Gornal's Pig on the Wall 8/2/03 We've got the answers will publish as soon as possible this weekend

Click to enlarge A few days ago Dave Carter emailed us to ask if we knew where he could locate a picture of the Gornal pig on the wall (not the pub!). Some Yampy readers will know - and apologies in advance for spoiling everyone else's day, because this is like saying there isn't a Father Christmas - that the story of a Gornal man putting his porker onto the wall to watch the band go by is entirely apocryphal. The original tale related to a procession in Dawley to celebrate the achievement of Captain Webb, who was born there and in 1875 became the first man to swim the English Channel. We pointed Dave in the direction of a page at Ian Beach's Sedgley Manor site (www.sedgleymanor.com/pig_on_the_wall.html) that contains further details, including both the Dawley and Gornal versions of the postcard. By coincidence, yesterday Mike Capewell kindly sent us his copy of the Gornal card, which we publish above. It is the same as the Sedgley Manor image, posing the question: Who put the pig on the wall at Gornal to see the band go by. Was it Billy the Boy, Jimmy the Go, Clockweight, Billy on Tho'b, The Pokey Mon or Jacko, Tasso, Cogger, Blossom, Jackery? ..but strangely it does not contain the final 'denouement' No, it was Johnny Longstomach. Either the answer to the riddle was added later (but it seems to be the same typeface), or it has been removed from the other version (but there is no sign of this even if the image is zoomed). Hmmm.. The riddle reminds us that almost everyone and everything in Goral used to be known by a nickname, and we would love to hear from anyone who can give further information about any of the characters mentioned. The Sedgley Manor page describes Johnny Longstomach in some detail, and we are wondering whether 'Cogger' could be the one who appears in our Bucket Brigade article. We understand that 'Cogger' Stevens was quite a character - but the Bucket Brigade photo is over forty years later than the Dawley postcard, so unless the Gornal legend did not spring up until many years after Captain Webb's exploits the two Coggers are unlikely to be the same. Email us at admin@yampy.co.uk.