"Yer we be"

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description

A story about the Cossors Sale

Transcript of "Yer we be"

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“Yer we be - you give it, we’ll zell it”

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From the 1920s with the Butchers and Farmers Sales popular in the heart of Wiltshire, a community of village people in Pewsey began a tradition of collecting and selling goods for the local charities. In 1948 the event became Cossors Sale. So named after Clifford Goldsworthy, a fireman who for years – for reasons lost in the mists of time, but possibly because he was one of the first in the area to own a Cossor radio – had been nicknamed “Cossor”.

In such a modern day world with villages and towns expanding into cities and people becoming less community based, there are few long standing traditions like these in the small rural areas that still hold such an authentic feel. The Cossors Sale means something to everyone in Pewsey and its members come out in full force every year over the first 3 days of September carnival, dressed up and ready to take to the streets on a vintage tractor and trailer.

The original gang of men have passed down the tradtitions over the years and Cossors is now a thriving shop on the village high street as well as its ever popular car park auction to end off the annual collection before carnival.

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“The day of the sale was a big day in the village. They sold everything over the years - furniture, appliances, bric-a brac. Even a load of Farming manure was on the lots for a few years, so right down to raising money from a load of crap, I mean everything. One year dad, Cossor, literally lost the short off his own back. It was a hot day and he took it off mid afternoon and at the end of the day he looked around only to find it had been sold in the sale! He loved it, he was such a community person. I think he belonged to Pewsey as much as he belonged to his family.”

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Over the years Cossors have occupied every available garage, shed and nook and cranny in the village that they can get their hands on to store the ever increasing hordes of items to sell and stash through the year. They have now raised the funds to pay off a morgage on their new ‘Cossors Warehouse’, the mothership of jumble storage.

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Danny - ‘Newbie’

I’m no young’un but still a newcomer in the Cossors gang. They’re alright, a bit crazy all of ‘em, but good crazy y’know?

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Wayne - ‘Womit Head’

“Well someones gotta be there on the day to sort the bloody ‘ealth and safety out! Still not a clue why they call me Womit Head but y’get used to these sort a’ things.

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“We had 3 days collecting stuff and then the sale on the Thursday and I think the thing of it for me was, I was about 18 at the time, most of the others were older than I was so I felt the youngster. But they accepted me right. We used to just get a bit pissed, but we had such a good laugh. The worst day was the Thursday when we ‘ad to clear everything up and then that was it, it was all over until the next year and I always felt a bit sad. Oh we always went home ratted right but I think that was a lot a’ the fun of it. Every pub we stopped at on the runs, there was all the crowds there waitin’ for us and all the village were there to keep us going.”

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“Pewsey is a village with so many hidden gems and the people who live here are so involved in the community. The annual carnival is the oldest in Wiltshire and most would argue its by far the greatest, bringing thousands into its small streets over the 2 weeks of celebrations. The Cossors sale leading up to the big carnival parade day is a day for all and I remember stumbling upon it after only a week of moving to Pewsey and instantly being thrust into village life and its charming ways.”

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“Cossors sale was so big they just couldn’t do it all in one night. It became so famous in the Village that they had to come up with somewhere to put it all. Roger Pope started the idea of the shop to open all year round to keep people using Cossors.”

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Theresa

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Debs

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“Pewsey is proud of its history and looking after the heritage is mine and Rogers Job. The old pictures of Cossors and the characters that have come and gone in the village that really make it so unique are so rare. I’d hate to think all the generations of such bizarrely wondeful people being lost and forgotten about in time.”

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“It was always just the 5 of us lads, others came and went over the years but we were the original gang and boy did we ‘ave a laugh. Cossor used to come down with a stick. What would happen was he’d go home for his lunch, we’d go to the pub and we always knew when he was comin’ because Cossor would always whistle, tunelessly, and we knew he was there. Tha’ would be about half past 1, tyring to get us out to go collecting again. Course we we were still in the pub at half past 2 so tha’s when the stick came out, he would ‘ave a walking stick and so he was the first ‘stickman’ which then got passed through the times to whoever could stay the most sober.”

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“Old Jack, Dad we called ‘im, he was one of the best boys goin. He was always the original gang o’ Cossors and never missed a year. When Jack got older and couldn’t get round the Cossor run easy, well we couldn’t not ‘ave him there so of course we jus’ strapped a armchair to the tractor and him to the armchair an’ off we went.”

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I can remember tryin’ ta get a chair out of some nice dears bedroom and down the stairs. Well the damn thing just wouldn’t go down the stairway ‘cos it went back on itself and got wedged tight. Well we just couldn’t figure out what on earth to do about it next, so boys being boys we jumped out of the bloody bedroom window and hid behind the cars before riding away as fast as we could! Hah, oh yes I certainly remember tha’ one, oh hell if I ever ‘ad to avoid showin my face for a while around. I could sure sit here all day with some crackin’ stories to tell ya but I wouldn’t wanna bore you to death. We were just ‘aving a ball and tryin’ to do our bit for our home town. Although maybe best not to start with that story - that don’t sound too ‘elpful thinking about it!

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“I suppose we gonna just keep doin it until we can’t do it no more. It don’t bare thinkin of yet though, we still get something good out of it and when that’s all gone then hopefully the next lot will take over. Times have changed though ‘n you just don’t know what’ll come.”

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Kate Dainton © 2014