The 2024 Noteworthy Deaths Thread
Discussion
stemll said:
Don't forget those lovable rogues claiming the dole while working. BFTBS was awful. Just tried watching it again and it's even worse now than it was in the 80's. It was also mostly written before Thatcher came to power.
This from a Monkey Hanger so wind it in with the ALL from the North East. My dad made the effort to make good and made something for himself from which I can build and it's f
k all to do with Thatcher.
My old man sounds similar to yours, we walked out of a Ricky Tomlinson show so out of whack were his dated politics around the building site strikes. Dad can remember hiding in a house attic while second fixing when the strikers came looking for scabs to beat up.This from a Monkey Hanger so wind it in with the ALL from the North East. My dad made the effort to make good and made something for himself from which I can build and it's f
k all to do with Thatcher.That's not to say everyone had it the same though. I watched Boys From The Black Stuff maybe three or four years ago and I still found it hard hitting and genuine. Incidentally Dad loved the show as well and always said Yosser was about twenty lads he worked with rolled into one.
I entered the building trade in the early 90s and things were remarkably similar to the late 70s/early 80s. No investment, no jobs and endemic criminality on sites due to the lack of money and prospects to folk in the trade. On my plumbing course there were three of us in the entire year from the whole north of the county. That's how many apprenticeships were knocking about. £29.50 p/week and a tenner of that went to mum and dad for bed and board.
Now? I can see it coming back. The Yossers I know are all making good coin but the building trade has historically been first to feel the pinch.
PRO5T said:
stemll said:
Don't forget those lovable rogues claiming the dole while working. BFTBS was awful. Just tried watching it again and it's even worse now than it was in the 80's. It was also mostly written before Thatcher came to power.
This from a Monkey Hanger so wind it in with the ALL from the North East. My dad made the effort to make good and made something for himself from which I can build and it's fk all to do with Thatcher.
My old man sounds similar to yours, we walked out of a Ricky Tomlinson show so out of whack were his dated politics around the building site strikes. Dad can remember hiding in a house attic while second fixing when the strikers came looking for scabs to beat up.This from a Monkey Hanger so wind it in with the ALL from the North East. My dad made the effort to make good and made something for himself from which I can build and it's f
k all to do with Thatcher.That's not to say everyone had it the same though. I watched Boys From The Black Stuff maybe three or four years ago and I still found it hard hitting and genuine. Incidentally Dad loved the show as well and always said Yosser was about twenty lads he worked with rolled into one.
I entered the building trade in the early 90s and things were remarkably similar to the late 70s/early 80s. No investment, no jobs and endemic criminality on sites due to the lack of money and prospects to folk in the trade. On my plumbing course there were three of us in the entire year from the whole north of the county. That's how many apprenticeships were knocking about. £29.50 p/week and a tenner of that went to mum and dad for bed and board.
Now? I can see it coming back. The Yossers I know are all making good coin but the building trade has historically been first to feel the pinch.
tt in those days AOC were blue / white collar all belonged to the Union affiliated , pipefitters , welders fabricators mechy fitters etc......but somehow they had the small civil contract which was not union affiliated, all clock in clock off
As a teenager it was an eye opener seeing the blue hats not talking with the white hats around 400 workers , they were all billeted on Osmington camp around 30 miles away , I was local living in Wareham they had 3 strikes over a 15 minute tea break , a walk out from Corfe to wareham , police escort etc. f
king lunacy, There were some proper militant types .. never seemed to do any graft , just trying to Stop the job ... No you cant do that !! Mainwaring types.We had a massive pour to set the levels on a piece of machinery we calculated it needed 450 x50kg sacks of grout we ordered a pump , but would have to hand ball the 50kg sacks , into the paddle mixer . Only day we could do this was on the sat .
One of the mechie Union guys got hear of it .......... "No you cant work on a sat ! , "we wont allow it !!.... Me "well its the only time we can do it because its got to be ready for Monday and we need the space ! No the union guy says you cant "... Me " we are not in a union " !! Mechie looking surprised ... well we will stop you anyway ... me how ? mechie well we will .!!..........Look mate your staying 30 miles away on Friday night you will be pissed up , Im local i know half a dozen entry points to this site , sat is the only day we can do this job , so if you want to get in a taxi on sat ..........fill yer boots
of course they never showed , we did the pour and mechies finished adjusting on the monday morning .....nothing was said .
and that's why the bloody UK car industry collapsed too many militant union types finding any excuse to stop the job and get one over the white hats They f
ked it for everyone and the result cheap labour from overseas . Glad i worked over seas
Edited by Purosangue on Monday 6th May 12:37
Fallingup said:
Pity. It's far more interesting than some unheard of person popping his clogs. True though.
This thread exists for notable deaths, whether it not you (or I) have heard of them. Feel free to start yet another thread to discuss the decline of British industry. Yes, it’s an interesting topic, but this is not the place.
Eric Mc said:
PRO5T said:
Ooh thread police have turned up 
Imagine having the nerve to discuss the work of someone who is mentioned in the thread?
Sticking to the topic defined by the thread title is always a "good thing" - on any thread.Imagine having the nerve to discuss the work of someone who is mentioned in the thread?
CountyAFC said:
Eric Mc said:
Sticking to the topic defined by the thread title is always a "good thing" - on any thread.
Says the man who goes out of his way (and off topic) to correct spelling mistakes and grammar...How more "on topic" can you get?
But we're going "off topic" here so I'm not going to say any more.
Eric Mc said:
CountyAFC said:
Eric Mc said:
Sticking to the topic defined by the thread title is always a "good thing" - on any thread.
Says the man who goes out of his way (and off topic) to correct spelling mistakes and grammar...How more "on topic" can you get?
But we're going "off topic" here so I'm not going to say any more.
Speed 3 said:
732NM said:
tdm34 said:
Bernard Hill, actor famous for Titanic, Lord of the Rings and Boys from the Black Stuff has died aged 79.
That's sad to see, he was a great actor, he was amazing in Boys from the Black Stuff, it's one of the performances that had a big impact on me in my youth as it was such a real and heart breaking depiction of the plight of many manual workers in my area when all the mines, steel works and heavy industry collapsed around us.He went to the same college as i did in central Manchester, lots of well known people in the arts went there, which is amazing considering it wasn't a dedicated arts school.
RIP Bernard.
Growing up in cotton town where everything was closing down, the only queues were outside the dole office, unemployment was I think 24% when I left school in 82
The whole place seemed broken, run down and derelict, I remember vividly Yosser walking over broken bricks where houses used to stand.
I did the same with my dad, scavanging for good bricks in the rubble as my dad was building a wall in the garden
It was all I knew at the time, seemed normal but looking back it was feckin grim
Boys from the black stuff will go down as one of those rare programmes that will become a record of social history
He’s up there now with St Peter offering to work the pearly gates “go on gis a job I can do that”
RIP Bernard
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