Does anyone remeber the great old days of the lido. Even the paddling poold in millhouses park - Isn't it a great pity that the area has gone downhill... There doesn't seem to be much regeneration - The rotting pools and cheap attempt at making a play area for children.

Why can't a private company take the area on and bring back a lido/ outside pool area for all to enjoy. Given the ver increasing warmer summers and climate change - surely there are more yung adults an people wanting to enjoy the sun and bathe where once was a great complex.

Maybe one of the problems was poor management and the fact that all sheffield folk got free entry - based on this the area just went to seed. There, in my humble opinion, has to be a charge for such facilities.

What do you think..?

I remember the Lido at Millhouses park, back in the 70s when I was a lad I spent many many hours at that park playing football, cricket etc...I did'nt go to the Lido more than a couple of times though. When the weather was OK thousands used to head for Millhouses Park and Lido, it was the biggest attraction in Sheffield - in the Summer. BTW I don't remember the Lido being free ! Well Millhouses Park is only a shadow of it's former self now, but I thought there were some ongoing attempts to restore some of it's former glory, anyone know ?

Now I've logged in that Guest was me, I also met my wife in Millhouses Park....Summer 76, anyone remember that summer ? ....the hot one !

League of Gents: ice-cream men were selling cans of Pepsi for £1 and creme brulee were..."dreaming of memphis" ... *cue music*

Summer '75 and '76 were glorious, endless days of hot, dry weather. Anyone remember the hosepipe bans? I've never seen so many people washing their cars at midnight! I remembe the Lido, lots of couting done there! I've had some really good, cheap days out at Millhouses when my kids were young, in fact we used to do a different park each day in the sumer holidays all for the cost of (subsidised bus fare) and a lolly. Wonder if you could do it now?

Subsidised bus fares, I remember them, 2p for kids anywhere in the city.

Oh I remember being a little kid playing in the Lido during the seventies. I used to love Millhouses park as a kid, playing on the little putting course with my Grandad and trying to dunk my cousin in the boating pond.

Those were the days. :D

For my last few years in England I worked across the road from the park and often I'd go across and eat lunch there or take a walk. I always thought it was such a shame how the place had been left to fall into ruins.

millhouses park in the forties,my Mother took me there to sail my galleon, and one could hire a rowing boat for a small fee. The lido was never free,I taught my ex-wife to swim there and we took our small boy,but he was terrified of water. The park was maintained immaculate,by a team of gardener's who took a pride in their profession.There were tennis court's for the enthusiast's,we spent many happy weekend's in the bathing pool and sunbathing,it was the place to go on sunday's. Sadly,due to year's and year's of vandalism,the council decided to let the vandal's have it as they were not prepared to waste money on it any longer.This world has been taken over by the yob's in society and even the police cannot do anything about it. :D

I remember it being free cause we used to sneak in under the fence where the new playground is now & yes it was definitely the place to be:hihi:

I remember the Lido ,Millhouses Park was fantastic in the late 60s & early 70s,I played football there for the Abbey Wanderers ( Abbey Glen).My kid brother broke his ankle in the Lido he jumped in at the shallow end & hit his foot hard on the bottom ,it took the Hospital 3 weeks to find the break.Some great memories of going to the park with all my mates from Heeley.

Originally posted by Guest
Well Millhouses Park is only a shadow of it's former self now, but I thought there were some ongoing attempts to restore some of it's former glory, anyone know ?
We passed it last week and the place was full of JCB's and heaps of mud.

Either we're getting a new ski slope or that's the excavation of the lido :clap:

Originally posted by Strix
We passed it last week and the place was full of JCB's and heaps of mud.

Either we're getting a new ski slope or that's the excavation of the lido :clap:

Try a huge tank to hold sewage and you'd be right but it is a very big hole and an even bigger crane

Originally posted by WALLBUILDER
Try a huge tank to hold sewage and you'd be right but it is a very big hole and an even bigger crane Boo Hiss :mad:

If you bother to read all the small print on their notices they say that they are going to leave it looking as though they'd never been there [paraphrasing] I think that is a shame as it was mostly a large area of grass and a badly drained car park.
I think they should use some imagination and leave the park with something of benefit, a picnic area with seating perhaps or a maze or even a decent bunch of trees, I've not noticed the 'Friends of Millhouses Park' asking for anything and a big grass field is pretty featureless. I'd even settle for a tarmac path running through the park parallel to the road.

I have occasionally been walking through millhouses park for the last 10 years, and it seems to me to be always having digging or unfinished work done to it.

I know that the local sheffield parks have much less staff than they used to, and If the Lido were to be open today they would have to have Lifeguard on duty all the time at the pool, and probably the paddling too? I doubt the CTAX would run to that.

I used to visit the paddling pools at Rivelin in the 1970/80s, which seem the same style as the ones at millhouses.
These days, it only takes one person to slip and the whole thing would be closed down, just like the Diana fountain in London. If they opened it in 2005 then you would be able to look at the water and put your hand in, but if you stood up in it the whole thing would be shut down, before they fenced it off.

When I was little,we would go for a day out to Millhouses park and we would literally spend a day there.

My Mum would do some pack up and I specifically remember she would take a jar orf Picallili or red cabbage to put on the sandwiches.

We would paddle in the paddling pool, play on the playground and go for a walk in Ecclesall Woods and arrive home tired but knowing we had truly had a day out.It cost nothing but the bus fare

The Lido was extremely cold and Yes, I can remember that people would try to get in for free , but those were the days, when Kids played OUT and parents didnt worry if they went out and didnt come back until it was tea time as that is what kids did then.
I think I was priveleged to be an outside person and one of my main hobbies is gardening.
How many of todays Kids( my daugher excluded) will show an interest in outside pursuits.
They spend far too much time inside( mY son included in that!)

I nearly drowned in Millhouses boating lake at the age of 2.My grandad(who swam for Yorkshire) saved me.I have never been the same since!!The lido should definiteley be rebuilt.At least the food is good in the cafe by the boating lake;especially the Sunday breakfast.

Hi everybody I can remember the lido at millhouses park because I had a uncle who use to work there he was called david beckett he use to do a lot of weight trainning and in the summer he use to show the ladies what he could do, him and about 4 others one of the things he could do was to do the hand stand on the tips of his fingers he was also a brilliant diving champion there is not many who would dive off the top board but dave beckett would and on friday and saturday nights he use to play the guitar in a pub called the white swan at greenhill they had a piano player and a trombone player and a drummer this is long before it got altered he would be about 66 years old now or even 67 he was only small I would think somewhere between 5ft 2" and 5ft 4" but he was good in all the things he did,to me he was one of the best chaps to know even though he was my uncle.

Went to the Lido on many a fine day. Often, as small bosy with no money, we got in by crawling under the iron railings - you only had to scrape a bit of earth out to get in - yet - you didn't have to as someone else had already done it! One time I got pushed in the deep end - before I could swim. I can vividly remember standing on the bottom looking at the wall and - not being scared at all - just looking at the wall. Then my mate pulled me out. Years later, he admitted that it was he that pushed me in!

Had great times on the boating pond too. I remember once when it was all iced over, we played on it all day. Eventually, it started to crack and we spent hours jumping from one piece of ice to the next as each would slowly tip or begin to submerge. Musta been mad really. And yes, I did fall in - that was one COLD walk home.

I remember Millhouses park and the lido.I fell in fully clothed one time and my Mum made me stand up on the bus wet through ! I also remember taking jam jars and a net and catching stickelbacks in the stream.By the time we got off the bus they were always floating belly up! :o

Is the paddeling pool still down rivelin ? people use to drop there kids off in there to play without having to keep an eye on them every 5 min, go for an ice cream or a pint, what's the name of that pub at the bottom of the hill there ? it was always packed in side and out on Sundays.

Originally posted by poppins
Is the paddeling pool still down rivelin ? people use to drop there kids off in there to play without having to keep an eye on them every 5 min, go for an ice cream or a pint, what's the name of that pub at the bottom of the hill there ? it was always packed in side and out on Sundays.

Hello poppins,
the name of that pub at the bottom of the hill is The Holly Bush Inn. I had my first pint of beer in there in 1962. I think the paddling pools have been closed down for a while now.

deecee

It's hard to believe that Millhouses Park could be in such a state of disrepair. I left Sheffield in 1968 for Canada and have only been back a couple of times. One of my favorite memories of the 1940s was sailing my model yacht on the boating pool. There used to be a model boat club then and old guys with lovely boats every day. Then they turned it into a full size boat rental place and spoiled it. Millhouses swiming pool had the coldest water in the world outside Alaska, as well as the highest diving board.

My auntie used to live near Millhouses Park, and we often used to go there in the summer when I was younger. The Lido had already gone then but the paddeling pools always used to be very busy. It was difficult to find space on the grass around the pools to sit down. I've been back since and find it very sad that, in about 10 years, the place has gone to rack and ruin.

I also remember playing on the dodgems and rides that were in the park in the summer, getting an ice cream from the van, and playing football with my grandad on the field.

I remember counting trains going past on the railway line.

Happy times.

Originally posted by Dronfeldian
Does anyone remeber the great old days of the lido. Even the paddling poold in millhouses park - Isn't it a great pity that the area has gone downhill... There doesn't seem to be much regeneration - The rotting pools and cheap attempt at making a play area for children.

Why can't a private company take the area on and bring back a lido/ outside pool area for all to enjoy. Given the ver increasing warmer summers and climate change - surely there are more yung adults an people wanting to enjoy the sun and bathe where once was a great complex.

Maybe one of the problems was poor management and the fact that all sheffield folk got free entry - based on this the area just went to seed. There, in my humble opinion, has to be a charge for such facilities.

What do you think..?

I used to go to Millhouse Park Lido as a kid and teenager, I used to love it, the summers seem to last for ever back then..

I agree, a private company or even a Public Private Partnership (PPP) would be a great investment for to build another lido in the park.

I took my daughter to Millhouse Park last summer and there is nothing there, even the boating lake is falling to pieces? Millhouses is a nice area of Sheffield and more people would visit and spend their money it the park was invested in.

i used to live at heeley when i was little.(in the fiftys)me my brother and mum used to catch the tram on our road it took us to the terminus at millhouses park.sadly flats are there now.
there used to be two fenced in playground areas.one for little children and the other for older ones.there used to be two pathways that lead you to the lido ,the top path would be the entrance to the lido.the bottom path would go to the paddling pool.on the way there you had to go over a bridge on the right of the bridge everyone knew that the river was quite deep and wouldnt even attempt to go in it .on the left of the bridge it was alot shallower,this was the over flow from the paddling pool area.i remember in the summer it was the best park to go to and have fun all daylong.if we were lucky my mum would give us money to get a lolly. can allways remember havin to que for that and for the tiolets too just beside the boatin lake.
when i got married and moved to meersbrook i used to walk there and push the big pram, u had no chance of gettin on a bus with that.my oldest daughter and nephew had a good day on the boatin lake while i sat watchin them .that day the baby got a suntan even though she was in the shade of he pram it was a lovely hot day .ididnt realise how hot it had been till i got home and saw the tan we all had.even the baby had a tan although she had been in the shade of her pram.
its a great shame the park isnt the same way it used to be in the past.full of life and people .now its full of memorys in the minds of everyone who loved it and the times they had.

I learned to swim in the open air swimming pool in about 1940ish,I think it cost a penny to go in but you could get tickets free from school.I played water polo for Oak St. swimming club a couple of times when they were a player short at Heeley baths. I was useless though because i would throw the ball with one foot on the bottom hoping the ref. couldn't see,but he always did.

I remember going to the lido when I was small in the late 70's and then again when my kids were small - to the paddling pools - they were a bit grotty by then though - late 80's.

There was a pub acoss the road - robin hood - i think? That is where I met the first boyfriend - and I had my first kiss across in the car park - wow - what a memory 1981....

i can remember the park in the sixts hot summer days spent in the outdoor baths befor it became a lido some times get in through the fence you could also get in free if you turned up in just your swimming costume loved the baths that much that even went on cold days that cold there would only be me there:gag: there were sun traps for those that just whanted to sun bathethe lido was good but i missed the old baths ;this is one thing sheffield could do with again :cool:

I think it's a bit of an exaggeration to say that Millhouses Park is in a poor state. We lived near for a couple of years and spent lots of time around the park - tennis whilst dozens of people played with boats in the boating lake on a Sunday morning, watching cricket at the east end of the park, footy at the other, great food and drink in the cafe/restaurant and even being invited to try bowls by one of the teams who are based there! Dozens of youngsters use the specially designed skate park, there is an adventure playground and trail for kids and the place is packed on a hot summmer's day with picnicers (sp.?) and young families. This was all only last summer.

I can only imagine what it used to be like but it's certainly not bad at the moment.

the lido was a great place for trapping birds I remember many a girl trying to swim, dive or whatever.

I also a couple of guys used to do handstands on rubber bricks showing off thier tans etc, I always felt like pushing one over, just like in the film tootsie

happy days

I re discovered Millhouses last year after going to a charity fair that was advertised on Hallam FM. Took my kids who had never been and they loved it! It's clean, you can get an ice cream or food, the kids can play, theres the boats in summer, good parking and most of all it's FREE!

I think it's a bit of an exaggeration to say that Millhouses Park is in a poor state. We lived near for a couple of years and spent lots of time around the park - tennis whilst dozens of people played with boats in the boating lake on a Sunday morning, watching cricket at the east end of the park, footy at the other, great food and drink in the cafe/restaurant and even being invited to try bowls by one of the teams who are based there! Dozens of youngsters use the specially designed skate park, there is an adventure playground and trail for kids and the place is packed on a hot summmer's day with picnicers (sp.?) and young families. This was all only last summer.

I can only imagine what it used to be like but it's certainly not bad at the moment.

Agree the park is looking well and on the couple of times i jogged through at the weekend last Summer it was packed.

Apparantly the cafe do a fantastic full english breakfast although i have not tried it.

The only area that does look a bit sad is the old padling pools but as has already been said there may be pollution issues with re opening them

So come on lets have less of the doom and gloom :)

I can remember getting horribly sunburnt at the Lido in the days when the summers were all sunshine and ice cream cornets. The water used to get filthy, like you couldn't see the bottom sometimes. There's a taste you get sometimes when you wake up the 'morning after the night before' and it reminds me of the taste of that water when you got a mouthful of it.

I have only just seen this thread on Millhouse lido/outdoor pool, and I wonder whether anyone remembers the Spartan Swimmers from the 1930s who used to swim in the pool in the middle of winter. I work with the Yorkshire Film Archive and we have a film on these from 1933/4 showing them swimming in freezing weather. If anyone has any information on these it would be great to hear it. the film may end up on an online film facility that the YFA is currently working on (check our website for further information on this: just google Yorkshire Film Archive).

Further to my last post, some names (or nicknames) that appear in the film on the Sheffield Spartan Swimmers at Millhouse Lido are:

Captain Jim Pryor
Jolly Rodger
H.Marsh
C.Lee – The Kay Don of the Club
The Bold Sir Guy
George – The hardy annual
Banner – The gay young dog
Sydney
Hill