I was in Sainsburys the other day when an anouncement was made over the PA system that said 'we are now fully customer focused.' I mean there is pride in your work then there is arrogance!!
What are your favorite PA announcements in Sheffield?:loopy: :mad:

Wilkinsons, by Castle Market (I don't shop there anymore, mind you):

'Security announcement, Code 500, Zone 2' - meaning someone's on the rob.

Or the Somerfield variant: 'Service 13, Service 13'


Err...that's all I can think of...

if you ever here a call for "mr meadows" at bramall lane it means the police..i.e will mr meadows please go to the main entrance on the south stand usually means somthings kickin off

That's strange, the same Mr Meadows kept getting announced at Hillsborough. Obviously a fan of both teams and so not from Sheffield. I thought it was just a coincidence that every time he was mentioned, all the cops and ground staff stood up. Thought he was royalty or something. Then the chant would start,
"One Mr Meadows, there's only one Mr Meadows".

How many people will have heard this, but not realise that they know it. .

Ladies and Gentlemen.
This is a customer service announcement.
Would Meadowhall customers loosing family or friends, please meet them by the statues, at Market Street.
Would Meadowhall customers loosing family or friends, please meet them by the statues, at Market Street.

Thank you.

Originally posted by pitsmoorlad
That's strange, the same Mr Meadows kept getting announced at Hillsborough. Obviously a fan of both teams and so not from Sheffield. I thought it was just a coincidence that every time he was mentioned, all the cops and ground staff stood up. Thought he was royalty or something. Then the chant would start,
"One Mr Meadows, there's only one Mr Meadows".

I used to work there and can confirm that this was indeed a coded message which meant there may be need to evacuate the ground because of a fire or a bomb.

However, they were forever having practices and in all my time therer there was never a genuine emergency. After a few minutes they would annouince that Mr meadows was no longer required, ie, it was just a practice

My own favorite was on a Virgin train which said that smoking on any part of the train will not be tolerated. That's telling em. No would you kindly mind not smoking etc, making it clear there is zero tolerance.

At the grotty Co-op at the top of our road..
(**adopt best gormless chavette Sheffield accent**)
"Hello.. This is Mandy from checkout.. I love Cheese me.. and there's a great selection at our deli counter.."

I Love cheese me - class

Originally posted by munky
How many people will have heard this, but not realise that they know it. .

Ladies and Gentlemen.
This is a customer service announcement.
Would Meadowhall customers loosing family or friends, please meet them by the statues, at Market Street.
Would Meadowhall customers loosing family or friends, please meet them by the statues, at Market Street.

Thank you.

And what gets me about that, is that if someone is lost in Meadowhall, how the chuff do they know where the Statues at Market St ARE?! Cos isn't the whole thing of being LOST that you don't know where you are?! :loopy:

Originally posted by pitsmoorlad
That's strange, the same Mr Meadows kept getting announced at Hillsborough. Obviously a fan of both teams and so not from Sheffield. I thought it was just a coincidence that every time he was mentioned, all the cops and ground staff stood up. Thought he was royalty or something. Then the chant would start,
"One Mr Meadows, there's only one Mr Meadows".

I imagine that the same staff members from the police will be working both footy grounds, so it makes sense to have the same code on the emergency announcement, wouldn't it?

the very best announcement we ever heard was at bramall lane one hot august afternoon, early in the season, about 2/3 years ago.

the whole crowd there, absolutely wet themselves with laughter.

it went

"Will the owner of the car, registration 'XXX xxx X' which was parked in bay number 134 on the south stand, please return to it, as it is now in bay 334"

the wally had forgotten to put his handbrake on, and the car had rolled down the hill of the car park.

It was so funny.

PT

Originally posted by pitsmoorlad
"One Mr Meadows, there's only one Mr Meadows".

Could it be DCI Meadows from The Bill? :thumbsup:

Has anyone been to Birmingham New Street station? I've not been for a couple of years, but it used to be the case that their announcer never shut up... If he wasn't announcing a train he would be reminding people not to smoke, not to leave their bags unatended, not to give money to beggers, to be aware of pickpockets, not to travel without tickets...

When i worked in Meadowhall for a summer, the constant messages about smoking, and the one about meeting at the statue drove me mad!

Some of my fav non-sheff ones are....

Hotel, India:
THE MANAGER HAS PERSONALLY PASSED ALL THE WATER SERVED HERE

Sign in men's rest room in Japan:
TO STOP LEAK TURN COCK TO THE RIGHT

On a poster at Kencom:
ARE YOU AN ADULT THAT CANNOT READ? IF SO, WE CAN HELP

In a Tokyo bar:
SPECIAL COCKTAILS FOR THE LADIES WITH NUTS

A sign posted in Germany's Black Forest:
IT IS STRICTLY FORBIDDEN ON OUR BLACK FOREST CAMPING SITE THAT PEOPLE OF DIFFERENT SEX, FOR INSTANCE, MEN AND WOMEN, LIVE TOGETHER IN ONE TENT UNLESS THEY ARE MARRIED
WITH EACH OTHER FOR THIS PURPOSE.

Doctor's office, Rome:
SPECIALIST IN WOMEN AND OTHER DISEASES

The funniest I ever heard was from a police patrol car at the traffic lights at the bottom of Prince of Wales Rd, after seeing a learner driver stall the engine several times when bang in the middle of a right turn, and the traffic snarling up all around her, the officer came on his loud speaker from the car to tell her "dont worry NO ONE is going to get angry with you" and just put it into gear and pull away slowly. He repeated this several times and still with no sucess she did it again upon which the immortal message came over "**** me she's done it again", at least it made the day of a lot of angry motorists.
owdlad.

All Mr Meadows means is fo all steward and police to go into standby. You will hear a followup annocement probaly on the lines of Mr Meadows presnece is no longer required.

Mr Meadows doesn't exsist even though at Barnsley the match commander was once a Mr Meadows we we safety stewards found amusing.

Every gathering of public places have to have a code meaning different things. Ussaly to put safety staff on standby for possible problems maybe evacuation. Of course not all stewards will have a radio so the best way is via the PA. Never panic if you hear this if you need to be evacuated this won't be in code.

When you hear Mr Meadows (which you will at least once every match) it is usally a pratice they have to do by law before the end of the first half.

Just like a theatre (pro arch) has to show the safety curtain at least once during the performance which why it comes down at the interval.

Mr Sands is used quite a lot in theatres meaning a poss fire.

Going off topic slightly (ok, going completely off topic) but does anyone else find the current BT adverts ridiculous where they promise to -try- and keep to any appointments they make.

Oh. Thanks.

Originally posted by jubby

When you hear Mr Meadows (which you will at least once every match) it is usally a pratice they have to do by law before the end of the first half.




strange the jubby, u will probly hear it about one in every 10 games........

its not a lgeal requirement and very rarely gets used.




and as for united using mister meadows......... i thought it was code green

Originally posted by Robbie_Lovin
strange the jubby, u will probly hear it about one in every 10 games........

its not a lgeal requirement and very rarely gets used.




and as for united using mister meadows......... i thought it was code green

Where do you base this info on

I have worked in event safety and stage management for about 10 years and know the law regard to this.

Tell me a time you've been to the lyceum and not seen the safety curtain.

The match's you haven't heard the annoucement doesn't mean it didn't happen as it may have not gone over the PA but via radio and then passed down.

Originally posted by jubby
Where do you base this info on

I have worked in event safety and stage management for about 10 years and know the law regard to this.

Tell me a time you've been to the lyceum and not seen the safety curtain.

The match's you haven't heard the annoucement doesn't mean it didn't happen as it may have not gone over the PA but via radio and then passed down.


base this info on working event safety for 2 years.



cant comment on the lyceum, but having worked in numerous football grounds.......... including burnley, huddersfield, bramall lane. hillsborough, old trafford, common wealth ground, millenium stadium, hampden park, ibrox, easter road and a few more grounds.......... that this is not the case

Well our highly "secret" code for a fire at our work goes as follows

"This is a staff announcement
Mr Alert is in the bar"

thing is, everyone including customers knows this is the fire alarm proceedure allowing staff to leave the building first... mwah ha haaaaaaaaaa :D and the last time we had a fire the caller at the time (wasnt me) said "Oooo there's a fire lets get out" Mmmmm professional :D

although last time I did a fire drill I said
"This is a staff announcement
Mr Alert is in the bar..........

.......and I wish I was with him" (queen of originality :) )

as a student nurse in london in the late 80's, we often went into central london for some pop and used to get the last tube back. At the station (cant remember which! ...old age...) there was an announcer who spoke in a very thick jamaican accent, and would say " this eeees the laaarst train two weeeembelleeeeedon" (sorry, im not much good at typing accents!!) followed by "pleeeeease mind de gap" at which point we would fall about in drunken hysteria..........

kinda loses the humour in written word, but hey ho, made us laugh.

sue:D

Originally posted by Robbie_Lovin
base this info on working event safety for 2 years.



cant comment on the lyceum, but having worked in numerous football grounds.......... including burnley, huddersfield, bramall lane. hillsborough, old trafford, common wealth ground, millenium stadium, hampden park, ibrox, easter road and a few more grounds.......... that this is not the case

At what level in event safety have you worked as it is a legal requirment to go on standby at least once. This does not have to include all stewards, but at least search and eject and the police. Plus the safety manager who would be an employee of the ground.

Like I said doesn't have to come over the tannoy.

In every match I have worked including football, rugby and hockey this has been done.

about a 1000 matches

Originally posted by jubby
At what level in event safety have you worked as it is a legal requirment to go on standby at least once. This does not have to include all stewards, but at least search and eject and the police. Plus the safety manager who would be an employee of the ground.

Like I said doesn't have to come over the tannoy.

In every match I have worked including football, rugby and hockey this has been done.

about a 1000 matches


supervising........... search and eject, general steward, in radio office.......... not done quite a 1000 mathces, but id say around 150 at least

Originally posted by owdlad
The funniest I ever heard was from a police patrol car at the traffic lights at the bottom of Prince of Wales Rd, after seeing a learner driver stall the engine several times when bang in the middle of a right turn, and the traffic snarling up all around her, the officer came on his loud speaker from the car to tell her "dont worry NO ONE is going to get angry with you" and just put it into gear and pull away slowly. He repeated this several times and still with no sucess she did it again upon which the immortal message came over "**** me she's done it again", at least it made the day of a lot of angry motorists.
owdlad.

I absolutely loved that one, owdlad! Struck a chord with me!!

Mr Brown from Piccadilly is a bomb warning from the IRA.

Anyone who has flown into a middle or far eastern Muslim country may be familiar with this cheery PA announcement after landing as the plane taxis to the terminal building

"....we hope you enjoy your stay in our country and would like to remind you that possession of drugs in (name of country) is punishable by death"

All it needs at the end is "Have a nice day"

Originally posted by pitsmoorlad
That's strange, the same Mr Meadows kept getting announced at Hillsborough. Obviously a fan of both teams and so not from Sheffield.
Mr Meadows was the Police Officer in charge of match day safety - now retired. I can't remember his full name / rank for the life of me.

Back in the days of Pulse and Vogue there call was 'Mr Rockerfella on the ...........' It was used by the DJ to tell the bouncers that there was a fight goin on.

We got wize to this n used to mock scrap until we'd hear the call then do some crazy dancin while the silver backs wandered around lookin for the fight.

How we used to laugh.

Then there's the one that's frequently used at Brammall Lane several times at each home match. It goes something like " would all the supporters please turn and face the pitch".
Sorry if I've lowered the tone but I couldn't resist it.

this is your captin speaking..we have landed saftley in alicanti,we hope you enjoyed your flight,will all disabled passengers [please remain seated...........can't belive he said that but he did:)

the best plane announcment was passed onto me from a friend,who after a really bad landing said that the chief steward came on the tannoy and said that "we will shortly beginning off loading after Captain Kangaroo has bounded up to the terminal"

and another was in the USA where the steward was stood in the doorway waiting for some comments after a bad landing and no one said a word until the last old lady was passing and she whispered to him "young man did we land or were we shot down"

Originally posted by kirky
this is your captin speaking..we have landed saftley in alicanti,we hope you enjoyed your flight,will all disabled passengers [please remain seated...........can't belive he said that but he did:)

You seem to think that to be disabled you must not be able to stand

Originally posted by LL200
Going off topic slightly (ok, going completely off topic) but does anyone else find the current BT adverts ridiculous where they promise to -try- and keep to any appointments they make.

Oh. Thanks.

That's all part of the new customer promise they have launched :) there are 3 parts, that being one of them.

Also going off topic slightly (sorry!), what about favourite Sheff signs, as well as PA announcements?
Can remember the ones in the first two door buses (late 1960s?) where there was a sign downstairs between the two doors that said "No standing in this front part" - never really thought there was anything special about this until boyfriend (not from Sheffield) pointed out what a lovely Sheffield expression this was - as a bus enthusiast he'd never seen anything like it anywhere else. (He also loved the Sheffield bus stops which used to tell you what buses didn't stop there rather than which ones did - again a Sheffield speciality. There was a lovely collection of them along Staniforth Road)

I was involved in the evacuation of the Leadmill a couple of times in the late eighties. Thye used to put a very scratchy version of 'Scotland the Brave' on. Certainly brought the dance floor to a halt pretty sharpish!

Originally posted by Vanbast
I was involved in the evacuation of the Leadmill a couple of times in the late eighties. Thye used to put a very scratchy version of 'Scotland the Brave' on. Certainly brought the dance floor to a halt pretty sharpish!

The good Roxy used to have Teddy Bears Picnic, when I worked there. Never was used but I'm sure it would have had the effect of stopping the dancing except for the very ******.

Would have only been used just before an evacuation, it gave the single for the bar staff to stop serving, and to lock their tills.

On the subject of signs, I was in Sheffield a few weeks ago and saw a most welcoming hand-written sign pinned to the door of what I assume must have been a night club of some sort. It was on a road running off Division Street opposite that retro clothing shop.

It read:

No Football Colours
No Hats
No Tracksuits
No Henri Lloyd
No Stone Island
No Burberry
Random Drug Searches May Be Taken On The Door
Proff (sic) Of ID May Be Required
Warning Strobe Light
Thanks

Sounds like a great place to spend a quiet evening, don't you think? :)