colinton Road. Those were the...............! The year I left school (and home), the bus ticket to London cost I think three pounds ten.

In the very early fifties, the grocer´s son came round one morning each week to take orders for those with accounts. Mothers worked at home then and the errand boy delivered the order in the afternoon when school was over, on a sturdy bike. Only once was I "dared" to go in and buy two ice creams and put them on the account, needless to say without permission. I had never thought of that one!

Keep the memories coming.

Thrall

[StewL]

Well here's my ha'pennys worth.

Over here in the west I worked for a garage for a while in the city, and had one of those heavy bikes with the metal basket in the front. I used it to pick up and deliver stuff of course, and as the owner had other businesses in the city, to deliver invoices etc. Had to get changed into the good gear when I was doing those runs, as I had to go to offices, and the boss liked to make a good impression to his clients

Those pneumatic tube things, ouch. used them to transfer messages to another office a bit of a distance away, a bit of a sod if one came your way as you opened the front to send one Ouch!
That was in DOD offices Canberra.

[The Highwayman]

To Just Jean:
Maybole Cycling Club. I have only joined the forum. I am preparing a history of Cycling in Ayrshire.
I have information on the three Maybole Clubs which existed in the 1890s. The Alan brothers were famous cyclists and record holders of that era.
I also have an 1895 photograph of the Ayr Cycling Club.
Is there any chance you could email me any copies of the material you have on both the Maybole and Ayr clubs.
PS I am a member of Ayr Roads Cycling Club.
Our senior championship trophy is none other than the Carrick Challenge Cup which was competed for by the Maybole Cyclists.
Happy to send photograph of this to you.

[StewL]

Hello Highwayman

I hope you enjoy your time on the forum