Part 14

A Memory of Middle Rainton.

Trawlers go out for quite a while. The first catch goes into the bottom of the hold, and ice put on top.
Later catches go on top, iced again and on until the hold is full. Depending on the size of the catch, this can take a different amount of time. The bribe was for the fish from the top of the hold, as you can see this was the newest catch. This was then kept by Patterson’s, and delivered daily by lorry to be sold.
They started work early, generally loaded and out by 8am and came home when all was sold, so this varied.
Good Friday was the big day of the year; most people would eat fish that day, so sales were always high. They were loaded up and out at 7am and generally did not get home until about 11pm. The Horse and carts had highly polished candle lights at both front and back for working in the dark. The carts carried a sort of urn with water, and a towel and soap to wash your hands. The scales had to be inspected yearly by Weights & Measures, and then stamped to say they were correct.
Ralph had one holiday a year, he went to Appleby Fair in Westmorland, and when he needed to buy or sell a horse, this is where it came from. He had a prize trotter that he had a special cart built for, and he showed her in both County and Royal shows where he won tradesmen’s prizes. The stables were full of Rosettes.
I still remember when at a certain time of year, Norwegian cod was in season. This was brought in very large wooden boxes, and a cod weighed over a stone. You do not see them that big now. They would be 3ft long. Most varieties of fish were sold, as were live crabs, lobsters and shellfish. We used to buy mussels by the sack full, put them in a large boiler till they were cooked, then take them from the shells, and bottle them in vinegar, ready for sale. Any fish left over from the day was boiled, the flesh taken off and mixed 50/50 with boiled potatoes. This was then made into fresh fish cakes, covered in bread crumbs and sold the next day. We never had enough of these as they sold very well.
It was a different life style, work was every day, as the horses needed cleaning and feeding, Saturday and Sunday. It had its ups and downs as does everything. You were out in rain, snow and frost, it did not matter.
The horses got to know the rounds, and would stop at houses where people bought regular.

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