AT ONE time you saw lots of tramps about in the countryside but they seemed to virtually disappear just after the war. My nephew told me about a tramp his father often came across. His route seemed never to alter from Lancaster to Preston with occasional deviations along lanes quite close to the A6. They knew him as Charlie. He was tall, lean and bearded and kept himself clean. His prized possession was an old army greatcoat that reached almost down to his ankles. His boots too were ex-army. He kept them waterproof using goose grease whenever he could find some.

Charlie had managed to get hold of a strong leather bag of the type once used by builders. He had fixed some rope to this so that he could carry his possessions on his back. And so, with a stout ash thumbstick he would have cut from a hedge in one hand and a small sack in the other, he would leave the hostel at Preston and head for Lancaster.

Charlie carried the small sack which at times he would move to the same hand as his stick so that on his travels he could pick up all the cigarette butts he came across. This was the chap's business for, unlike other tramps you came across, he really did have a business.

Beside the A6 near Garstang was a family concern contracting with threshing machines, traction engines and steamrollers.

Charlie was allowed to stay at the depot - I suppose he would be like an unofficial night watchman. He would sit in the warmth by a steam roller or traction engine that had been at work and here he would remove all the paper or cork tips from the cigarette butts and dry the tobacco on a shovel over the dying embers on one of the machines.

He may well have been allowed to sleep in one of the cabin trailers they would have towed behind a steamroller. When the engines left the depot next morning for work Charlie would hit the road for Lancaster, still picking up the fag ends, but with some dry tobacco stowed safely among his belongings. Although in the "tobacco trade" Charlie did not smoke so none of the tobacco was for his personal use.

Once in Lancaster Charlie would make straight for his client to sell the tobacco he had collected and carefully dried. No doubt stowing the money he had received deep in his greatcoat pockets, he would then make for the hostel where he would spend the night, next day retracing his steps to Preston, calling at the Garstang depot on the way.

I do not suppose Charlie would ever let on who bought his tobacco; for one thing he would not want any competition.

Tramps used to call at farms and ask if they could sleep in the barn. Farmers usually allowed them to sleep in the farm buildings after first asking for any matches they might have and then giving them back the next day. Farmers' wives would often give the tramps a mug of hot tea and some bread and cheese or a nice thick bacon sandwich. However, you had to be a bit careful with generosity as it was believed tramps had a way of marking a farm or house where someone had given them food or drink. Then you could be bothered with them calling one after another.

Lads used to try to discover what the marks were but they seldom did. My guess was it was perhaps a scratch on a gatepost or a tree or something.

Dialect word: Sile an instrument used for the straining of milk.

Thought for the day: Government Policy: Let's find out what everyone is doing. And then stop everyone from doing it.