
It was poverty that put a lot of humour into the men.
The coracle men were an ingenious and witty group. They enjoyed making animated characters to fly across, or float in, the river.

In 1959 Harry and his friend Jack Gears from Dawley decided to erected a high wire across the river in front of the Iron Bridge. Jack made two working models, one a witch on a broomstick and the other a man on a unicycle both of which flew across in front of the Iron Bridge, much to the amazement of the visitors.
He also made a working model of two foundrymen powered by the flow of the river as their own ‘event’ to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Coalbrookdale Company.








