Great Harwood Market

Great Harwood was a market town, and every Friday night a market was held in the town square. There were about forty stalls selling everything; shoes, cheese, fruit, crockery. A pair of ex soldiers sold rabbits; they were well known characters named Sandy and Pazza. They always had a crowd around the stall listening to their wit and repartee, ‘fine fat rabbits, legs like farmer's daughters, bellies like landlords, sold again and got the money, wrap it up Sandy'.

There was often a man with an amusing line of patter selling a cure-all, probably a solution of liquorice and sugar. If it did you no good, it would do you no harm. We kids would buy a halfpenny lucky bag. In the lucky bag would be a small toy (say a monkey on a stick) and a few lollies. Alf ‘Fifty' had a marquee, and sold hot peas. For one penny you would be provided with a pint mug of black peas and a spoon – very good.

Sandy, Pazza and Fifty were nicknames. Quite a lot of people had nicknames. I remember, ‘Collier Dick', ‘Celery Joe', ‘Dick O'Bows', ‘Dog Arse', ‘Old Nip Currant', a storekeeper and ‘Old Blood', probably because his working clothes were splashed with red dye as he had worked at the dye works. One man was known as ‘Harry Shit'. He was a gardener and must have used a lot of manure. My father was known as ‘Medlar'. The story goes that his grandfather had backed a foot runner who was called ‘Medlar', and had won a lot of money. The nickname was passed down from father to son. I was often addressed as ‘Young Medlar' by older men. There was a saying they used. ‘Old Medlar and Young Medlar, Old Medlar's son. Young Medlar will be Old Medlar, when Old Medlar's done'. These nicknames were so much used that people forgot their proper names. I remember a man coming to our house and enquiring for Mr Medlar.