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I will
always remember the first few weeks of our Summer Break. No more School,
just back breaking digging. Digging for Clabberdoo. Clabberdoo, or
clabber as it was more commonly called was a mixture if finely ground
coal dust, crushed shale and shale oil. Used in the making of bricks, it
was firm but pliable and was forced into brick moulds before being
stacked onto the kiln floor and when the kiln was full, it was fired for
3 days, and then allowed to cool for another 4. During the making of the
bricks in the moulds there was considerable wastage and this was washed
away and encouraged to flow out and into a large flat area. Over the
years this deposit accumulated to a depth of about 5ft. Later the owners
of the Brickworks used the area as a depository for their damaged and
unsold products.
Now that the scene is set here is the story.
Every year, after the schools broke up for the Summer recess, myself and
Johnny McGill would borrow a large homemade two-wheeled barrow from a
neighbour. About 5 ft long 3ft wide and 3 ft deep, with long wooden
shafts, it was ideal for moving clabber, and it had Pnuematic Tyres
too!! Cost.... two barrow loads of clabber for the owner!
We would then proceed to dig up the clabber in sods and stack them into
the rectangular barrow, and, after pulling and pushing the barrow for
about 3/4 of a mile uphill to our homes, we would transfer these sods
into our coal bunkers, or sheds as they were sometimes called. These
sheds were old war-time Anderson Shelters. Standing 6 1/2ft high, 10 ft
deep and almost 6ft wide, they would be filled nearly to the top with
this fuel. Stacked in open brick style they would dry out during the
long summers' days and by the start of November they would be ready to
use. They would give off intense almost cherry red heat and burn down to
a fine near enough talcum-like powder. We had to fill my fathers'
shelter, Johnny's dads' shelter + two loads to Tam Drummond, the owner
of the barrow) and any old folks around who needed fuel for the winter.
Long and hard work, but enjoyable non the less. We were like "darkies "
by the time it was done, burnt almost black with the scorching sun. The
old folks were especially grateful to us and often gave us some
chocolate or a sixpence piece each!! We then had 4 or 5 whole weeks to
ourselves, tasting the Farmers' tumshies (immature turnips) fresh from
the ground, picking wild strawberries and red and blackcurrants too. We
caught fish from the burns, dug potatoes from the fields and set snares
in the hillsides though we never caught anything in them, lolol). We
rarely ate at home during the day, (sometimes we DID take Jelly pieces
or Cheese and bread,) but only nightfall forced us homewards.
Ahhhhhhh, those
Halcian days, long gone, but never forgotten.
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