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Anyone heard the phrase ' keeping the band in the nick'? Used to describe a fair weather friend who only keeps in occasional touch to keep the band in the nick.

It may have lost some of it's translation over generations but I cannot work out what the phrase actually means?

Never, ever heard of that one.

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Gloria

I'd be dangerous with a brain.

I have a feeling that this should be in the 'just for laughs' category.

Or maybe people I know have a language all of their own

It's a new one on me

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Mel

Searching for lost relatives? Win the Lottery!

I too had never heard of it but guessed it was something to do with machinery. I then found the following using Google:

http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ances ... 32.html#m1

Malcolm Bull's Calderdale Companion

Keep t'band in't nick
Maintain a relationship.
I sent her a birthday card, just to keep t' band in t' nick
The expression comes from the mill-worker's task of ensuring that the yarn did not jump out of the guiding mechanism, and the driving rope or belt did not come off the wheel.
See Mill band

Mill band
The rope or belt which drove a machine in the mill.
On bonfire night, this was a popular means of lighting fireworks, because the oil-soaked rope could be lit and would burn slowly during the celebrations.
Keep t'band in t'nick

Thanks Ruth, we now have learnt something new, I'm sure this applies to one person I know or thought I did.