I remember the large heavy duty pig
bins that were distributed throughout all the districts in the
roads. In Sladedale Rd they were situated at regular intervals
along the path, our nearest one was next to the lamp post, top
of the 'ollow, opposite Goldsmid Street and Dicken's corner
shop.
As a small kid it was my job to take
any scraps over to it. I hated having to struggle with the very
heavy duty lid before putting in the scraps.
The powerful sickly smell during the
summer heat was another unwelcome reason for not wanting to
go near the bin. All too often the lid would be left half on,
or completely off, which resulted in clouds of buzzing flies
and worse still was the wasps.
Approaching the bin after a long hot
spell was the worst.
Knowing, with every nearing step, what was going to assail my
eyes and nose when I lifted that heavy galvanized lid!
A terrible stomach turning slush of
slimy food scraps, churning and writhing with fat maggots would
greet you, followed immediately by a breath taking blast of
the foulest stinking smell from hell. Holding my breath I would
quickly scrape the plate of scraps into this hell hole. Then,
finally, after replacing the lid, and red faced, I could then
take a great gulp of fresh air!
These pig bins were emptied by the council
bin men, tipped into small round shaped side loading lorries
with sliding shutters. Foul smelling water used to run dripping
on to the road from these smelly lorries.
The pig bins was the Governments solution
of recycling valuable food scraps for pig food during the very
lean years in Britain following the second world war.
Then, suddenly, one day, the dreaded
bins disappeared! My mother said that the bins were taken away
after they were blamed for causing a large outbreak of diphtheria.
I blamed them for a lot of other unmentionable things!
But it was sure good not have to endure
them any more.
Colin Weightman