General Chat

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

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?

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)

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.

What do other countries do about rescues at sea?

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!

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

Steve.

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

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

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.

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?