Quote:
Originally Posted by claytonx
A long long time ago when I went to school most of us boys and girls wore clogs. Boys clogs had irons on the bottom,girls had rubber pieces,It was great to run down the street and make sparks from the irons,but also helped to wear them away.
You could go to the Co-op shoe shop and buy new irons for 1 shilling and fit them youself or your dad,but the best way was to go into the cloggers no appointment just straight in after school and hope no one had got there before you, or then you had to sit on a wooden form and wait your turn which cut down playing out time.
When it was your turn he always asked your name,and then he got the last (which is a metal form to put the clogs on) between his knees took your clogs one at a time pulled the old broken irons off then he would knock little wooden sticks in to the old nail holes before fitting the new irons,and he would do the same with the heels,about 20 minutes work.
He would make you put the clogs on and jump up and down,then he wrote the money to pay on a piece of paper and sealed it up so you could not see the cost, until you got to the counter in the shop to pay,the lady would say how much it was to pay,if you had not enough she would write a note to give to your mum to pay later.
When I grew older I remember asking my dad about why the clogger always asked your name,he said that the clogger new nearly everyone in the top end of Clayton and who were the poor familys thats why he sealed the prices to hide the different charges that he made.
You could not get away with that now. And I'm told things have got better?
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I remember buying ribbed clogs from a shop on Blackburn road Army and Navy shop. These clogs were made ribbed or a corrugated type of leather. We wore these down the pit at Huncoat. I remember getting up at 04.30 in the morning to get ready. My mam had put up my bait the night before. If I was lucky I would get 1 egg or potted beef spread on 8 slices of bread. We saved up green shield stamps. I think it worked out you had to spend so many pounds to fill 1 book. Proud as hell I managed to save for a flask to take my tea in. First day taking it to work, Broke it getting off the train at Huncoat station. Heart broken. Never even tasted the tea.