⏳️ 1960s: This fascinating footage is of a "Totter" (rag-and-bone man) traversing London in the 1960s. Seeing the sights and hearing their accents is a heartwarming and heartbreaking experience.
Rag-and-bone men were self-employed scavengers who travelled the streets with a sack, handcart, or horse and cart, collecting unwanted household items to resell for a living. Though they had a lot less than people today, they also had a lot less to worry about compared to the corporate, unsafe world that we currently call home.
I wonder how many of our relatives did this job or simply dealt with these polite roughians as they strode through lost London. Their kind are seen no more. 🐎
Did you know that the first women to land on the Normandy beachhead in June 1944 were nurses of Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Nursing Service?
Their task was to establish a field hospital for 600 wounded soldiers.
They succeeded.
Please remember these heroines who saved lives:
Please join us in wishing RAF Veteran John a very happy 100th birthday! 🥳🎈
John attends our activity centre in Forres, and enjoys sharing tales of his full life including decades of service in the Royal Air Force.
John was born in Sunderland to parents Arthur, a maltman, and Louise, a housewife, who were originally from Ireland. Louise sadly died when John was just 5 years old and he was brought up by his grandparents in Roker Park with his brothers and sisters. The family of nine shared just three rooms.
82 years on from the Normandy landings, we reflect on the thousands of British, Commonwealth and Allied forces who lost their lives for the liberation of Western Europe.
We will remember them.