does it still happen? i rember watching it in town as a kid...loads of studes dressed up and collecting for charity......

I dont think so, I can remember the "rag man" with his horse and cart, would be great to see that now and much more earth friendly than the vans that collect all the bags each week for the charity shops.

I'd say you two are referring to totally different things here :)

I just about remember rag day in the 60's if I remember correctly they used to have races on the don on all kinds of rafts etc.
I don't think it's as popular as once was, but I think they still dress up and go around the pubs in town and try to ride on the outside of the trams.

I'm guessing you're referring to the Rag parade...

Unfortunately, due to the supertram and the new by-law that states that the tram lines cannot be crossed by a procession in more than one location, the traditional parade route was lost... and to be honest a lot of other things have changed too, what with liability laws, sue happy people with no sense of self responsibility and just general attitudes/interetsts of the public...

That said, Rag are still very active in Sheffield and I know the guys at the uni this year are really putting their all into another year of events... They're registered on here so I'm sure you'll hear more from them over time..

:)

Rag Day was something I always looked forward to as a kid in the 50s and 60s - think there was actually a Rag Week but the procession was always on the Saturday through town - can't quite remember where it started and finished but I think it came up High Street and Fargate and along Pinstone Street towards the Moor - loads of floats and students in fancy dress collecting money. There was always a (very brave) guy who dressed up as the Rag Fairy and led the procession - maybe wouldn't get many volunteers for that now. Can also remember the boat race on the Don tho' we didn't usually go to watch that. It was also a must to have a copy of the rag mag - Twikker - is that still produced? Can still remember some awful jokes which I read for the first time in that.

Originally posted by Caronp
I dont think so, I can remember the "rag man" with his horse and cart, would be great to see that now and much more earth friendly than the vans that collect all the bags each week for the charity shops.

eh!

Originally posted by TWA756
It was also a must to have a copy of the rag mag - Twikker - is that still produced? Can still remember some awful jokes which I read for the first time in that.
There's some posts on here about the Rag mag if you do a search... If not, drop me a PM and I'll look it up for you...

Sheffield Rag contact details are on http://www.sheffieldrag.org.uk/

One year a group of students decided to climb the Moor for a rag stunt, they were equiped with ropes ice picks and all the mountaineering gear, they set up a base camp at the bottom of the Moor, and for the rest of the day shoppers had to walk around them as they scaled the paving stones on all the way to the top of the moor.

I worked in town and was captured by the students and thrown on the back ofa float. It travelled all the way down the moor from Snig Hill before I escaped by falling from the truck. I then had to walk all the way back to work in a state of disarray only to be greeted by my frowning and non too happy boss.

oops I thought you meant the rag man?????

yes, remember them well, they would give my mom cloths pegs or baloons for rags, they were always nice men that came around, it was when the gypsys use to come with paper flowers to sell, we were afraid to say no,mom didn't care, she could say no.

Originally posted by kirky
does it still happen? i rember watching it in town as a kid...loads of studes dressed up and collecting for charity......
and they used to sailing ont don on their home made rafts
great fun

[QUOTE]Originally posted by TWA756
[B]Rag Day was something I always looked forward to as a kid in the 50s and 60s -

My dad drove his decorated truck in the
parade for a great many years.
I remember the parade was always led by a huge guy with full beard dressed as a fairy & he would prance around. (when little i thought it was the same guy every year) & when I was 16 i left work at lunchtime to be captured by the raggies & ransomed off to my boss to get me back to work, bloody man paid up didn't he!
and the bonfire at rag day night when they burned everything they cud get their hands on-this was near the hospital on I think it was just below glossop rd., sorry haven't seen sheffield since i was a teen.

Originally posted by Caronp
oops I thought you meant the rag man????? i remember the rag man,my mom and me were walking up eastbank rd one saturday morning and saw the rag man braying the horse wit a stick ,she told me to sit down on the wall,went across rd took the stick of him and pasted him all the way down east bank rd:clap: :clap:

Originally posted by TWA756
There was always a (very brave) guy who dressed up as the Rag Fairy and led the procession - maybe wouldn't get many volunteers for that now.

are you joking they'd be scratching each others eyes out for the job:hihi: :hihi: :hihi:

Originally posted by kirky
are you joking they'd be scratching each others eyes out for the job:hihi: :hihi: :hihi:

I bet there'd be hundred, have you seen the male students, all dying for a bit of attention and recognition - or pehaps thats just the ones I've seen!

Did the Student rag thing get stopped by the Police on safety grounds?

They were saying that students were getting drunk and riding on the bumbers of trams or summat.

I remember as a child knowing (in the 60s) knowing that the Twikker was vaguely rude. My uncle bought a copy one year, and I sneaked it into their toilet to read it! I was about 8 at the time, and what sticks in my mind was about four pictures of breasts and four pictures of faces which you had to match. What concerned me at the time was that at least one face was a man ............. scarred for life!

When I became a teen I bought my own copy, but none of them stand out in my mind like the first one I saw!

Originally posted by viking
Did the Student rag thing get stopped by the Police on safety grounds?

They were saying that students were getting drunk and riding on the bumbers of trams or summat.

That was the pyjama jump, viking...

Getting completely sloshed, and having no regard for their own safety, and the safety of others... sounds like a typical night out at the union of students bar.. lol

PT

Originally posted by Martin_s
I'm guessing you're referring to the Rag parade...

Unfortunately, due to the supertram and the new by-law that states that the tram lines cannot be crossed by a procession in more than one location, the traditional parade route was lost... and to be honest a lot of other things have changed too, what with liability laws, sue happy people with no sense of self responsibility and just general attitudes/interetsts of the public...

That said, Rag are still very active in Sheffield and I know the guys at the uni this year are really putting their all into another year of events... They're registered on here so I'm sure you'll hear more from them over time..

:)
I never knew that was why they stopped rag day. I heard it was something to do with the trams and i work up here at the uni. They also stopped the pyjama jums as too many people were getting hyperthermia. It used to be quite a spectacle as the students used to switch with each other what they wore in bed. The girls wore pyjamas and the boys wore nighties but you did get the odd ones that wore nothing but a smile as that`s what there partners wore in bed. Happy times :hihi:

Just as a small note... Rag at Sheffield is still very much alive and kicking, it's just had to change with the times.

Things like the parades are rarely run in any cities anymore because of things like the traffic congestion caused, etc... Kids don't seem to enjoy that sort of thing as much either, and would rather stay in front of the telly, etc...


Rag are about though and if you saw anyone inside (not outside) the Don Valley Bowl at After Dark, who were selling the glowing necklaces, and sticks then you saw Rag at work raising money for local charity.

So it's all still go, just in different formats... :)

Did Terry Sunter live on East Bank Road