General Chat

Reading a thread that mentioned the lifeboat made me think about things I don't hear anymore that were once part of everyday life.

The maroon used to go off for the lifeboat but that stopped a long time ago.

When did fog-horns stop?It used to be a thing to do on a foggy day to listen to a ship travelling along the coast and there was the siren on the Nab as well.

The marshes on the coast of the village were used as a bombing range when I was a child.(It didn't stop us playing there though!) The planes would break the sound barrier just about over the primary school.We hardly noticed but it was fun to watch new teachers and student teachers jump when it happened,tee-hee!

We could hear the practice firings at the RN gunnery school on Whale Island.That,I was reliably informed,was sailors throwing their cheese in the cupboard!Who am I to argue?

The old air-raid sirens were used to summon the fire brigade to the station.

Isn't life quiet these days?

I watched a programme celebrating the anniversary of the RNLI a few weeks ago. It was so interesting.

They can often be seen training in the river Forth round Dunbar/North Berwick areas.

They do a great job, and depend on public donations.

No one ever knows when they may need them.

I have never had to use the Lifeboat service, but I have nothing but the greatest of admiration for these people. I understand that they have to rely on public subscription for their existence. My OH always says that if his numbers come out on a Saturday night, these people will get a large slice of the booty, along with our county air ambulance.
But talking of things you do not hear anymore, what about the factory hooter. People would set their timetable by these, and wo betide you if you were still at home when it went off. You were late for wherever you should have been.
Julia in Derbyshire

The rag and bone man - he used to drive his horse and cart round our estate at least once a week, shouting "enyoliron!" Or something like that. lol

Another familar sound we don't hear anymore is the milkman.

Steve.

You city folks would know about factory hooters.

As for the RNLI being a charity. I really don't know about this.

I,and most people,can't afford to travel over water very often.It is usually expensive. Poor people rarely have boats.

Yes,I know fishermen do but they very rarely call upon the services of the lifeboat.They know what they are doing to such an extent that they are generally lifeboat crew.

Should it be a charity that rescues the crew of a stricken oil tanker,do the oil companies need to rely on charity for this?

Anybody can buy a boat and cast off to sea without any sort of training. It is often these people who hit trouble.

I am in no way maligning the lifeboat crews.Brave volunteers who know what they are doing but I feel they may be being exploited because it is a charity.

Oh dear,I bet it has hit the fan now!

What do other countries do about rescues at sea?

I evidently don't know enough to be pleased or not but I would have thought that insurance would cover the cost of rescue.

Apparently there are complicated salvage rights that help fund the service.

At a more basic level I do see the Hooray Henries swaggering about who certainly don't mix with the fishermen who have to save their lives when they get in trouble.

Really,I have seen the way they patronize.

Also,I would not mind paying an extra couple of quid on a ferry ticket to fund a rescue should it be necessary.

Sharron - I am not a'city folk', and factory hooters were in use all over the place. I live in a conglomeration of small townships that gave us amongst other things, the inauguration of the East Midlands Railway, Aristoc (Nylon Stockings) Wolsey, Morley's (Fine Knitwear), Lovatts(now Denby Pottery) Iron Works (Railway Carriages) Colaro's (Munitions in the War) etc. So definitely not city, and the clue was in my board name - Derbyshire. We only have one 'city', created in recent years, and it only just qualifies, ie Derby. We are a shire
When I was studying Sociology, many years ago, fellow students are now Chief Constables etc. we were taught the first maxim " It is unfair to generalise" as you did in saying I was a 'city folk', and whilst I have
nothing against people who live in cities, I do not,and never will do, thank you.
As for them being a charity,and exploited,I would question this thought. Remember the people that stand outside supermarkets with their trays of flags, usually on the coldest/windiest/wettest day of the year, giving their time for free, and more than happy to do so for such a worthwhile cause. I don't think they see it as being exploited, nor their efforts.And,I was not the first on this thread to mention public donations.
This is just my opinion, and I do not expect anybody else to agree with me, but I would not insult someone to get my point across. Your header was, 'Things you don't hear anymore', and, it is only my opinion yet again, but perhaps that is what you should have stuck with, instead of suggesting that to hear ing factory hooters you have to be a 'city folk'.
Well you did ask for it, because this has hit the fan with me.
Julia in Derbyshire ( the county and not the city,and proud of it)

Julia,I was joking.I live in the back of beyond. We do not have factories that we can hear. I don't think I ever heard one.Did you hear a maroon like us yokels did?

I still don't like to see our local fishermen risking their lives to save people who think that owning a boat means they own the knowledge to sail it.

At times when I have questioned the need for the RNLI to be a charity to other people they have always cited the needs of the fishermen.

The fishermen don't use the lifeboat.They know what they are doing.

Many think they are collecting or giving to protect these poor seafarers.

The fact that being a charity precludes meddling by government had never been put forward in discussion before.It has shown me another side to the argument.Isn't this what reasoning is about?

island - Good for you!!!! Nice one
Julia in Derbyshire

Actually Sharron, I don't think fishermen are immune to needing the help of the RNLI.. Just because people are skilled and experienced doesn't mean they can't hit a freak wave or freak conditions or have a problem with their boat.

And many leisure sailors are skilled and the same applies to them re freak conditions.

I do agree though that a contribution should be paid by those who are rescued from something that is due to their own negligence.

But I think it is good that RNLI is a charity and don't think they are exploited.

You say you could hear Whale Island guns. Didn't HM Dockyard use to have a knocking off hooter? Could you not also hear that?

Just one of the things we locals say in the pub.It all started when somebody mentioned a couple of local families who don't like each other and really don't know why but it is because of something that happened too long ago for anybody to remember.

Somebody who was new to the village,probably only about twenty years or so, could not understand the situation and it was said that 'You city folk don't understand about feuding.'

It is a local joke that I use to my partner who was born in Totttenham if he gets something wrong.It is because that is how it is with you city folk.

Yes,I wrote it without thinking but really did not think that being called city folk was any kind of insult.Just shows how wrong you can be.

I know the RNLI is a charity but have never understood why it should be one,particularly as none of the other emergency services are.

Points have been made this morning that I had not considered,nor,indeed,been aware of,and for this I am grateful.It is another aspect to consider.

We could not hear the dockyard hooter.Too far away.

At seven o'clock on a summer night something used to make the pheasants crow,I don't know if it still does. Does or did something in the dockyard mae a noise then that we can't hear but they can?

What sort of noise do Krays make?

Don't know sharron, was not near enough the dockyard at that time of night, only during the daytime.

Talking of sounds that are lost, I think there are still a few around but how about the market cries. Gloucester market is mostly a silent place except for the meat man who does keep up a patter but, in my childhood we used to walk down Charlotte street Portsmouth where the stallholders selling china would be throwing the dinner services to each other and keeping up a constant chatter to sell their wares. colourful characters.

Thinking of birds.I haven't heard a skylark for twenty odd years either.

That really is very sad.

Thinking about things you don't hear any more. I remember the old siren which used to sound at our local fire station - I haven't heard that for years.

But something I do still hear (when I'm at home) is the fog horn on the Severn Bridge....an eerie sound.

As for Krays? I think their sound goes something like "Get arta my way".

K

Is there still a fog-horn working?Wow.I hope I get to hear it.

Such a strange sound.

It was the old air-raid sirens they used for the fire stations wasn't it? I think they stopped using them at least thirty years ago when they brought in pagers.

I can remember seeing a fire engine with the bell ringing once.