my eldest brother bought one but found it a bit unwieldy, that could just be him as he is over 6ft tall.

I use a snow shovel &it works pretty well but you do need somebody to hold the bag open...

I did buy a plastic leaf rake which makes raking easy, The prongs are squareish rather than pointed. Do not know about grabber.

I hired somebody to do it for me. Some of the school kids will be happy to do it for a few dollars.

Bathgate's solution seems perfect. Like Jennh, I replaced my rake with a cheap plastic one this year. It's amazing how much easier it is than the metal one. Square-edged tines. Mine would be too short for a tall person; perfect for me but I'm 5'2".

Since we live in an area where there are very few children and I am not really happy with the thought of inviting any of the local yobs into our garden I think I will pass on that solution.

yes there were many of my pupils that I wouldn't even turn my back on let alone let them know where I lived. Funnily enough one of our refuse collection men is an ex pupil and he was one of my bad lads. but he has come good [ish].

That was not my point. I wouldn't hire the local yobs either. The way you describe your community is unfortunate. It sounds like the village of the damned. For anyone else, this is a good opportunity for a hard working student or somebody to earn some money. All I did was go down to the local church/school/civic center and post an opening for light gardening work. I wouldn't hire any ole schlemiel that called, but only somebody with a notable academic record, a responsible person. You'll have to screen them. The student that i hired comes every other Saturday morning to mow the grass, trim the bushes, shovel the snow, bag the leaves, tidy up the place. They don't come inside my house and they don't require my supervision. What a joy to have it done for me. It frees up my whole weekend. I remember my very first job was dog washing. I would give all the dogs in the neighborhood a full grooming, flea bath, trim the dog's claws & brush their teeth. It opened a door for me to the working world and led to better things down the road. I also made some nice friends.

We have 5 houses backing on on to our garden. The Western end is a middle aged couple with grown up sons. Along the North edge starting at the bottom. A retired couple, an old couple with grown up children and two tiny female grandchildren who rarely if ever go in to the garden.
The next house is a home for people with Dementia. At the bottom of our drive is a bungalow where the 80 year old occupant lives alone. On the other side of the drive, the house is owned by a chap who owns a Roofing company, grown up son who works for him. The South side is the lane. Opposite is an open field.
Not a lot of school children here. This end of town is where the retired and elderly live.

Owd - I'm sure you have plenty of capable & intelligent people in your community or nearby. You just have to reach out. You'll be surprised for sure, but if you don't want to then there's no point. I remember one lady I quit working for because she was just to miserable and bitter on life in general and she made me miserable. Who needs that?

Paul your suggestion is a good one for some areas but not always practical in the English countryside village. In our small village for example I haven't seen any young people who would be interested or indeed the right age for that kind of job. We have no school or civic centre and no youngsters of the right age attend the local church. If there are any hidden away they will be fully occupied on their parents' farms.Circumstances alter cases.I'm sure you didn't intend to imply that Owd is either bitter or miserable,or that what you said can feel hurtful - he is just being realistic.

Thanks Sue for your input. I wasn't implying that about Owd. I said the lady I worked for was miserable and I think she wanted to be. All I'm saying is that you won't know until you try. Of course I can't speak about the English Countryside. I'm just throwing out an idea of a possible solution with a 'can do' attitude. You have address it to your own circumstances.

This does not answer the original question though. I am not really interested in employing anyone, I just wanted to know about a long handled leaf grabber, nothing more.
From my research it seems that hardly anyone has used one.
Stood and watched a tiny lady in our local park wielding one the other day. She seemed to have no trouble with it, so I may find£25 or so and buy one.
Thanks for trying folks.

Sorry I went off on a tangent Owd. I've never used one of those as my long lanky arms and legs are usually sufficient. If I can think of way out of doing the grunt work, I'll go that way.

Cheers, Paul.

People seem to use the type which fit over ones hands, but my problem is bending down in the first place.
This getting old lark is no fun. But the alternative is worse.
Rather be looking down on daisies rather than looking up at them.

Ob I don't have a third of the amount of leaves that you do but I have had to succumb to the inevitable and accept the fact my age and arthritis make some things hard, I have a garden hoover, I used to use that mostly on the blower but it hurts my neck and shoulders, now I put my lawnmower on the highest setting and walk around with that collecting all my leaves....

That works on the lawn and on the part of the Drive where there is no gravel, but on the borders and the gravel and the barked path leaf collecting has to be by hand.