Can anyone remember thrashing around the boating lake on the big motor boat. I wonder what became of it ? i think it was called Queen Elizebeth. What about the original wooden rowing boats all painted in bright primary colours....ahhh happy days.

Yeah remember the rowing boats, but not a speed boat.

If you want a good speed boat ride, get yourself to Bridlington and for 2 quid you can ride the speed boats in the harbour.

Greaaat

I remember the motor boat used to operate on sundays ,bank hols and school hols

I seem to remember hearing that one night a group of young residents of upperthorpe managed to get out to the moorings in the middle of the lake and set fire to it sad really...but not sure if its true ....would love to see whats at the bottom of that lake its classed as bottomless you know as its over 25 foot deep apparently ??

It can't be that deep everywhere.

I remember when I was very young, sitting on the grass bank on a Sunday afternoon, watching an adult trying to teach his kids how to row. He was in one boat, with his youngest. Two other kids were in another boat.

After about ten minutes when the two kids were just going round in circles, the guy tried to change boats. What happened was obvious, but still hilarious. As he stepped from one to the other, the boats moved apart and he fell in the water in his Sunday best.

It only came up to his knees - but he wasn't too pleased - especially when all the people sitting on the bank gave him a round of applause. Eee it were better than t'telly.

There is (was) a measurement guage in one corner of the dam that reads up to 32 feet. I remember a young girl drowning in the dam in the mid 1970s. It took quite a few hours to retrieve her body.

I also remember watching police frogmen using the dam for a practice dive. They retrieved numerous fishing rods and a model motorized speed boat.

Yes I remember it very well I used to go down with my mum regularly
As I remember you used to get 2 trips round for 2p ish it was fantastic
When you are only 3. I would love it if someone has any old pictures of it?
Can’t find any on the net


It was sad about the vandals setting fire to the speed boat.
They also burned down the bowling pavilion. we sometimes go past to see yobos playing foot ball on the bowling green

Some students once walked out on the ice cut a hole in the middle and placed a pile of clothes at the side for a joke the divers were there for ages looking for a body.


I think is very deep in the centre my dad said they drained it in the war
To stop bombers getting a reflection off it. He said it was a quarry before it was a lake but I don’t know if that true?

I was talking to one of the police divers and he said once you move your flippers on the bottom you cant see a thing & there are allsorts of snags like old shopping trolleys and stuff

I heard about the girl drowning in the park she was black and she was with some white lads .I think there was some racist trouble about it at the time.

We used to play on top of a very deep shaft that was in the trees behind the pavilion
It had a grid on it and we used to dare each other to walk across it .its still there but it has been reduced and capped. there was a rumour that there was a tunnel under the road that came out on to the tip at the other side.

Happy days lost on the youth of today who would rather sit in front of an x box than get out on your bikes in the park and all over the place with your mates. The park patrol on there triumph motor bikes use to tell us off from time to time .

The toilets on mushroom lane were a bit dodgy and were to be avoided as they were a meeting place for homosexuals

The girl who drowned was Beverley Wall, a pupil of High Storrs School.

Can anyone remember thrashing around the boating lake on the big motor boat. I wonder what became of it ? i think it was called Queen Elizebeth. What about the original wooden rowing boats all painted in bright primary colours....ahhh happy days.

Aye ~~

I remember the speedboat, it did a two and half circuit of the lake, not the part that was cabled off though, as we lived local and spent a lot of time there we ended up getting free trips on there, and then when older, we got free rowing boat rides too ........... <sigh> the days of innocence :sad:

I also remember having to pay!!! to play tennis in Weston Park.

*Smiles*

Angi <~~~ Shuffling of to her cup of coca and electric blanket :wow:

I seem to remember hearing that one night a group of young residents of upperthorpe managed to get out to the moorings in the middle of the lake and set fire to it sad really...but not sure if its true ....would love to see whats at the bottom of that lake its classed as bottomless you know as its over 25 foot deep apparently ??

Think you were right I heard the same story.

You also could play tennis in Crookes Valley on a red shale surface at the commonside end of the bowling green.

It could have been a quarry I suppose, but it's the remaining one of a series of reservoirs. Another was just higher up, at the other side of the dam house restaurant and is now the univerity sports ground. Although it was filled in and levelled, any decent rain and it floods, I guess the old waterproof base is still there. Have a look at this map, all 3 dams are shown. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~engsheffield/photos/streets/streetrelated/1890smap.htm

I remember the speed boat and the rowing boats :) ... can you remember the model speed boat races that took place on there? ..we used hear them from commonside ..and all leg it down there to watch :D

Yes those were the days .... i can remember being really young ..and trying climb into that bearpit thing near the bowling green ..i also heard thier was a tunnel that ran over to pondarosa :D

we used to get chased out of the museum ..lol..we'd wag it from school and go in and use the drinks machine :D

I remember the bear pit, the tennis courts (where my sister tried to teach me tennis) and of course the long speed boat. Does anyone remember the Salvati family that lived and worked at the restaurant? Went to school with Tina Salvati, also Andrew Cuneo, who's dad was the iced cream magnate and whose vans were always parked at the entrances to the parks......happy days.

Wasn't there an ice cream kiosk at the bottom of the path leading up to the forerunner of Dam House.....or is my memory playing tricks?

I seem to recall that was the next port of call after a trip on the speed boat.

Yes Yerman ..i think your right ..im testing my memory now ..lol..thats way back when i was really small :D ..but i remember the icecream hut ..wasnt it at the top of the slope opposite Dam House?

Were the Cuneo's from walkley BILDRBORG?

They were in deed from Walkely, South Road to be precise, I was from Carr Road.

There was a rumour - unconfirmed at the time - that a Scottish footballer was once found asleep one morning in the speed boat in the middle of the dam after a heavy night's drinking. At the time there was a Scottish winger at both Bramall Lane and Hillsborough - football followers of the time will know who I mean - but it was never clear which one of the two was involved.

I am sure it was little more than a rumour but does anyone know different?

There was a rumour - unconfirmed at the time - that a Scottish footballer was once found asleep one morning in the speed boat in the middle of the dam after a heavy night's drinking. At the time there was a Scottish winger at both Bramall Lane and Hillsborough - football followers of the time will know who I mean - but it was never clear which one of the two was involved.

I am sure it was little more than a rumour but does anyone know different?

Jimmy Johnstone springs to mind - one of the Lisbon Lions - and who obviously was casting for a part in Jerome's novel?

They were in deed from Walkely, South Road to be precise, I was from Carr Road.

Yes i know who you mean ..my mum lives on Carr Road :) ..infact i think you may know her boyfriend ..he's lived on Carr road years ..Robert Marshall?

..or maybe not ... im guessing you are a lot younger than him :D

Chairboy,

Jinky was the more likely. However, 'oor Wullie' down a Hillsborough was no angel either.

Yes i know who you mean ..my mum lives on Carr Road :) ..infact i think you may know her boyfriend ..he's lived on Carr road years ..Robert Marshall?

..or maybe not ... im guessing you are a lot younger than him :D

Hi Ms. Tetley.....I lived at 122 Carr Road, left there to move to the Peak District circa 1975/6. I went to St. Marys on South Road. Don't recall a Robert Marshall though.

Chairboy,

Jinky was the more likely. However, 'oor Wullie' down a Hillsborough was no angel either.

It was certainly Johnstone in the incident but he sadly is no longer with us. The "Wullie" you referred to was Henderson who came from Glasgow Rangers so I don't know whether he had anything to do with the former Celtic 'Jinky'?

Hi Ms. Tetley.....I lived at 122 Carr Road, left there to move to the Peak District circa 1975/6. I went to St. Marys on South Road. Don't recall a Robert Marshall though.

He lives near the bottom of the hill ..not sure what number :) ..oh well :D

I remember the bear pit, the tennis courts (where my sister tried to teach me tennis) and of course the long speed boat. Does anyone remember the Salvati family that lived and worked at the restaurant? Went to school with Tina Salvati, also Andrew Cuneo, who's dad was the iced cream magnate and whose vans were always parked at the entrances to the parks......happy days.

Yes I went to school with Tina, did you not go to the 40th reunion at the Place pub in Broomhill 5 years a go?

Yes I went to school with Tina, did you not go to the 40th reunion at the Place pub in Broomhill 5 years a go?

I wasn't aware of any reunion, mind you, living in Cornwall wouldn't have helped! Were you at St. Marys at Walkley or King Ted's?

if you cross the road over to the pondarosa side,go down the steps to where the rock climbing boulder is,you will see a bank,thats the retaining wall for the dam and shows how deep it is

the motor boat was looked after by my neighbour don diago,he died of cancer 2 years ago

Remember the girl drowning in the lake sadly. We were in the rowing boats at the time and saw her fall in after trying to climb into another boat. A boy who had the nick name Casanova jumped in to save her but she was struggling too much I think and she got caught on something in the lake and he tried really hard to save her but got grief from her friends for not suceeding poor bloke. We never knew her name but will never forget her sad demise.

Remember the girl drowning in the lake sadly. We were in the rowing boats at the time and saw her fall in after trying to climb into another boat. A boy who had the nick name Casanova jumped in to save her but she was struggling too much I think and she got caught on something in the lake and he tried really hard to save her but got grief from her friends for not suceeding poor bloke. We never knew her name but will never forget her sad demise.

Beverley Wall the name of the drowned girl. She was a pupil at High Storrs School.

The motor boat was indeed called Queen Elizabeth II, and according to my dad's diary it was "launched" in May 1954. I remember it a few years later, when two trips round the lake cost sixpence. The rowing boats were still there in the late 1960s but like the ones in Hillsborough Park, Forge Dam and all (?) the others they were eventually "retired". A pity, but recently it was nice to see some tots having a lot of fun in the paddle boats in Millhouses Park.

The motor boat was indeed called Queen Elizabeth II, and according to my dad's diary it was "launched" in May 1954. I remember it a few years later, when two trips round the lake cost sixpence. The rowing boats were still there in the late 1960s but like the ones in Hillsborough Park, Forge Dam and all (?) the others they were eventually "retired". A pity, but recently it was nice to see some tots having a lot of fun in the paddle boats in Millhouses Park.

Do you know of any photos of the motor boat ?:roll:

I vaguely remember the motor boat, did the bloke who piloted it wear a uniform and peaked cap?

Does anyone remember the cafe? I had my first bottle of coke there, a chilled Pepsi in a glass bottle supped through a waxed paper straw..happy days :)

I vaguely remember the motor boat, did the bloke who piloted it wear a uniform and peaked cap?

Does anyone remember the cafe? I had my first bottle of coke there, a chilled Pepsi in a glass bottle supped through a waxed paper straw..happy days :)

I remember it being rather large (compared to the little rowboats) and I remember it was anchored in the centre of the lake.

I remember it being rather large (compared to the little rowboats) and I remember it was anchored in the centre of the lake.

Remember that too PT, as a kid I always wondered if they had to swim back to land after they'd moored it there :hihi: :blush:

Do you remember the cafe? It was to the right and slightly behind the buildings that are there now.

I vaguely remember the motor boat, did the bloke who piloted it wear a uniform and peaked cap?

Does anyone remember the cafe? I had my first bottle of coke there, a chilled Pepsi in a glass bottle supped through a waxed paper straw..happy days :)

Boyfriday

Glad to see my post is still alive after all these years !! I remember the motorboat captain, a slim fella with white captains hat on and usually a park drive fag stuck out of the corner of his mouth.

I have a picture somewhere of me, my dad and younger brother in one of the wooden style rowing boats, was taken around 1974. Will try and find it and post.

Cheers Blue

Boyfriday

Glad to see my post is still alive after all these years !! I remember the motorboat captain, a slim fella with white captains hat on and usually a park drive fag stuck out of the corner of his mouth.

I have a picture somewhere of me, my dad and younger brother in one of the wooden style rowing boats, was taken around 1974. Will try and find it and post.

Cheers Blue

Fantastic blue, would love to see that picture if you still have it! I remember vaguely remember the captain, and how impressive he looked with his hat :)

Ps: I also remember the brightly coloured rowing boats you mention in the OP, with their big black numbers painted on the side, must have become a nightmare controlling that lot when the park was busy, but it's still a shame they had to go.

I vaguely remember the motor boat, did the bloke who piloted it wear a uniform and peaked cap?

Does anyone remember the cafe? I had my first bottle of coke there, a chilled Pepsi in a glass bottle supped through a waxed paper straw..happy days :)

Boyfriday
You really took me back there - sitting on the grass between flower beds, back to Harcourt Rd, looking at the boats on the lake, glass bottle and waxed paper straw - sometimes it's the little details that hit the nostalgia bone. I do have vague memories of the cafe and the ice cream and lollies place, was it a cart that they wheeled out and stood in the shade at the end of the building? Where did you live? and what years?

There was a clip of film showing the motor boat in action being shown in the Local Studies section of the Central Library. It was being shown on an advertising screen(least I think that's what it was ) on the left hand side as you go in. It is spooled so you might have to wait for it to come round. It was next to the screen where you can access Picture Sheffield. It was filmed on a sunny day and will bring out the nostalgia in anyone who frequented the park in those days.
This was a few months ago so I am not sure if is changed

The cafe was situated behind and to the right of the building which is still there.That used to be where the pay kiosk was and was the place where you got on and off the rowing boats.

Couldn't get many passengers on this, but it shows a nice view of the lake and buildings

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vT59dR8cjKw

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crookes_Valley_Park

apparently the lake used to be the 'Old Great Dam' and according to wiki up to 60ft deep!