ANYONE remember the"Scramble"

[joette]

Does anybody remember the scramel? Especially if you lived close to a Church? Saturdays were usually a lucrative day to boost your funds.
You would wait outside the church after the word had got out" theres a Wedding at the Chapel"we lived across the road from a large RC chapel.
The wedding cars would be parked & waiting,the photos being taken & then everybody would make their way to the cars.
Jostle for a good position- try to visualise where the window would be when it picked up speed &aim to be there.Then the car shoots forward,a hand appears at the window & then wooosh,clunk out comes the cash.
If you were a cheater & a girl you held the skirt of your dress out to catch the cash before it reached the ground.This was a risky manoevere however because if the cash missed the skirt & hurtled to the ground then you had missed your place to "scramble" on the ground & would have to mug somebody younger for what they had got & yes I did.
If there was no/little money thrown the cries of "hard-up" would echo down the street.
Such excitement if you knew of a neighbourhood wedding & could catch them on the way to Church.Especially if it was the Best man/Groom who would try to be generous to the weans.
Anybody know its origins & was it a Scotland -Wide tradition?My Nephew married this year at Linthligow Palace & he shared this tradition with his American Bride & yes I caught the Bouquet.(all those scrambling lessons had payed off.)He is from West Lothian & the children seemed familiar with the practise.
Also remember the "Christening Piece" this was a small piece of cake etc which would be given to the first Woman seen on the way to service if it was a boy& to a Man if it was a girl? I remember giving the piece when my eldest nephew was christened.Dont hold with christening but like the piece part.I suppose it brings good luck & wards of the "evil eye"?

[Davie]

Greetin's Joette
Ah mind the scramble well.
This is taken from the book "oot the Windae" by Davie Reilly


The kids in the street were going mad
for into his pocket reached her dad
he had a handful of money to chuck away
he’d been saving for months for this special day
through the open window his hand was raised
and all the kids got strategically placed
where you stood was always a gamble
out came the money that started the scramble

Ha’pennies an pennies an thrupenny bits
trying to catch some in your grubby mits
silver thrupennies disguised as tanners
and all the kids forgetting their manners
pushing and shoving on the ground
chasing the coins that were rolling around
down in the gutter for the last few pence
and at the time it seemed perfect sense

When the dust had settled after the stramash
we stopped and counted all of our cash
now tenpence ha’penny was a fair haul
four pennies a ha’penny and a tanner an all
my hands were cut and my knee was grazed
a small price to pay for the money raised
pulled up my socks in which I bled in
and went up the road to another wedding


Ther' is a guid piktcher oan the Virtual Mitchell o' a scramble in the Mile-End, wey hauf the Boyle family in it.

[nancy]

Hi Joette,Yes i remember it well We stayed round the corner from what we called the "English Church"and St Marys RC was across rd from us in George St.Whichever direction wedding cars were going,we would follow for "bowl money" we pronounced it BOWEL Never have found out why it's called that.I was quite small and had to do a bit of pushing and shoving to try and get any,like you,usually caught in my skirt I remember trying to catch bowel sorry bowl money at my grannies close in Blythswood Dr,and this huge old penny(well they were huge in those days)more so when you were wee to begin with,came flying full force and smacked me just above the eye. By the time i was done jumping around "haudin ma heid"everybody had scampered to corner shop to spend their money and couple probably married by then Aye,they don't get fun like that playin computer games,jist think whit they're missin Cheers Nancy. (never been the same since that wee incident)

[joette]

Thanks for the poem Davie I had to rush to the loo I was laughing so much.I was right back there outside St.Josephs. We aye lived close to the "pineapple" as my Dad called it or a Church.My brother-in-law lived close to a different Chapel & had lots of smaller siblings who were on scramble watch.
Nancy how right you are about Kids today-oh dear I'm sounding like my Granny more & more everyday.Well no bad thing as she was "sum wee wimman"

[WilmaM]

Wedding Scrambles are alive and well !

We had 2 one when I left the house and another leaving the Hall wherewe were married.

Not so long ago, I took my little girl out to see a neighbour leave for her wedding - and the brides father came over and gave her and another child some change.

[Davie]

A Sign of the times.
My Nephew got married three years ago, and being an Actuary, decided that he would insure himself from any unseen disasters on his big day.
Drunken Uncles, Nephews and Nieces frae Glasgow causing all sort of mayhem in Morningsedd, ok the waaddin wis in Dalkieth ( I wonder how his Glasgow Aunts were not involved in the rabble)
He sent me the form that he had to fill in.
There were two interesting provisos.
Yees know fine whit ah mean “The big print giveth, the small print taketh away.
Ok not verbatim but this is the gist.
Please do not throw confetti about the church and we would have to review the situation if you decided to throw money from the vehicles after leaving the ceremony.

[StewL]

I remember the scrambles well.

The ones from the tenements were the best as they were sort of "fixed" as the wains in the tenements were usually the only ones who knew
We were told to get out to the street at such and such a time

[Bertha]

Hi All
Great poem Davie.
In my neighbourhood in Edinburgh, we called it a "Poor-oot". (not sure on spelling).
Wonder none of us ever got under the wheels of the bridal cars!
Bertha

[joycehender]

It might be a Fife thing, but we called it a scoor-out. Edinburgh relatives definitely used poor-out. I'd never heard the word scramble until I came to the West Coast!

Joyce

[douglas]

Like Bertha, I'm from Edinburgh and we called it a poor oot. My Dad was from the West and called it a scramble.

I lived just over the road from the church so was involved in quite a few.

The buses were the best as they had these very small openings and the money nearly slid down the side of the bus. Of course you had to guess which guest would be throwing the most.

Douglas