Georgianna Scurfield heads down to the Cattle Market to see what's cracking off...
Back in 1988, me and a friend were in the pub on a bank holiday. We decided we wanted to go to the seaside, so we got on a train to Skegness and that night I met the woman who would become my wife. I lived in Wellingborough at the time and we decided to live together, so we flipped a coin. I can’t remember if I won or lost, but we ended up in Ilkeston.
I’m an auctioneer at Arthur Johnson & Sons, and every day has its order here. You’re working on a weekly cycle, so you have to be rigid about where you are in that process. On an auction day I get in at about five to nine. You don’t need to psych yourself up or anything, there’s no real prep. It’s always good to know the product you’re selling; for example, people like to know if a piece of furniture has a tear on a back corner. You have to be honest with people if you want them to come back. As the years go by I see adults that used to come here as toddlers. I like that.
The Cattle Market is a bit like a club where no-one’s a member. I think that’s missing in a lot of society these days: that cohesiveness in communities. But the Cattle Market is, to a degree, a community.
Jason Motley
We have a favour to ask
LeftLion is Nottingham’s meeting point for information about what’s going on in our city, from the established organisations to the grassroots. We want to keep what we do free to all to access, but increasingly we are relying on revenue from our readers to continue. Can you spare a few quid each month to support us?