PUBLIC toilets with penny-in-the-slot locks and streets cleaned by horse-drawn brush carts, the sepia tinted world of Worcester half a century ago.

It was a world Charlie Meek knew all too well during his 25 years working for the City Corporation.

A familiar figure who ran everywhere - "always on the trot" as he put it - Charlie has lived in Fareham, Hampshire since retiring in 1976, but recently had a surprise when another character from those far-off days in the Faithful City, Frank Claxton, called in to see him.

Frank, who has now retired to Weston super Mare, had been head of the Corporation's highways and cleansing department - apart from an ace table tennis player, stalwart of the Three Choirs Festival and so on - and the pair had a right old chin-wag.

They even had a photo taken to mark the occasion, which brought back loads of memories for the pair of them.

Charlie had already had a career's worth of jobs by the time he joined Worcester Corporation in 1950.

"I left Cowleigh School in Malvern in 1926 at the age of 14 and went to work for the Morgan Motor Company in the Link making wooden seats for cars.

"Then I worked for an undertaker making coffins and then I did two years at Rackstraws, the furniture company, in Worcester."

At that point the Second World War intervened and after being demobbed in 1946, Charlie joined War Ag, the body charged with looking after the countryside, on general maintenance.

"When I saw Worcester Corporation was advertising for a wheelwright, I decided to apply.

"I wasn't a trained wheelwright, but I knew the job pretty well through the other wood working I'd done.

"I remember my first job was to make a big wheel, 5ft in diameter it was, for a horse-drawn street cleaning cart.

"The cart had a set of revolving brushes that went round and swept up the rubbish as the horse pulled it up the street.

"In those days there were also horse-drawn refuse carts and I made wheels for those too.

"They used to go up the street and the dustmen tipped the dustbins on to the open carts. I don't think they had covers on until the refuse lorries came in some time later.

"The rubbish tip was at Perdiswell, but their yard was in The Butts.

"I remember the story of one dustman who liked to have a glass or two of cider on his way round and he'd get so drunk he'd just hang on to his horse and it would take him back to The Butts at the end of the day.

"It was a good job it knew where it was going, because he didn't!"

Another of Charlie's tasks was to maintain and empty the penny-in-the-slot locks at the city's public toilets.

"We had four sets to look after, in Angel Place, All Hallows, Bromyard Road and Barbourne," he recalled.

"There was always an attendant in the ladies and we had to shout before we went in to make sure it was all right.

"Fortunately we never had to free anyone who had got locked in. They always seemed to get out before we arrived!

"The toilets I was never very keen on doing were the ones in Angel Place.

"There were a lot of pubs in the area and you can imagine the state they used to get in.

"There were always fights around there on a Friday night.

"I remember one policeman used to grab hold of those who were fighting and take them down an alleyway between two of the shops.

"He'd then stand at the entrance to the alley and tell them to fight it out in private. It saved him having to arrest anyone."

For a while, Charlie and his wife Grace lived in Bromyard Road, Worcester, where Grace was housekeeper at the home of Frank Greatwich, former editorial director of Berrow's Newspapers Ltd., then owners of the Evening News.

However, the couple later moved to a council house in Calder Road and when the chance came to buy it, Charlie threw himself into work like a demon.

"I'd start at 3.30 each morning by going up to Shrub Hill Station to put up newspapers for W H Smith.

"Then I'd work for the corporation from 7.30 until 4.30.

"After that I'd go home and change before working at the Scala Cinema in the evening.

"Grace was cashier there and I began by showing people to their seats, but later I worked in the projection room.

The workaholic routine worked, because Charlie and Grace saved enough to buy their home and were able to sell it with no ties to retire to Fareham.

Now 89, Charlie has slowed down bit.

"I don't run everywhere anymore," he laughed. "But I'm still quite fit."

And he can still fix the lock on the loo door.