Wigan Album

Is that Alan Howarth standing at back, 6th from right?

I think the bin-men's job was one of the hardest, manually. Now Health & Safety have made it one of the easiest and much cleaner. I suppose a modern bin-man will tell me I am wrong. E.T.

yes mick it is alan howarth,he used to work on the same round as me,he had a good sence of humour,and liked is job.

yes Eric,the days of the old bin men was very hard work,
i have done both jobs ,the hardest of all was carrying the old round metal bins out on your shoulder you had to carry them like that so you could empty them into the back of the bin truck,it is a little easier today no lifting at all the mechanism at the back of the truck doe's the lifting for the binmen of today,not as hard as it used to be.

Thanks for that, D. I knew Alan and his Mum well. Used to call in and see them when they lived in Sharp Street, and after, when they moved up Scholes.

could that be a young john shaw on the righthand side i wonder

yes, Alan, it is john Shaw in the picture, when he retired a few yrs ago from the cleansing dept he got a job at B and Q for a couple of yrs,i was talking to him a few months ago he lives at pemberton now .

Hi Derek is that you next to John Shaw with the flat cap on.? Typical Binmen,those were the days then. Hard work.