Where can I find out which areas of Sheffield were damaged during WWII?
My grandad only mentioned going thru the city centre as a courier and seeing the a mass of rubble...not being from Sheffield he wouldn't be able to be specific.

mod:just a note to say that I later edited to topic title to suit the extremely useful content being submitted by users

Moon

Ooh you got me going here.
I was actually looking on a web site that pin pointed every bomb dropped in Sheffield during world war two and I just can't remember the site.
I know its not much use to you but if I remember it i will post it on here.

http://www.chrishobbs.com/index.htm

May be of use to you Moon:thumbsup:

There is a book entitled 'It's A Bit Lively Outside' by Joyce Holliday which contains a map of where the bombs landed in Sheffield.

The book was published in 1987 by yorkshire art circus in castleford.

If you can get a copy you will find it's a good read illustrated with pictures of the bomb damage and the living conditions of the time.


Hope this helps you.


Happy days!

Hi,

Try this site -it's a photo archive of Sheffield, but U can search by
Place name/ Street ect.

www.picturesheffield.com


There's loads of Photo's showing what damage was done to Sheff buildings in the 'Blitz.'

Think u should find it helpful!

city centre (especially "marples" building on fitzalan sq got a lot of damage in the blitz. there was very little left of the marples, and many died.

My gran told me the story of walking past on the morning after the blitz, and seeing the dead body of a young man being carried out of the ruins.

she said that there was not a mark on the poor bloke, (the shock wave must have "done-for" him) he looked as if he was merely sleeping. she said that he was like a greek god; so handsome. his memory stuck in her mind for the rest of her life, she was deeply affected by it.

My ex fiance's mother also described the scenes of destruction she saw, as she ran, in an hysterical state, as a 12 year old girl, through the streets of Sheffield the day after the blitz, frantically searching for her brother. they were all convinced that he was dead, as he did not return home from work that evening as expected who had taken shelter under the arches (near where ponds forge is now) he had planned to shelter in The Marples, but ,thank god, he didnt get that far. He was safe. Had he reached The Marples, as he had planned, he'd surely have been killed.

PT

intresting thread. You often drive past places that look like they are not quite right in the street. e.g. on greystones road amongst all the older houses there are patches of 4 modern detached houses in a row, always wondered if this was bomb damaged and left as open land for a while.

Somewhere in Sheffield, I forget where, is a Pub with the map of Sheffield bomb strikes on the wall. It might be the Cobden View, not sure....

anyone.

Originally posted by Phanerothyme
Somewhere in Sheffield, I forget where, is a Pub with the map of Sheffield bomb strikes on the wall. It might be the Cobden View, not sure....

anyone.

I have a 1946 copy of the map, from the book "Sheffield at War" printed by Sheffield Newspapers.

Wouldn't the Sheffield Archives know, on Shoreham St?

I'm sure I saw a book in Rare and racy on Devonshire street about the blitz. If you look at the city hall (when it re-opens) you can see little squares in the stonework all around the front. I am told these are parts that were hit by shrapnel when a bomb landed in Barkers pool.

If you walk under the Wicker Arches you can see where a bomb is supposed to have hit but failed to explode. (left hand arch as you head out of city)

There is a general map in the book Sheffield Blitz by Paul License (Star Publications). It is only a general map of the Sheffield area and as the author states, is incomplete.

The censorship/restrictions that were imposed at the time meant that the press coverage was patchy to say the least. Still, the map does give an indication of the distribution of the bombing but no estimate of the actual damage caused. The bombs dropped by the Luftwaffe varied immensely in their size and destructive capacity.

While we are on the subject of bomb damage, does anyone know anything about a train crash that occured at Beighton during the war I can remember my Mother talking about it but I can't think of the details.

Hi

Not so much a bomb related incident I'm afraid by the account of that is on the following site

http://www.chrishobbs.com/beightonraildisaster1942.htm.

It looks has though the pattern of events leading up to the accident will never be known.

Was it Sheffield's worst ever rail disaster?

hi
my dad said that the germans were told to follow the river to get the steelworks, their start point was the wicker arches. they saw the shine of the tramlines at the wicker thought it was the river and went the wrong way and followed the tramlines up high st and on the moor, dropping bombs all the way. thus marples getting a direct hit.
my dad worked at the side of the river don in the steel works. he was working nights and said the doors were locked and no one was allowed out. he had two children at home, so climbed out of the window waded across the don and came thro sheffield in the middle of the blidtz. c & a was on fire and so was walshs. i have a photo of myelf and sister that was found in the basement of the photographers next door to marples in fitzallen square. my mom had left it ther to be processed and it survived the lot.

hazel

That's an amazing story Hazel. :thumbsup:

i lived onthe arbourthorne at the time and was about 4.
i can remember standing in the back garden and watching the "bonfires" down town. bits of metal were falling around us which i was told was shrapnel. my dad took us in but i've never forgotten. i think he pointed out the planes in the sky but don't know if this was fac or not.
hazel

I have to agree - that is a wonderful account Hazel

Thank you for sharing it...and others too. We are nowbeginning to loose the people who could give us first hand accounts. Likemy grandad *sniff* He was a courier during WWII and that is when he told me about riding thru the town centre after a bombing raid.

He said they filled in the air raid shelters with people still inside because they didn't have time to get them out.

Where any of the housing estates hit? Or houses near the centre?

Moon

hi
a bomb landed in the middle of arbourthore rd. no houses damaged just a big hole in the middle of the rd , and another one landed in the field across our back garden, i think where errington estate is now. we were all evacuated into arbourthorne school where we all sat around on school chairs. all i can remember is that i had my wellies on the wrong feet. i don't know for how long we would have stayed there cos an aunt of ours took us in. i think they were afraid of unexploded bombs. they say one landed in myrcle rd and a car fell in the hole and all the kids in the district went to have a look.
my sister had to go to school in someone's house as her school st vincents in solley st was bombed.and i didn't start til later.
my jouney to st vincents school took me thru all the bombed areasin town. there was walshes gone (hughs now) bombed area where c and a' s is. top of angel st was flattened. the other end of campo lane going down to west bar was a bombed building i used to play in. it had a balcony round and i think it was either a synygoge or a theatre. solly st was a mas of bombed areas and only half my school was there. hazel

Hazel you an absolute star!!!

You should get all this written down you know..I am sure you have more information that is useful to people! You could have a book published :D

Moon

I was told by an old bloke I fixed a computer for, that him and his mates were the first at the scene when a German plane crashed on the Pit Field, just off Mansfield Road (behind the fire station)

as i went to school i crossed the flattened area that led to the back of the cathedral from the top of angel st. there were fenced circles round holes in the ground and we used to drop stones down and count until we heard water, i presume around there under the buidings are still the wells. my dad said they could not get the bodies out of marples so put down quick lime and built on top.
my aunt was bombed out of her home and relocated in the back half of a house in granville rd that had had the front destoyed, we had to pick our way thro the debris to get to her rooms. in the garden was a big sundial. i wonder if that is still there. thanks for listening to me.
hazel

This is why the Forum is so great - fascinating first hand accounts of everyday lives that are accessible to all, not stuck in the dusty archives of a Museum.

I'm enjoying your posts Hazel. Thanks :thumbsup:

Hazel, please keep on with your writings.
I think they are so valuable to all of us who were born after the war, and have only heard of the things that went on in Sheffield at that time. many thanks for sharing your experiences with us.

hi
as the war went on there was a great shortage of clothes and neighbours used to bring an old coat to my mom who made it into a siren suit for a child these were an all in one garment supposed to be worn in the airraid for quick dressing. i can remember being zipped into mine and the zip catching me. funny the lasting impressions, the zip and the wellies.
all i had really known of life was that there was a war and i couldn't imagine life without it when they said u would be able to buy sweets in a shop i could not believe it. i had seen the machines that dispensed chocolate but never knew anything came out of them. i could remember eating pink cotton wool ( candyfloss) but thought it was a dream, i was 15yrs before sweet ration stopped. perhaps that is why i like them so much now. i think i am getting off thethread of war damage now byee

Don't you dare stop now Hazel ;):nono: :bigsmile:

Originally posted by Tony
Don't you dare stop now Hazel ;):nono: :bigsmile:

I agree with you Tony. Hazel this is fascinating.

hi
all the young boys at school had in their pockets what i think were brass cartridge cases which were given to them presumably by older brothers. we had an incendry bomb which we found and it lived under our hall table for years, never did find out whether it was unexploded or not. just took it for granted. was probably thrown out in a move.
i was lucky in that my dad was a fireman in the steel works, which was an essential job as steel was needed for ammunitions. but he was afraid he would be thought a coward .and ran away twice to join up. once in the airforce and once in the amy, my mom said he lasted a fortnight before he was found out and sent back to sheffield so he had to be content to be a night warden.
all our metal railings and gates in front off the houses in arbourthorne rd were cut down and collected to be melted down for the war, this inhibited me in my walking on walls routine as the stubbs of metaal hurt my feet
it's all a worms eye veiw.
some girls at school fathers used to come home with presents for them, but some never came home at all.

Hazel
if you look around churches etc there are still a lot of them with only the iron subs sticking out of the stone work.

hi moon maiden and others thanks for your replies
what was a courier, was it a telegram boy on his bike.
that brought the dreaded news that someone was missing.
hazel

Hi Hazel

I know he rode a harley davidson which I was jealous of when he told me. I think he did take messages round and it is possible he did the telegraph thing, althought it wasn't something he mentioned specifically.

My nan went to work in a hospital in Halifax. She said they kept Italian Prisoners of war in one of the wards. She didn't understand them but they would lear and shout things at her in Italian and offer her cigarettes to come and talk to them.

Thanks for these Hazel!!

Moon

hi

not sure whether i am in the right thread, but unsure on starting new.
so continuing with the theme of " what my dad said "
he came thro town in the blitz and saw a couple leaning in the doorway of C & A quite dead. but untouched it was also said that a man ran along the roof of walshes, which was in flames, without a head on! not sure whether possible but just quoting.

when i was first went to school, u could not attend if u did not have your gas mask. this was hung round your neckand kept in a cardboard box at least mine was cardboard, if u were better off u had a canvas one. my brother who was a baby at the time was supposed to be put entirely inside what looked to be a spaceship. he screamed on sight of it so my mom said if we were going to go, we would all go together, so she stopped going to the air raid shelter which was at the bottom of the garden and usually full of water, and we all stayed in bed, all in the same one when the sirens went and the fire warden banged on our front door.

after school we stayed for teas--- one and a half old pennies, and then for play centtre , cos a lot of the moms worked in the steelworks, the days seemed endless cos i think we had double summer time or 2 hrs change instead of one.
bye

My father [deceased] used to tell me of how he and a group of young pals were amongst the first to find a crashed German aircraft on Concord Park [Woolley Woods, Wincobank side of park]. Apparently, the pilot had perished.
My Grandmother used to tell a tale of how, early one Sunday morning, she heard what she thought was the sound of a low-flying, damaged aircraft making its juddery way down Fife Street in Wincobank. As she sat up in bed she said a prayer for the safety of what she thought was "one of our lads". Minutes later there was a terrible explosion as the aircraft hit a hillside in nearby Blackburn [Rotherham]. It was with a mixture of relief and anger that she later discovered the true origin of the low-flying, droning aircraft. It was a lethal German flying bomb, or "Doodlebug". Luckily, it didn't touch either row of houses on Fife Street or harm anyone in Rotherham.

I hope people don't mind but I thought considering the fantastic submissions we are getting on this thread - that it deserves a better title more suitable for it's content!

Moon

Just remembered an almost certainly untrue horror story about Sheffield at war that circulated in the 70's and early 80's. The macabre story has it that an injured German pilot was hurled into a blast furnace by enraged steelworkers. In some versions, it is claimed that female workers connected to the cutlery industry [the legendary, "Buffing Women"] committed the atrocity. My Grandfather and Father both worked in the steel industry, as a roll turner and a fitter respectively, and they considered the tale ludicrous. My Father always insisted that only ONE German plane crashed in Sheffield, and it was the one on Concord Park I mentioned in my previous posting. However, I have met people who do believe the tale, which resurfaces every now and then. I sincerely hope that it is merely an "urban myth". It is more likely to be the fragments of a tale whispered by Germans about the fate of some poor Allied Airman, as it is on record that Allied pilots WERE on occasion handed over to the populace. Makes one shudder does it not?

hi
what an experience for your dad as a boy and of course it follows thro to you and prob to your children. i have told my children and my son in oz wants me to tell his daughter and so on.

i have never heard the one about the buffer girls, and i would hate to think that it was true. mind u they were pretty fierce.

as children we used to go up to lodgemoor and wymingbrook, and roam about looking for bilberrriees. we passed the prison of war camp on the way and often saw the prisoners of war wandering around on the crags. can't put a date to this, but they must of been allowed out. i was frightened to death of them and kept a safe distance i suppose because of the horror stories i had heard, but they never did us any harm

I must make it clear that I personally believe the German pilot tale to be untrue, or as I previously suggested, actually something that MAY have happened to some poor RAF lad at the hands of Germans. It is, however, part of Sheffield post-war folklore.
Re Axis POWs in Sheffield; my Grandparents used to tell of Italians put to work in the Wincobank area. Apparently, my Grandfather [Charles Owen] got rather hot under the collar when they whistled lustfully at local women, including my then youthful and sultry Grandma.
Another tale passed on from my Grandfather is of Sheffield POWs of the Japanese. My Grandfather was too old to be conscripted in WW2, and worked as a Roll Turner for Hadfields [making the bombs that enabled the RAF to defeat Hitler, and doubling as an Air-Raid Warden]. However, a younger pal of his served in the Royal Engineers [I think], and was unfortunate enough to become a prisoner of the Japanese. Quite obviously, he and his pals suffered appalling privations that we cannot imagine, but there were brief moments of hilarity too, according to Grandad's pal. The young man had been taken to Japan alongside other young Sheffield men to work [like slaves, we must remember...] on building Japanese military ships. Apparently, the Sheffield lads would deliberately [and very bravely] misinterpret instructions bellowed at them by their captors.For example, instead of making four portholes, they would make eight etc. My Grandad's pal said that after weeks of this [and we must remember that they would have suffered beatings for these "errors"] the Japanese Officer in charge became so beside himself with anger and frustration that he assaulted HIMSELF, smashing his stick in the process on his own skull!

these are some of my sisters memories,

going down the slide into the shelters under arbourthorne central playing fields. the older children went down steps, teacher/catcher top and bottomm. the entrance was covered by big trap doors. i wonder if the shelter is stiill there.

static water tanks which were in the middle of housing estates, taking over most of someones garden, ready for use when the fires came and the mainspipes were unusable. these were big round tanks full of water.

the morning bus making sudden and interesting detours thru the estate as this 5 yr old made her way to school after a raid and the sound that glass and brick particles made as u crunched your way thru town centre on these mornings.

sitting on benches in the half dark of the crtpt under st vincents church singing the 1st ww songs.

the landmine bump on the corner of arbourthorne rd. the pavement there had a funny bump and we made a point of jumping on it to show we weren't afraid. it had alresdy been defused by a sailor.

begging strips of paper from the printers at the back of the telegragh and star building. the shortage of paper meant these 1 inch strips were very precious ot us children.

Timo, you are right about POWs being put to work...

The council housing estate where I lived, for a time, in Stocksbridge, was part-built by italian POWs. (as I understand it from the tales my elderly neighbours told me)

It could even have been the Lodge Moor or High Green contingent that were the workers there.

PT

Hi Plaintalker. Yes, the "Ities" my grandparents used to call the poor unfortunates. You are probably right re Lodgemoor too.Funny how these tales come back to us, isn't it? With hindsight, I wish I'd recorded my grandparents talking about the war years as I sat listening to their tales as a Wincobank schoolboy in the 1960's and 70's. It seemed as if they were talking about events in the very, very distant past. I reflect that the war ended a mere 15 years before I was born in 1961, so for them it must have seemed fairly recent.
One thing my Grandma used to tell me [which if made public could still ruffle a few feathers] was the names of Wincobank people who were known to dabble in "the black market", i.e, pay for extra groceries etc whilst the rest were on strict rations. The list was short, but my Gran had a very long memory...

Timo, my biggest regret when my grandpa died, nine years ago was that I had planned, and planned to get a tape-recorder, and record his memories, so that I could get them written down.

Sadly, my grandpa died, before I could do so.

I have some memories of his tales of his youth, like the one about my grandmother, standing him up on a date, (when they were courting) because a "better" option (a bloke with a motor car) had arrived and she and her friends had chosen to go with him, instead. Or the time that my grandpa paid for my grandmother to have a Permanent Wave (perm) done at the hairdressers, and my gran opted to have a "Marcel Wave" done instead (not permanent!) and she pocketed the difference. She would not have been caught out, had it not been for the rain, that evening, which washed the "set" out of her bang-straight hair!

I am so sad that the stories weren't written down, before he died:- these are histories that are now lost, forever.

And yes, my grandparents called the Italian POWs "eyeties" as well. (in these days of being non-descriminmatory it would not be anything like acceptable!)

I have an honorary uncle who is Polish, and he was, if I recall my childhood "overhearings" correctly, that he was conscripted as a youth by the germans, as a soldier or airman, and, after being captured, was held as a POW. He settled here, rather than be repatriated, and married my honorary aunt.

PT

Plain talker, another lovely posting from your good self. Yes, if only we'd done what we planned re tape recorders, eh? Never mind, memories do come back [albeit second-hand], it just takes something to "jog" them doesn't it? Hence the beauty of this forum, which , incidentally is getting addictive in my case. I should be on my way to work now...

..
Hazel, About the telegram boy. He came on his little byke, wore a little telegrams boy hat (quite distinctive) everyone dreaded when they saw him. He came to my mothers house with the very sad message that my brother had been killed in
Italy in 1994. It was a very sad time for our family
Regards Veral

l think attercliffe and darnall copped as much damage as anyone in sheffield it being more of an industrial area.l still remember those wailing air-raid sirens,they sent shivers through you and even today when l hear them they still stand my hair on end( the little l have left). during the war we lived in Basford drive in Attercliffe cum Darnall at least part of the time as our house got a direct hit ,luckily my family was in the public shelters down the road. a couple of days later my father and his friend who were both air-raid wardens making sure there were no lights showing to give the bombers a sighting and to help anyone who needed it,were patroling the streets and only my father returned his friend was hit by shrapnel and was killed instantly. Shortly after this my sister and l was evacuated to get us out of the way.We returned a couple of years before V E daystill with our gas masks and ration books. The only meat we could buy was horse meat and if we wanted to spend our sweet coupons we had to queue for hours to get boiled sweets. l remember when l saw my first banana just after the war, l was in the play ground at Whitby road school and one of the kids had one that his returned service man brother had brought back with him,and he stood there and peeled it in front of all the kids and just as slowly ate it, however he was generous enough to share the peel out.
Ah those were the days. Hopefully they will never return.

hi vera
yes, they were the telegram boys i meant. riding a pushbike. and all the kids following to see who got the dreaded official letter. i thnk i remember they were orange coloured?
i think one arrived first saying they were missing and then one with the terrible news. how awful it must have been for you and your family, especially your mother. waiting must have been a nightmare and to have it confirmed even worse. must have been near the end of the war too.

i was very lucky in that my dad was in a reserved occupation and my uncles all came back safe, except one was badly shellshocked.
the others were army ( desert rat) and navy. the army one went in at 17yrs ( lied about his age) and grandma never saw him for 8 yrs. he went away a boy and came back a man.

My gran lived on the corner of Dryden Road and Kyle Crescent and told me about a land mine on Southey Hill. Apparently this is a bomb dropped via a parachute
Many of the residents rushed towards it thinking it was a German paratrooper and were unfortunately blown to smithereens.
My gran only suffered broken windows 'and soot from t'chimney up to ahr' knees'

Hi My granmothers house was bombed during the war next to the Star cinema on Ecclesall rd. They were then rehoused a few doors up.

Some time ago I wrote a short story similar to the remininscences posted here on this forum.

At the end of the story I added a footnote which I have posted here thinking the contributors would be interested.


* Footnote to the 'Sheltered Upbringing' Story. German Bombers were dropping 3,000 tons of bombs per day on the UK almost entirely on our industrial centres and their populaces. The Doodlebugs were very crude and Hitler replaced them with the V1 and V2 rockets which were far more lethal, 46' long and weighing 13 tons. The rocket base at Peenemunde' on the coast of Belgium were instructed to increase their production of flying bombs to 900 per month. Hitler later issued orders for the production of the newer and bigger 24 ton, V4 these were a terrifying addition to their capabilities and intended to bombard us at a rate of 30 per day.

All the rocket production at Peenemunde was carried out under the direction of the 27 year old rocket scientist, Werner Von Braun. After the war he joined the American moon rocket team and was subsequently given a medal for his achievements in the USA, conveniently forgetting his enthusiastic wartime efforts in trying to annihilate us.

The rocket production came to a end when Dr Barnes Wallis developed the Ten Ton Bomb which was made in Sheffield especially for the job. This 13 foot long bomb could penetrate the deepest underground concrete rocket silages that had been built by slave labour at Peenemunde for the V4. American Flying Fortresses carried the bombs and wiped out the rocket installations at Peenemunde. Those American aircrews really did save our lives here in Sheffield as these rockets were able to carry all sorts of germ warfare, it was even envisaged by Hitler to arm them with the first nuclear heads that other teams of scientists were racing to develop.

Happy Days???

I was a kid of nine in 1940 out in the street with me mam, who was talking to a friend. Just then an aircraft flew over so low that I saw the pilot wave to us. My mother said "Oh look its a hospital plane, it has a cross on it'" I told my mother it was a Heinkel 111!! I lived on Greasborough Road at the time, and a few weeks later our house was destroyed during the second blitz on December 15th 1940.

I remember it, I was only 4 at the time, I thought we were the luckiest kids in the world because we had a bedspread with pockets in it, we used to stuff our comicics in them to read laterOriginally posted by hazel
hi
as the war went on there was a great shortage of clothes and neighbours used to bring an old coat to my mom who made it into a siren suit for a child these were an all in one garment supposed to be worn in the airraid for quick dressing. i can remember being zipped into mine and the zip catching me. funny the lasting impressions, the zip and the wellies.
all i had really known of life was that there was a war and i couldn't imagine life without it when they said u would be able to buy sweets in a shop i could not believe it. i had seen the machines that dispensed chocolate but never knew anything came out of them. i could remember eating pink cotton wool ( candyfloss) but thought it was a dream, i was 15yrs before sweet ration stopped. perhaps that is why i like them so much now. i think i am getting off thethread of war damage now byee

I was born in 1937. I well remember the first Blitz, in the shelter, at 25 Raleigh Rd with our neighbours, the Shaws and hearing the bombs fall. The theory was that the bombers mistook the reflections from greenhouses in Cat
Lane Woods for factories. A 5 hundred pounder fell in our front garden and failed to explode. If it had, I wouldn't be here now. The gas and water were cut off and we were evacuated to a church hall at Heeley Green. A number of houses were hit and many killed. My dad was a compositor on the Telegraph
and stepped over several bodies on Romney Rd when he had to go early the next day to get the paper out. The next Blitz, old neighbours from Hollythorpe Rd, where I was born, the Baldwins, called in their car and we drove up onto the moors. We could see the glare from the city. My dad was called up when I was 4 and died on active service in 1945. For me nothing changed but for my mother (she is still alive) it was a terrible blow. We went to live with her mother at Sheffield Lane Top. Lots of memories left.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/ww2/Search?searchstring=sheffield
and
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/ww2/Search?searchstring=dinnington
and
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/ww2/Search?searchstring=rotherham&dosearch.x=25&dosearch.y=6

Happy viewing folks!

Does anyone recall the telescope set up in
Barkers Pool after the war to view the shrapnel
damage on Vulcan's leg (on the Town Hall)? I think
it cost 6d a view.

Originally posted by dowkeruk
[B]I was born in 1937. I well remember the first Blitz, in the shelter, at 25 Raleigh Rd with our neighbours, the Shaws and hearing the bombs fall. The theory was that the bombers mistook the reflections from greenhouses in Cat
to go early the next day to get the paper out. The next Blitz, old neighbours from Hollythorpe Rd, where I was born, the Baldwins, called in their car and we drove up onto the moors. We could see the glare from the cLane Woods for factories. A 5 hundred pounder fell in our front garden and failed to explode. If it had,
I
Hi there Dowkeruk

Enjoyed sharing your memories there. Can relate to all that but we lived in a different district to you.I think we all was in the same boat so to speak We lived close to where the Army Barracks were, think it's Manor Park now We could here the men shouting guns firing.Brr!! My brother was killed in action in1944 in Italy must have been a sad time for our parents eh!
I think we turned out okay for the experience don't you
Regards Vera.

Hello Vera
There must be many people, like us and our parents, who were touched strongly by the war but who just got on normally with their lives. It's only recently that I have realised how odd my life was then. Of course, at the time, it seemed normal, and in many ways it was, but, for example, I never had many presents and no proper holidays. If I wanted anything, at some point the words 'Before the War' would be sure to arise. This was a fabled time when there were cream cakes, soap with faces, escalators that worked, toys in Wilson and Gumperts. The list of items was endless and unobtainable.

My mother and I did spend some time in the places my father was sent to for training like Cardiff and Northampton and each has its memories. I had no brothers or sisters, and neither did my mother, but there were many Great Aunts and Uncles. Uncle Bert was signalman at Grindleford and we went there for a change, or to escape the air raids. The signal box and railway cottage are still there. I remember the soldiers guarding Totley tunnel. Uncle Harry had a grocers on The Common at Ecclesfield (where my mother's family originates) and we spent time there with its gas lights popping and the accumulator run wireless.

There were advantages to growing up then. Big Eggo and Corky the Cat were going strong and I could go more or less where I liked in safety. Walking to Carfield school, to the library, to Meersbrook park; messing about at Heeley Green on the Docker and playing in the jennels, watching the trains from
Havelock bridge, exploring Cat Lane woods with its pig sty (how it stank!)and bluebells. I ranged far and wide. The only limits were being in for meals. It was common to hear mothers calling their children in by shouting their name, even if they couldn't be seen. That's a sound, like that of the Rag and Bone man, that's gone.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by dowkeruk
[B]Hello Vera
There must be many people, like us and our parents, who were touched strongly by the war but who just got on normally with their lives. It's only recently that I have realised how odd my life was then. Of course, at the time, it seemed normal, and in many ways it was, but, for example, I never had many presents and no proper holidays. If I wanted anything, at some point the words 'Before the War' wguarding Totley tunnel. Uncle Harry had a grocers on The Common at Ecclesfield (where my mother's family originates) and we spent time there with its gas lights popping and the accumulator run wireless.


Hi Dowkeruk
Another interesting letter thank you. We have done some great reminising on here don't know if you saw them. It's a different ball game on the streets nowadays,yep come to think of it we used to play ball on the streets and were perfectly safe doing so. Safety was never an issue in those days, always had plenty of little games to play, hop-scotch, tiggy , skipping ropes, etc these little things used to amuse us for hours. Marbles, .....inside we had crayoning in , cut out dolls to dress cig cards remember them, think the boys had dinky cars if they were lucky didn't have a boy in the family . Oh yes then learn to knit. Luxury was the comics which were handed down and exchanged. Beano, Comic Cuts,The list goes on but we didn't come to any harm a good family get together always was the thing with us. Listening to the old Echoe Radio.
Yes I used to love to go Grindleford too but can't remember too much about it
Anyway happy times eh! Dowkeruk
Regards Vera.

Originally posted by Don_Kiddick
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/ww2/Search?searchstring=sheffield
and
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/ww2/Search?searchstring=dinnington
and
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/ww2/Search?searchstring=rotherham&dosearch.x=25&dosearch.y=6

Happy viewing folks!

Hi Don Kiddick
Just started to read the great sites you have posted. Finding them very interesting thanks for sharing them with us. Have to find time to read through them all

Regards Vera.

To MoonMaiden. I was 6 years old when Adolf Hitler sent his 'planes over Sheffield to get me.(I still take it personal).
We were living on Fox St at the time, thats in Pitsmoor, and when the sirens went, I remember, we all retired to the Anderson Shelter at the top of the garden. It was getting dark and I dont recall any loud bangs or anything, only dull thuds in the distance, feeling the vibration, the smell of the candles in the shelter, condensation on the shelter sides, my aunt Dolly having hysterics, and best of all a glimpse outside and seeing,what I thought at the time, machine gun bullets tracing across the nightsky. Actually the 'bullets' were sparks from burning houses. The major damage locally seemed to be from incendiary bombs, loads of 'em. A house in Rock St was wrecked by a time bomb, and a bomb exploded on the top of Schoolboard Hill (Andover St). There were fatalities in Rock St, but I didn't hear of anymore. I'm glad I didn't.

Originally posted by Texas
[B]To MoonMaiden. I was 6 years old when Adolf Hitler sent his 'planes over Sheffield to get me.(I still take it personal).
]

Texas, Memories. I think it's remarkable how we all remember the very same things. noises smells the lot. It must really have made some impact on our young lives . I think at that time of life we as kids must have been very influenced by our parents and listened what they had to say to us. (Not like these days half of them don't want to know) I haven't met anyone yet of my vintage who says they can't remember it's like we all have it embedded in our brains. Didn't do us any harm anyway did it!
Vera

Forgive my ignorance of the Pitsmoor area, but my dad used to recall the Blitz from his child's perspective in Pitsmoor at the time.

Shrapnel swops were the daily entertainment.

There was a nunnery(?) in the area, and apparently they had an aviary ?
One morning everyone woke to the surreal welcome from dozens of exotic birds that had been freed by a badly placed bomb(were'nt they all).

Apparently an unexploded bomb nosed it's way through the cellar wall in the Bay Horse pub several months/ years after the Blitz ?

The guns on the Stannington College(or they were then,in the 1970's) fields were just as scary as the bombs, as they banged away at the attackers.

Two stories that I heard about the War - one was definitely in Sheffield, the other could have been anywhere.

A soldier was stationed in Sheffield and was told to hang up a picture in his barracks. When hammering the nail, he missed and injured his thumb. He went to the hospital and was travelling back after treatment with his arm in a sling. The lady opposite on the tram said to him, "I think you're ever so brave." and gave him sixpence.

The other story concerned a soldier arriving back in this country wanting to let his parents know that he was safe back in Blighty. He knew that sending a telegram to their house would worry them at seeing the telegram boy walking up their path and sent a telegram to the woman opposite, so she could cross over and pass on the good news.

I found this topic on a backshelf - so to speak - of the Forum. I know that it first ran for over a year (28 Aug, 2004 to 05 Oct, 2005) with some wonderful responses. But perhaps some new comers to the Forum also have some stories that may be of interest to younger members about this very dangerous, but also exciting period in Sheffield's history. I have a few but here is just one.

Shortly before the sirens sounded on the first night of the Blitz, my aunt and my cousin arrived at our house with our Christmas presents. As my aunt explained soon after their arrival, she had been gathering the gifts together for weeks and wasn't sure when she might get the opportunity to bring them.
(You will already know that the goverment actively discouraged people going out in those days, except to go to work, and especially night). She chose that particular night to come down from Norton Lees to our house in the Wicker because we hadn't had a raid or even the sirens for some time. Also my uncle, an ARP warden, thought it would be safe to travel. Well, about 10 minutes after they arrived, the sirens went and we made for the shelters.

We used the shelters belonging to Snow & Co. which were located on the corner of Stanley Street and Joiner Lane. Part of the brick wall that ran along two sides of the shelters may still be there. Sometime into the raid, the police and ARP came and said that we would have to move to another Shelter on Andrews Street. Incendiary bombs had fallen on the wood yard across the street, the firemen were having great difficult getting to the street, and finding water and they were afraid that the whole street would go up in flames.

When the command to move was given, the raid was still in full swing but I was going to be the first out of the shelter. I knew exactly where we had to go and how to get there. I had my little tin hat on - the type made from very thin sheet metal with the elastic chin strap, my Mickey-Mouse gas mask and I was raring to go.

But my mother had other ideas. She insisted that I look after my aunt and cousin. She also insisted that I place a cushion on my head for additional protection. Now even at that young age - just coming up to four - I thought that it was a stupid idea to put a cushion on my head but for once, I didn't argue.

I did use the cushion but once out of my Mother's sight, I parked it in a safe place. In all the commotion, she forgot about the cushion and I recovered it the next day.

Regards

There is a book entitled 'It's A Bit Lively Outside' by Joyce Holliday which contains a map of where the bombs landed in Sheffield.

The book was published in 1987 by yorkshire art circus in castleford.

If you can get a copy you will find it's a good read illustrated with pictures of the bomb damage and the living conditions of the time.


Hope this helps you.


Happy days!


I was in a stage play of this book and it was really good. The atmosphere it created was excellent. I would not have liked being there in reality though.

city centre (especially "marples" building on fitzalan sq got a lot of damage in the blitz. there was very little left of the marples, and many died.PT

After the war, the Marples site remained pretty much as the ARP heavy rescue teams had left it: just a big pile of rubble and debris. The City Engineers Dept.fenced it off soon after the raid, but kept a close eye on it.

It was like that for approximately ten years after the war before the site was cleared. It was briefly used as a car park before construction of the present Marples building began. The pub part opened in the spring of 1959.

In the post war years, many wrecked buildings were just left and became a Mecca for adventurous kids to explore. Places like the Old King's Head Hotel on Change Alley, St James Church at the top of Townhead Street, the ruins of Stephensons Restaurant, and so on.

Of all the things that kids got up to, I never heard of anyone going near the Marples site. It was always considered to be something special: almost hallowed ground.

Falls

During the Blitz the humor never went away.
I remember seeing a photo of a shop that had its front window blown out. A sign was posted that said " More open than usual".
I don't remember whether this was in Sheffield or somewhere else

Sorry for the delay, I'm catching up after being away. I have a notebook kept by my aunt who lived at Nether Green during the war. In it she kept a day by day account of the year of the blitz, when planes went over, when the sirens went, when and where bombs were dropped etc. its just a school exercise book with probably just a line or two per day but may be of interest. I would be happy to share it with anyone who is interested.

My late mam used to talk about Marples being hit. As far as I recall she said that there was some kind of dance or other function going on when it got hit.
I'm sure that she said that there were almost 80+ killed. She did say also that for years after the war people used to put wreaths/flowers into the crater.
My Auntie used to have an A3 sized book entitled ''Sheffield at War''. The page that fascinated me was a pull-out page that had a black spot on it for every known bomb that fell on Sheffield. I tested its validity for the Woodseats area, Havercroft Road/Woodseats Road etc. and is was bang on.

Everyone who I asked when I was a kid said that the bombing went from Meadowhead to the Wicker on one night, and then from the Wicker onwards on another night.

My late mam used to talk about Marples being hit. As far as I recall she said that there was some kind of dance or other function going on when it got hit.
I'm sure that she said that there were almost 80+ killed. She did say also that for years after the war people used to put wreaths/flowers into the crater.
My Auntie used to have an A3 sized book entitled ''Sheffield at War''. The page that fascinated me was a pull-out page that had a black spot on it for every known bomb that fell on Sheffield. I tested its validity for the Woodseats area, Havercroft Road/Woodseats Road etc. and is was bang on.

Everyone who I asked when I was a kid said that the bombing went from Meadowhead to the Wicker on one night, and then from the Wicker onwards on another night.


The story I heard was that the when the raid started, people were still on their way home from work and as the trams and buses were stopped at the bottom high street or in the Fitzallan Square, the ARP Wardens and Police were directing them to the nearest Shelter. This happened to be Marples and that is why the number of casualties was so high.

People did place flowers at the site from time to time. Some were hung from the fence. Before the Blitz, that particular street corner had been a place were people might meet but nobody hung around there after the raid. Occasionally, you would see an adult standing there with their head bowed or deep in thought.

If a group of kids, or even a single kid, was thought to be hanging around there too long, looking through the fence, they were told to "move on" by passers by or the police.

Yes, the pattern of bombing on the Thursday and Sunday night raids did overlap by just a few hundred yards, somewhere east of the Wicker arches.

Falls

Talking of Blitz humor, I think I've mentioned this before, but my Dad was halfway up Schoolboard Hill, and seeing what was apparently an unexploded land mine in the middle of the road, bolted up Grey St and across the rec'.
The following day (he was on an afternoon shift), he went over the Hill again and the 'bomb' turned out to be a garden roller.
He was always fond of saying that if the 'bomb' had gone off, it would've flattened everybody's lawns for miles.
I thought it quite funny.

Maybe you can stand one more story about the V1's. This happened to a Shefielder but not in Sheffield.

There used to be a works in the Wicker area called Snow &Co. They made precision surface grinding machines. Some time in late 1943 or early 1944, a service engineer from Snow's was making adjustments to one of their grinders in a factory in West London. The factory was a multi-storey concrete building, the type with floor to ceiling windows every floor and on all sides. The grinding machine was located on the top floor where there was a lot of noise.

The engineer was working with the factory's maintenance staff when he suddenly discovered that he was alone. He looked around just in time to see the last worker from the floor running for the stairs. He couldn't fathom out what was happening and then he looked out of the window.

Their he saw was what seeemed to be the front of some kind of aircraft and it was coming straight at him. As he said later: " It took me a second or two to realize what I was looking at. Then I also ran like hell for the stairs."

The V1 somehow cleared the top of the building and crashed about a mile away.

Falls

My grandpa always told me that the day Hitler bombed the Marples was the day he lost the war

My grandmother lived in a large house in Heeley and on the thursday night attack an incendiary bomb went through the roof through her bed she had just vacated to go to the tiolet finally ending in the cellar where it fizzled out. Granny got back into bed and it being a very clear full moon or thereabouts looked through the hole and could see the moon and stars which she thought were absolutely wonderful. My father fetched her and installed her in our house on Millmount Road where she related her story during the Sunday night blitz in our shelter.

My older brother and me went to a cinema in Heeley and didn't discover there was a blitz on until we got into the foyer and heard women and kids crying. A tram had stopped just after passing under the railway bridge and a carbon shrunken body was still attached to the centre vertical rail, obviously the person had had an overdose of V/A.

I've only just started following this thread. I was 9 at the time of the blitz, my Father was Head Warden for Meersbrook. We didn't have a shelter.We had to lie on the floor of the living room absolutely terrified. My Father kept sending messages to us telling us what was happening, Our front door blew off and my brother and I had to try to haul it back up .In the early hours of the morning another warden came to tell us their post had been bombed and Dad along with others were trapped,we didn't know wether they were dead or what. Later our front door was moved and my Father carried in on a door. I had to cut my Fathers trouser leg off and he told me to get boiled waterand bathe it. Although injured he was back on duty the next night. The Warden's Post had relocated to Tyzack's in Valley Rd.

Fabulous post, Im really enjoying reading everyones memories. Lots of sad times I know but its important to share things with those who werent around. I can remember playing on bombed out sites, building "houses". Please keep the posts coming.

On friday morning my elder brother and sister and me walked to town along Chesterfield road, London Rd, The Moor where a bank had been bombed and all that was left of the building was the steel girders. A policeman was wandering around the debris but on the other side. I looked down and saw a shilling then another, move a brick and a few more, when the policeman came across and asked us what were we up to. We've just found these shillings, holding out our open palm, what shillings he says, put them in your pocket and get off. We scampered of up the Moor to town and saw all the firemen and police dead on their feet, most of them with faces like a miner, some lying where they had fallen exhausted, other holding hoses with just a trickle of water but too dazed to notice. I was big for my 12 years so I grabbed hold of a hose and directed it towards a burning shop window and to my great delight saw the flames start to recede but started to feel sick when I saw the dead bodies inside. A policeman grabbed my hand and took me to a Womens Institute van where two ladies were serving tea and wads. The Germans visited us again on Sunday night but I was tucked up in bed down our deep shelter my father and older brother had built.

The church which the Warden's Post was in was at the top of Valley Road, the bomb hit the roof of the church demolishing it and then slid down onto the anderson shelter next to the church killing all the occupants a whole family. The young telegraph boy's were mentioned, They were not the only young boys on bykes.The Air Raid Wardens had runners on bykes going from post to post and to plice and Fire brigade. The one at Valley Road lived just door or two above the church . The Wardens gave him whiskey all the night of the first raid to give him the courage to keep going. Shortly after he was called up ,he was killed it seemed so unjust after he'd done all he had for Sheffield. His Mother lived in the same house all her life and allways stood on her front doorstep. Whenever I passed I thought about her brave Son whose name I have forgotten.

My late Uncle worked for Montague Burton Ltd (tailors) at the time of the Sheffield Blitz. He was their youngest manager - not yet old enough to be called up for war service. He managed the branch at the top of Angel Street, which is now occupied by Primark. In the 1960's Burton's rebuilt the site and opened their ladies branch of the company, Peter Robinson. He would tell us how he and other city centre workers had been issued with passes to get into the centre, should it be necessary to close it to the public. On the Monday morning after the Sunday night attack, a friend took him to work on his motorbike. It must have looked strange as both the friend's legs were in plaster casts. When they approached Wicker, they were stopped by the police at the arches and asked to produce a pass, which of course my uncle did. They were allowed through after being warned of the carnage awaiting them. The police never commented on the plaster casts on the legs. My uncle said it was an horrendous sight - bodies in the street, shop windows blown out, shops reduced to rubble and vehicles blown to bits, and on their sides. Broken water mains were cascading like fountains. When he reached Burton's it was a burnt out wreck, and as some members will remember, stayed that way until the early sixties when Burtons rebuilt the site. Evidently city planners had wanted Burton's to rebuild using the burnt out shell and they refused. Finally the site was completely cleared and a new building erected.

Thursday 12th December 1940: I was nine years old sitting in the Pavilion cinema, Attercliffe, when the sirens went. Some people left but most stayed, until the guns opened up, when all of us left in a panic. We were directed to a shelter on Attercliffe Common, where a big Irish cop stood at the top of the stairs giving us a running commentary on events. My older brother Eric was a boy scout in the city centre acting as a runner for the ARP and this made us very worried. The following morning we went to visit an aunt in Brightside who was living in the house we'd vacated to live in Tinsley. Directly across from her backyard a house had been hit and killed 13 people from one family. They had been to a pre Christmas party and decided to come home. If they'd stayed at the party they would have lived. Some canned goods from their pantry went through my aunt's window. The same night in Darnall, another aunt and her family were in their Anderson shelter when a bomb hit so close that the rim of the crater was touching the wall. Another family was sharing with them, as their own shelter had fllooded, that shelter was blow over the wall. The only casualty was an old man who decided he needed a cup of tea and was brewing when the bomb hit. He died.
Sunday 15, December 1940. The sirens went in the early evening,while we were sharing a game of cards in our house with a neighbor. My brother Eric said he could hear aircraft, but was shouted down because we had already been blitzed on Thursday. The bombing began right away, and we took shelter in the pantry under the stairs. We had candles in there ready for anything. We heard the first of a stick of bombs strike the tip behind the house, then another much closer, then the third, a massive explosion which blew out alll the candles
My Dad did a roll call and I didn't answer since I was in a bit of shock, but everyone was OK. Now we heard a sound of something heavy falling throughthe roof, and thought it was an unexploded bomb, prompting us to get out in a hurry. ( It turned out to be a piece of the chimney) We had to force rubble out of the way and when we got out found the house on fire. The kitchen curtains had blown into the fire place. We ran into the street, where a warden directed across to the school. The school was then hit with incendieries, and we were sent across the schoolyard to a Morrison shelter. My brother and I went first and as we were going in a piece of schrapnel hit the wall right by my head.
We remained there till the all clear went in the early morning. My brother's only concern was his brand new bicycle bought at Wiggies for christmas was probasbly destroyed. We dug it out from the rubble and found it good as new.We had a budgie in a cage which was being shared with a neighbor's canary while they were away. We heard them chirping under the rubble and found them dirty and worried but otherwise fine.
We were all sent to a church hall in Totley to stay till the council could find us a plsce. We were then housed in a room at a house in Totley, whiose owners had been forced to give up available space. This was common during the war. They didn't like it and neither did we. But we found a house back in Tinsley that wasn't damaged.
My cousin Ernie's house in Attercliffe had also been hit and was also in Totley. We wnet carolling Christmas eve, and came away with more money than I'd ever seen. At least some of it was good!

As one who was 10 years old at the time of the blitz the wonderful memories related on this post have brought memories flooding back,my Dad Worked for a firm of electrical contractors whose premises were on the corner of Devonshire St and where Broomhall St was,now Devonshire Green and during the Blitz the area was devasted, and after it was all over, soon after Dad and his colleagues reported for work!being given the job of salvaging,tools,equipment etc from the rubble.and amongst all the confusion searching what had been the living quarters on the first floor they found the family budgies cage and the bird inside still alive, a bit grubby and dusty but fit and well and chirping quite happily.I have a photograph taken at the, time highly illegal of my Dad digging amongst the rubble.
On the morning after me and a mate were comparing notes and searching for shrapnel when we found a shell, so we looked around and found a fireman and he came along had a look at the shell and said "hum"and rather gingerly picked it up(stupid boy!)and took it away,we had the sense not to touch it.
All you survivors can you remember taking your buckets kettles and similar recepticles to the stand pipes for water? our nearest pipe was about a quarter a mile away so me and my sister took it in turns.
What about school, ours was badly damaged, so a system was organised where we had classes in peoples front rooms, it was called Home Service I think

My late mam used to talk about Marples being hit. As far as I recall she said that there was some kind of dance or other function going on when it got hit.
I'm sure that she said that there were almost 80+ killed. She did say also that for years after the war people used to put wreaths/flowers into the crater.
My Auntie used to have an A3 sized book entitled ''Sheffield at War''. The page that fascinated me was a pull-out page that had a black spot on it for every known bomb that fell on Sheffield. I tested its validity for the Woodseats area, Havercroft Road/Woodseats Road etc. and is was bang on.

Everyone who I asked when I was a kid said that the bombing went from Meadowhead to the Wicker on one night, and then from the Wicker onwards on another night.

I've still got that book.

I can't remember the much about the blitz,only the the stories I was told. I was born in the middle of the the first big bombing raid on Sheffield. The night of Dec.12th 1940.My dad always used to tell the story of him being at Sheffield City General Hospital waiiting for the all clear, and looking decidedly weary,having travelled from his army base in the South to be there. He said he was so tired and nearlly asleep when a young Doctor saw him,he said the young man said to him you look like you could do with a stiff drink to which my dad agreed. Imagine his surprise when the Doctor procced to take him down to the hospital Doctors' sitting room and present him with a glass of milk.

My mother talked about a bomb dropping on the 'Rec' on Nottingham St. in Pitsmoor - she lived in the row of houses opposite and all the windows blew in while they sheltered in the cellar, but thankfully that was all.

Another story was that she would look out of their attic window and see bombs exploding down by the steelworks in Brightside, and then the following day walking through the area in daylight (she had work there), seeing all the steelworks had been missed but the houses in between had all been destroyed.

She remembers that everyone in the city had a thing about making sure they got to work the morning after an air raid - no matter that there weren't always trams or buses running, people would set off walking early enough in the morning to compensate, just to try and show that life carried on as normal.

I can't remember the much about the blitz,only the the stories I was told. I was born in the middle of the the first big bombing raid on Sheffield. The night of Dec.12th 1940.My dad always used to tell the story of him being at Sheffield City General Hospital waiiting for the all clear, and looking decidedly weary,having travelled from his army base in the South to be there. He said he was so tired and nearlly asleep when a young Doctor saw him,he said the young man said to him you look like you could do with a stiff drink to which my dad agreed. Imagine his surprise when the Doctor procced to take him down to the hospital Doctors' sitting room and present him with a glass of milk.
that was on a thursday night i believe

I was 8yrs old when Sheffield was blitzed. On the thursday night, I think was the first, we had an incendury bomb fall into our privet hedge on Hatfield house lane.My uncle was in the army and had been at Dunkirque. When he heard of the first raid he came home to see how we all were. On the second blitz, we all took shelter in my Grandma's Anderson shelter, I sat very close to my uncle, I could feel him tensing up and shaking at the sound of the aircraft, bombs and the guns. One bomb fell close to the wall of the Sheffield Lane Top working mans club. Where it landed was wet and mostly clay, the bomb went deep into the clay, exploded, not even a window was broken.

Rare and Racy bookshop on division Street had a poster on wall showing locations where all bombs dropped. Worth calling in and asking if they have copies for sale.

My folks & sister lived on beeley st., the opposite side of the st., was bombed & totally destroyed. Our house was damaged & they lived with my dads father at parson cross.
After i was born we went back to beeley st.,

My late father told me he was in the yard of the post office next to Fitzalan Square when a bomb dropped nearby and sent a piece of shrapnel richochetting around the yard where it settled in a white hot state, same as my father and his mates. Another incident was my mother nursing my older baby brother just outside the back door on the Manor Estate when she heard what she thought was a kid running a stick along some railings. My mum thought that was very irresponsible letting a child out in the evening. Turned out to be an enemy plane strafing the houses nearby on Harborough Avenue! I recall looking at the marks left by the bullet holes many years later, a bit awesome to a young boy then.

In 1939 my father was just too old to be called up so he was put in charge of fire precautions at the Telegraph building in High Street. He had a post on the roof and had a grandstand view of Walshes as it burned out, and the rest !
He had a unique escape device in the form of a 200 ft. length of rope. After his shift he would go down it hand over hand ! His 7 years in the navy must have had something to do with it. Come to think of I never saw him afraid of anything ! I wonder if that generation were a different breed.
Bob.

few videos of sheffield at war.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJeENKT7iPA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21gfZmSA-qE

I've still got that book.

I do not know about the book but I have a DVD called Sheffield at War,the Blitz.

I lived on stubbin lane firth park in 1940 and i can remember a police man coming to tell us we had to move due to a land mine on hucklow road .I dont where he got it from but in a short while a car was brought on to the pavement and my father was lifted in to it due to been ill and where taken up to a mrs ellises house on hereward road
I was later told that the mine was defused by a passing sailor home on leave but no one ever found who he was ?

I was 12 years old and went to Heeley pictures to see a Micket Rooney film when the sign came up telling us the sirens had sounded. my brother and I stayed behind and watched the film through. When we got to the Foyer women and kids were crying, I wondered what was wrong but didn't take much notice. We got as far as the bottom step when we heard this whistle screaming sound, get your heads down you daft buggers a policeman shouted, we ran like rabbits and dived under a truck parked nearby. I felt myself being lifted and realised this huge copper was carrying me to the air raid shelter under the railway arches but no sign of my brother. He it turned out had knocked himself out with the girder under the truck and the policeman never saw him, he staggered in half an hour later.

There was a tram stopped just in front of the entrance to the station and a carbonosed body was stuck to the upright rail obviously as soon as a foot touched the ground the person just roasted. There were many sights like that. The Womens Institute did a marvelous job dishing out tea and cakes to the exhausted firemen.

My late father Jim Hulley was a part time fireman in Sheffield in ww11 he was stationed at Rotherham I still have his firemans gas mask. I would like to donate it to the Sheffield Museum if it is still open

Good to see these touching stories re-surfacing.

My father told the tale of he and my grandparents being bombed out of their city-centre home on Eldon Street, (where the old Gas-lamp still stands by the car park behind Tesco.)

My grandpa carried my father (who was about three years old) all the way up to my great-grandparents' home at the very top of Arbourthorne, which must have been three miles from their home.

My dad recalled seeing the flames and the burnt-out buildings of places like the Marples as they passed by on their way.

Remember the morning after? No water, no electricity, gas, nothing. I remember standing on the corner of Fox St, Schoolboard Hill, clutching a saucepan, all the grownups with buckets and bowls, to get water from a truck that came around. I can remember looking up Fox St, all the street covered in broken slate and glass and brick. All the houses opposite ours were burnt out. Nowadays, everytime I see the fashion for covering areas of front gardens with slate, I'm reminded of that. Someone in our family had a shop, and because they had no water that morning after the bombing, they got washed in Tizer and lemonade.

My relatives grandma Fanny Hague her brother Harry Haycock and granddad Charles Hulley worked on ammunitions at Hatfields? in number 5 shop

In the census my dads family lived in Eldon Street

My grandma worked on ammunitions in the war .my mum worked for the gas board checking peoples gas meters . A doodlebug came down in mum and dads back garden but failed to explode, I think they lived at Musgrave Crescent at the time. I was born in 1946 but remember rationing .

Hello, not wanting to be nasty or anything and knowing that oral history can (and usually does) get distorted over time I seriously doubt it was a 'doodlebug' (a V1) as Sheffield was thankfully beyond their range. It was probably something equally horrific like an aerial mine. I guess that the word (doodlebug) seemed appropriate (and it was an oft used term) which was why you heard it was that.

Scary enough even so and I'm glad I am far too young to remember the war.

If you want to talk more about what it could have been PM me and i'll try and help.

Hello, not wanting to be nasty or anything and knowing that oral history can (and usually does) get distorted over time I seriously doubt it was a 'doodlebug' (a V1) as Sheffield was thankfully beyond their range. It was probably something equally horrific like an aerial mine. I guess that the word (doodlebug) seemed appropriate (and it was an oft used term) which was why you heard it was that.

Scary enough even so and I'm glad I am far too young to remember the war.

If you want to talk more about what it could have been PM me and i'll try and help.

I wish to apologise for my statement. I was unaware that a VERY small number of air launched V1's were launched that were capable of hitting Sheffield. However it is still unlikely that the weapon involved was a V1 as the only report I can find (in relation to Sheffield) is of a single raid in which Sheffield wasnt the target but which resulted in a hedge being destroyed in Beighton by one and of another crashing in the Ringinglow area. Thought I would set the record straight there.