Scrap metal collector, 2017
Elm Road Leigh
Just last night through this site I had gone onto The London Sound Survey recordings by Ian Rawles; first one I listened to was “Knife grinder East Finchley”, which was great but didn’t have a date. The Farmers’ Market at Leigh Community Centre the other week had a knife grinder in a van outside, but he wasn’t doing any calling out and not sure if they ever would.
Quite by chance today around about 1.30pm I heard the hand bell of a scrap metal collector in Elm Road. I have seen them before so it’s not quite a lost sound, but this is the first time I’ve been able to record it, even so it was in a bit of a rush so it’s while they were heading away. You also hear the sounds of the farmyard and rural Essex here in sleepy Leigh-on-Sea.
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There was a knife grinder at the Farmers’ Market? I didn’t know they still existed.
Scrap metal collectors is an interesting one. When we were surveying people about Essex sounds, people indicated they were both lost noises and something they still hear. As you said, I think it is something that has not yet disappeared.
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