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Jobs Now Gone or Almost Gone.


boginspro

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I was looking at places now gone and suddenly thought of jobs / trades now gone. My first three jobs are now almost extinct, they were -  shoe repairer (we didn't like to be called cobblers) - milk man - and bus conductor. 

I remember when I got my first job my dad said  "well at least people will always need shoes"  , we could not then foresee  the throw away society that we have now.

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Seems the only occupation that’s fairly stable is the Undertaking business, people will always pass away and they will need burying or cremating.

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Very so often a milk float (more of a van than float) delivers milk on my road. As soon as I see it all of a sudden I feel like a giddy school kid again because of the memories it brings back. 

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3 hours ago, Gamal said:

Very so often a milk float (more of a van than float) delivers milk on my road. As soon as I see it all of a sudden I feel like a giddy school kid again because of the memories it brings back. 

I used to buy around 35 pints a week from our milkman, my family liked drinking milk, but the milkman started putting an empty crate at my door, which I didn’t want or asked for, we would put our empties out religiously every night but he wouldn’t take them away until the crate he put outside my door was full, so we stopped our doorstep delivery. I didn’t mind a couple of bottles being left until another day but not a full crate, we were good customers but it seems he didn’t mind losing our custom.

But in the fifties up to the seventies the trundling milk float with its bottles rattling as the milkman made his way along his round, always on time too, Aaah happy days.

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2 hours ago, tozzin said:

I used to buy around 35 pints a week from our milkman, my family liked drinking milk, but the milkman started putting an empty crate at my door, which I didn’t want or asked for, we would put our empties out religiously every night but he wouldn’t take them away until the crate he put outside my door was full, so we stopped our doorstep delivery. I didn’t mind a couple of bottles being left until another day but not a full crate, we were good customers but it seems he didn’t mind losing our custom.

But in the fifties up to the seventies the trundling milk float with its bottles rattling as the milkman made his way along his round, always on time too, Aaah happy days.

Our farmer milkman retired who we had had for years and years so it was passed on to some company with two young men delivering.

We go away often and sometimes long weekends but they just couldn't handle it, they would be leaving milk when we were on holiday and not delivering when we did need it, it went on for many months until I called it a day. It's a shame that I now buy it from the supermarket.

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6 hours ago, tozzin said:

Seems the only occupation that’s fairly stable is the Undertaking business, people will always pass away and they will need burying or cremating.

But I've heard it said that it's a 'dieing '  trade.;-)

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3 hours ago, southside said:

You don't see TV repair guys anymore!  The one's that came to your home to repair the telly when it went on the blink.

Tv's used to be quite unreliable. I used to work as a TV repairman at one time. When tv's had valves and cathode ray tubes it was expected to average 3 repairs per year on a colur TV. Today with modern flat screens and solid state electronics tv's simply don't break down like they used to.

 

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Another job that's disappeared!!

I got a telling off from my mum for giving Grandad's breakfast (bread and jam left under a plate before she went to work) to the road sweeper's horse.

The road sweeper that kept our estate tidy, we called him Mr Cartmuck!  he came to Greenhill from Dronfield once a week to sweep the gutters, he walked behind his horse and cart sweeping as it moved forward, the horse stopping at his command so he could shovel the muck into the cart.

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What about the photographer who went door to door to take photos of your children or grown ups, as most people were not flush with money you could pay weekly, sad to say the photos were not always great.

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And the door to door salesman selling out of a large suitcase, I think the Betterwear man was one of these.  Betterwear later became Betterware and though they were in administration at one time there is now a company with the later name selling online (Betterware UK).

I remember a suitcase salesman wearing a turban who often came round our end, one day he told my father that he had "snake eyes" and put a curse on him because he wouldn't buy anything.

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Nearly once a month the parish priest visited his catholic flock on the Manor in the late forties and early fifties, I never saw one after the late fifties.

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Another one I thought of was pit prop tapper, I am not sure of the correct title but a friend of mine did this job about fifty years ago, tapping the props down a coal mine, the sound he heard told him if the props were tight and doing their job safely.

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Another one I haven't heard of  for a while is saggar maker's bottom knocker. They were usually young lads who made bottoms for saggars, containers used to protect pottery whilst it was being fired.

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1 hour ago, Michael68 said:

Another one I haven't heard of  for a while is saggar maker's bottom knocker. They were usually young lads who made bottoms for saggars, containers used to protect pottery whilst it was being fired.

I wouldn’t call that occupation a Sheffield one, it’s for the Potteries.

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Blacksmith, Farrier, Lead Dresser, Cow Keeper, Leech dealer, Mole Catcher, I was going to say honest politician but they’ve never been honest have they.

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Wheel tappers. I used to see them at the railway station hitting the train wheels with a long hammer to see if the wheel tyres were cracked. Last time I saw one was in the '70's, all done with ultrasonic detectors these days.

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