HARD-UP BRIGG KIDS WERE ALWAYS ON THE LOOK OUT FOR A 'FREEBIE'

Money was in short supply for many Brigg children in the 1960s and early 1970s, so full advantage was taken of any free offerings that did arise.
Saturday afternoons during the September to April football season would see many youngsters watching Brigg Town FC free of charge while standing behind the metal fence on the 'No Cycling' footpath linking East Parade with the Springbank housing estate.
Understandably, this annoyed club officials who decided to stop the practice by erecting temporary tarpaulins on their side of the fence, later adding an extensive boarded screen. The time, trouble and expense involved generated little extra revenue, as local kids waited until half-time when the Hawthorns turnstiles were no longer collecting entrance money.
Free colour TV could be watched in some town centre shop windows more than 50 years ago at a time when many households were still using black & white sets.
Petrol stations and garages offered a range of free gifts that appealed to kids, including discount stamps (to be stuck into books and exchanged for goods), promotional gifts relating to Esso's Tony the Tiger, and even silver football tournament coins (Texaco being a front-runner in this field).
Brigg children collected colourful picture cards from inside the wrappers of iced lollies and packets of tea, and they always kept a look out for empty pop bottles that could be taken back to shops to claim the deposit of a few pence.
Youngsters also felt a sense of pride if they could supplement family larder supplies with apples, pears and brambles picked up on their travels through the town or in the neighbouring countryside. But parents would demand: "Where did you get those?" Pilfering from trees and bushes in people's gardens was unacceptable.
The autumn potato-picking season also provided opportunities for free food if stray 'spuds' found their way onto paths and roadsides near the fields, perhaps while being transported in bulk by tractor-hauled open-topped trailers.
People who visit Brigg market stalls today are sometimes offered 'taster' samples, but we can't recall any free food being offered by Brigg stallholders half-a-century ago. If samples had been made available, kids would have jostled each other to get to the front of the queue!


PICTURED: Brigg Town FC playing a Hull City XI in a pre-season fixture during the early 1970s. In the distance are spectators inside the ground (who had paid for admission) and youngsters watching for free, through the fence, from the 'No Cycling' footpath between the Hawthorns and the Recreation Ground.