When my dad worked shifts in the 30s / 40s a man (called luckybags) used to walk the streets with a long pole padded at one end and knock on bedroom windows to wake the shiftworkers for the morning shift

As a sideline he sold Luckybags, don't know whether anybody remembers or whether they are still around in one form or another but they were a souce of sheer delight to me, a paperbag with a selection of sweets and toys.

As I was 3 when the war started and all such things vanished overnight I'm not sure if I am remembering before the war. I know I can remember the fair coming to somewhere near the Pond St. the noise, the roundabouts and prancing horses and the candyfloss. (for yrs I thought it was a dream) And then nothing. few sweets, no fruit no biscuits, and for some reason only plum jam. My mom used to share a mars bar between the four of us, cut it into tiny pieces to last all wk.

There were no street lights, cos of the blackout, so everyone had torchesand I can still remember the blackness. There was also double summertime when the clocks were put forward/back for 2 hrs.

We had coupons for everything, tea , suger, meat, bread all in a ration book and you had to register your ration book with one shop, in our case the local co op, known as the Stores. I think corned beef wasn't on ration so you were very lucky if you got a 1/4 of this as well. Eggs were very scarce so we had powdered eggs, made into something like an ommelette or half a real egg if you were lucky. Butter was scarce too so I used to hurry home on Thursdays which was the day butter arrived
My mom used to bake bread in the yorkshire range that day and we had new bead and butter, there was only enough for tea that day and then back to the marge.
My sister and I used to be sent to collect our rations to the shop on Myrtle Rd, we had to be careful the asistant didn't tear out the ticket for the soap with the tea coupon cos they llay behind each otherand you lost your soap for the week.

Air raid shelters, Sirens going, bombed buildings ( which were a great source of adventure), Uncles in uniform, formed a large part of my childhood. I suppose I was lucky I knew no fear, it was all part of my life as a child.

Hazel

http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?s=&threadid=9013&perpage=15&pagenumber=1

http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?s=&threadid=18505

Hazel
What a nice piece you wrote, having no fear as a child,sounds wonderful, i was around 3 when the war ended i think, so don't recall it, i do remember we wore our siren suits for a long time after, i can see mine now, it was a brown hooded all in one suit, we even left our wellingtons in the legs so we could just pull the whole thig on at one, like the firemen do now !

we kepts our gas masks under the bed as a habbit, i do remember still being on rashions after the was was long over, but there was always plenty of stamps in the book to use up, i think we bought sweets mostly with them.

i joined the WRAC in my teens,peace time then of course, did three years, but never got to travel much, stayed in the uk

yes i too felt no fear as a child now i think back.

poppins

Hello Hazel, I always follow your letters and they are always very interesting. However the one you just posted beats them all. It was like living it all again. I am the same vintage as you and remember it to detail. It was like we were sat talking together.
Living in the anderson shelter for two days waiting for the all clear I can still smell the fusty shelter now and I am 12000 miles away. You never forget. My parents always had to swap a quarter packet of tea for a bucket of coal to keep us warm. When they didn,t get to outcropping guess you remember that unless your dad worked in the mine. We had chooks so could always manage to trade them when they were laying. The greatest thing was when chocolate came on the scene had to wait in a long line to be told all gone now. Good old days not real sure on that one.
Living in Australia noone would know what I was talking about unless they were a pommie
Kindest Regards Hazel
Vera.

Hi Poppins and Vhopkinson,

Thanks for the compliments, I tend to think people will be tired af old tales, so nice to get some feedback.

Did it seem to you that we spent all our time in wellingtons,, perhaps shoes were hard to comeby. i always had a black/chapped line below the knee where my wet wellie used to slap.
I still now get goose pimples when in the bath at dusk cos i think thats when the bombers came over and the sirens used to go and I would be zipped in my siren suit quickly, I'm not sure whether panic transmitted or the fact that my skin was caugt in the zip that gave the lasting impression.
Our Anderson shelter was always damp so we were not keen to go in but others kept them like little palaces and spent most nights in there.
I can't remeber about the coal but remember my mom used to swop 2 bags of sugar for sweets from the factotry on Attercliffe Common (? Dixons) these were boiled sweet in the shape of fishes.
When I flew to OZ a couple of wks after the American Tower tradgedy My son said to his Australian friends, who though I would cancell, My mom is tough you see she has been thro the war. Made me feel quite proud

Hazel

Oh Hazel
I do remember the black chapped lines from my wellies,
but i did have another reg pair of shoes as i remember having to put newspaper in them to dry out, and that awful toilet paper that was like waxed paper, before that we cut up newspaper for the lav, my aunt had an outside lav, we had to ask her for the key when we wanted to use it, wonder why she kept it locked ? nothing to steal only newspaper squares.
we all had the "GUS UNDERS" I have my grandmothers whole set now, must be over 100 years old or more, no place to put it, it's quite a big set.

i remember my aunt got a washing machine with glass front, we all pulled up our chairs and sat and watched the clothes go around.

Then our first tv, we sat in the dark to whatch it, no one wanted to get up to put the kettle on. i use to rush home from school to see Burns and Alan. then mom bought a ship light to go on top of the tv, that was the thing to do then.

I thnik people locked their toilets in the yard to stop other people using them when theirs were filthy.
I used to visit a relative as a child, who I think never ever cleaned her toilet and i would have loved to go to someone elses but unfortunately they were all locked!!

What does a whole set of gus unders comprise of. Is it the wash Jug and stand?

I remember our first TV.. We got it for the Coronation (1953) and sat with rows of chairs in the front room and everybody and their grandmothers there. I think it was 12" screen so there was not much to see and it poured it down all day.

Hazel

Hazel
wash set, no, no stand.
Bowl
Lge Pitcher
Sml Cold Water Pot
2 Part Soap Dish
Poe.

Thats it, i think it has one other small part to it, forgot now it's been in my attic for years.

Yes the outside lavs were dirty, ours in our counsil house was attached to the house but had to go out the back door to get in, we kept an oil lamp in it as it had no electric, mom kept the brick walls inside whitewashed to lighten it up.

We would spend time swopping dandy and beano comic books with our friends .

Toasted bread and drippin was a big favorite in our house, i still have my moms grey drippin pot.

Thanks again for such memories Nice to share with someone who knows what you are talking about. We must live a life of shear luxury now. I don't have to donkey-stone the lavy step now adays. Blackleading (what the hell is that) someone asked me.
When I used to go to Huntsmans Garden School I was only four and a half years old. We used to pass some posh houses and would ask to use their toilet the novelty being there's were in side the house. Can you imagine now adays letting a kid that age loose on the streets especially door knocking. Frightening......
But thats was then this is now. Streets ain't the safest place to be eh!!
Regards Vera

HI Vera

My mom used to blacklead the stove, We lived in a council house which had a Yorkshire Range and she polished it with blacklead out of a tin called (? zebra) There was steel round the edges which I used to rub with emery paper. We had a shelf at the top which was always hot and a recess below for the kettle, I think there was a circular plate that was taken out for the saucepan to sit over the coal fire.. Can you remember the dampers at the back which had to be right or the fire went out At the side was the coal fired oven to cook in and the 2 shelves in the oven were put in our beds with an piece of blanket round. My dad used to get the fire to draw by putting the shovel agaist the stove and putting a news paper against it and holding it there until it scorched. I can still remember the smell and the cold linolium on my bare feet.
Did your mom have a pegged rug? We used to sit at night pegging them. Made my fingers sore.

We were lucky tho and had the toilet attatched to the back porch opposite the coalhouse so didn't have to go across the yard.
Hazel

Oh!! I remember so well all this Hazel. We used to wait around for the rug to be finished so we could have it on our bed before it got dirty. If we missed out we mite get my brothers army coat if he was on leave this was always warm.
Remeber the Zebra yes and the Ronuck for the floors. clean piece of newspaper in the doorway too to step on.
I often thought of writing a book.My memory goes back to when I was only 3yrs old. Mind you we were always spotlessly clean but not well off. This scrubbing and polishing has stayed with me all my life as still luv to do house work, these mod appliances help though .Hey. wash days 2 tubs in front of the fire one to wash the other to rinse. Stand there waiting to get in the wash tub before it went cold Shudder!shudder!. Sylvan soap I think it was that floated. Rubbing board and ponsh1 Hope we ain't boring anyone sorry if we are. Good memories tho. Hi Poppins
Regards Vera.

Vera, you forgot to mention the donkey stones ( where did that name come from) and the man who came around to sharpen knives, with the grindstone mounted on his bike.

Does Sheff still have that indoor fish market ? everyone use to go get a little dish of cockels, i think thats what they were, trying to think of another name for them, they were soaked in vineger, dish was never washed, just passed on to the next person, the fish mongers had odd things hanging from hooks, my friend tried to brag one day that she knew what one thing was, wrong ! the fish man said, it's left over christmas decoration from last year.
The fish was nicely displayed out in the open on ice, it actualy smelt like fresh fish, even as i child i would look forward to going with my mom to pick out fish.

Originally posted by owdlad
Vera, you forgot to mention the donkey stones ( where did that name come from) and the man who came around to sharpen knives, with the grindstone mounted on his bike. ......


Hi Owdlad, Youve got me there? Don't know where the name donkey came into it. I know it was grey when you put it on and when it dried it was as white as snow. Yep! the old grinder used to come round and we used to ask him if he had any old penknives for us. Hey what about the chimney sweeper then.We used to stand for ages waiting for the brush to appear from the chimney top Ha!ha!
Cheers vera

poppins/hazel

brilliant both brilliant :clap: :clap:

never tire of listening to golden oldies.
yes the fish market is still there selling cockles,mussels,whelks,prawns and crabs from whitby.
you don't see many stalls like that now only in supermarkets

Originally posted by vhopkinson
......


Hi Owdlad, Youve got me there? Don't know where the name donkey came into it. I know it was grey when you put it on and when it dried it was as white as snow. Yep! the old grinder used to come round and we used to ask him if he had any old penknives for us. Hey what about the chimney sweeper then.We used to stand for ages waiting for the brush to appear from the chimney top Ha!ha!
Cheers vera

Vera, the other thing you forgot was the most important bit, that everone heard just after the step had been done
................DON'T YOU STAND ON MY STEP!

Yes I can remember having my Moms wool coat on the bed. and I can remember impetigo and ringworm. In those days they shaved the childs head and covered it in blue dye ( I think gentian violet) No paedophile was interested then!!

I remember one poor, literally poor, girl who had had her head shaved and blued, passed her scholarship to Notre Dame. As she wore a balaclava she lasted a fortnight ( don't fall about laughing Kirky) it was tragic and she was a very clever girl.

Hazel

What wonderful memories!of those happy days gone by,my Grandmother,a widow,lived on Birley St just up from Harvest Lane,and I used to go to the beer-off across the road to fetch her 3 gills(old Sheffield measure)of Nut-Brown,pulled by the shopkeeper from the hand pumps on the counter,and on the way back I always had a good swig from the jug,but then the law changed and the beer had to be fetched in screw top bottles,and the shopkeeper had to put a paper seal across the cork.I was 9 years old when the war broke out and we had a Anderson Shelter in the back garden,and my Father being an electrician fixed it up with lighting and power points,somrthing very modern in those days,an electric kettle!
Does anyone remember the "Holidays at Home"and the entertainment in local parks,in Weston Park it was a penny to go into the enclosure by the bandstand and sit on the grass,or 3d to have a chair,those very uncomfortable folding wooden bum-nummers,and if Dad had had a good week an ice cream,war time variety of course!

Fondest memories where at my grandmas house on providence rd ,walkley she always had scales on her cellar head to weigh her currants and rasins, we loved to see her cut her home made bread, she'd hold it against her chest to cut big wedges, my lazy grandad would grab the slices from her before she finished, he couldn't wait for his cuppa to cool down, he'd pour some tea in his saucer and drink out of that, he'd spend all day sitting on the stone wall waiting to see people getting off the tram, I forgot the name of the street that was the terminus, full of little shops, walkley people would do all their shopping along that street, everyone could leave their babies in their prams without worry, prams were realy big them, they had strorage room under the baby to put your shopping, i think there was a big library on the end of that street.

Hazel, did you get the lucky bags when your dad got up at 4'oclock in the morning to go to work or when he came home at night.

Originally posted by hazel

My mom used to blacklead the stove, We lived in a council house which had a Yorkshire Range and she polished it with blacklead out of a tin called (? zebra)

Hi Hazel


Cleaning the Yorkshire range on a Sunday morning was my job, - I think from about 1948 when I was eight until about 1952 when it was replacd with a gas cooker. My grandfather made me a special little tool to get into and rake out the flue-ways that ran behind the oven and boiler. I think that black-lead polish was called 'Zebo'...still available by the look of this site...

http://www.starchsupplies.co.uk/index.php?cPath=22

It was an early start for me on Sunday, - as well as cleaning the range and lighting the fire (often with the help of the shovel and newspaper !) I also had the job of cleaning everyone's shoes ready for church. The living room fire also had to be cleaned and lit in the winter.

I still find it amazing that my mother used to cook Sunday lunch for five of us (my grandad was a widower and always came to our house for his dinner on Sundays) on that Yorkshire range plus a little gas ring, - and the Yorlshire pud was always perfect.

Another Sunday job I had was to go to the beer-off for two pint bottles of Sam Smith's Pale Ale and a small bottle of cider for my mother. Grandad always used to pay for this and give me tuppence for fetching it.

A memory from somewhat earlier, - probably during the war, was the daily dose of cod-liver oil and malt. I quite liked that as it tasted a bit like toffee. And I remember the concentrated orange juice too.

Other 1940s memories are of being sent to the Co-Op for the weekly rations of sugar, butter and cheese etc. The sugar came in dark-blue paper bags and the butter (or perhaps it was margerine ?) was sometimes carved off a big block into a wooden frame and then tipped out onto grease-proof paper and wrapped.

Originally posted by poppins
i think there was a big library on the end of that street.

Would that be South Road ?...the library is still there and so are many of the little shops.

Greybeard
Yes, south road it was, my grandma just use to say, I'm going up top ! those little shops were great.

What interesting reading off you gals.
I am into local history.

That's brought back memories!

"Going across the yard" - I was terrified as a kid to go at night as the lavvy had loads of big spiders. The old man next door was scared too as my grandmother kept chickens and the cockerill had taken a real dislike to him. Every time he went across the yard, the cockerill would go for him. We used to have a little oil lamp that was kept constantly burning in the winter to stop the pipes from freezing up and the squares of newspaper on a nail on the back of the door.
Going down the cellar was scary too-more spiders! But one of my jobs was fetching the coal up in a bucket, so I had to get used to it.

And yes, you can still get Zebo black lead. My missus did our fireplace yesterday!

Thank you for taking time to look at my pages.
Do you think that todays volume of waste going down the loo could cope with newspaper? i very much doubt it. :heyhey:

That's a crap question :P

Originally posted by RoyalRegular
That's brought back memories!

"Going across the yard" - I was terrified as a kid to go at night as the lavvy had loads of big spiders. The old man next door was scared too as my grandmother kept chickens and the cockerill had taken a real dislike to him. Every time he went across the yard, the cockerill would go for him. We used to have a little oil lamp that was kept constantly burning in the winter to stop the pipes from freezing up and the squares of newspaper on a nail on the back of the door.
Going down the cellar was scary too-more spiders! But one of my jobs was fetching the coal up in a bucket, so I had to get used to it.

And yes, you can still get Zebo black lead. My missus did our fireplace yesterday!

I well remember the "going across the yard" ritual.
and, as for those dratted spiders!!
I hate them.....
why was it, when you went across the yard to the "privy", and you checked thoroughly, that there were no spiders, they always used to wait, and hide, until you were actually seated, before they'd come out of their hiding places???
I'm sure they used to do it deliberately! (LOL)

I can remember my mother and I being half- paralysed with fear, by a mouse that had come out of the cellar. we couldn't move! we daren't!

We had this massive, massive cast-iron frying pan, that my mother kept on the cellar-head, when not in use. It was so large, that you could cook the bacon, the sausages, the egg and the mushroms together, in the same pan, and they would not touch!!
it was kept from rusting by a layer of fat. Then, one Sunday morning, the frying pan was retrieved, off the cellar head, and was found to have trail of mouse-footprints across the grease.
somehow, the Sunday-breakfast fry-up did not seem quite so appetising a prospect, after that.
(yuk!)

PT

That's where my grandmother used to hide when it was thundering in case a thunderbolt (whatever they were) came through the window!

Originally posted by RoyalRegular
That's where my grandmother used to hide when it was thundering in case a thunderbolt (whatever they were) came through the window!

Was that before, or after putting sheets over the mirrors, and opening the front and back doors, just in case the lightning managed to get into the house, that made sure it could get out again... (mr PT's mother used to do that... or at the very least, she's insist on a window being left open, for the same reason)

Thunder and lightning used to terify me, (it still does!) i hate it, I really do.

I used to hide under the huge, oak drop-leaf table, which was lovely and dark, because of that thick, chenille tablecloth that used to drape, almost to the floor! (-remember the chenille tablecloths? the ones I remember were in ruby-reds, emerald-greens, and sapphire-blue, did they also come in a sort of rich tan/ amber colour?)

PT

Yes Plain Talker
my grandma had a dark red chenille cloth on all the time, we use to sit and plait the fringe on it waiting to eat, speaking of clolors, remember when it was ok to refer to a brown jumper as ni**r brown, was just like saying bottle green, even the shop windows would use that word to advertise that shade od brown.

ladies,you forgot to mention the copper tub,dolly posh with three legs, and the old mangle...carbolic soap,the little blue bag you put in the wash,screwing newspaper up for firelighting, and the dreaded nit nurse at school... regards.....

no, depoix, I have already commented on the nit nurse...

my mother had an old copper which was used to boil clothes up in, with the blue-bag, "reckitts Blue " or something very similar they were called.

My grandmother had two different "dolly posh" laundry tools
one was the standard three legged stool, with a stick on top , the other was really weird, it was like a metal colander, upside down, on the bottom of a stick. it was used the same way as the doly pos with the three legs. I believe the holes, like on a colander made the detergent and water go through the clothes with more force, which helped them get cleaner (IIRC)

carbolic soap? the school loos used to whiff of that stuff! it stank awful!

did it come in like an olive green and a sort of dusky dolly pink? i remember at school the bars were cut up into slivers for the toilets, We had "hand-washing parade" at our school, before lunch break. we had to go, under supervision to the toilets and wash out hands, and have them inspected before we could go to the dining hall for our lunch.

PT

Originally posted by Plain Talker
no, depoix, I have already commented on the nit nurse...

my mother had an old copper which was used to boil clothes up in, with the blue-bag, "reckitts Blue " or something very similar they were called.

My grandmother had two different "dolly posh" laundry tools
one was the standard three legged stool, with a stick on top , the other was really weird, it was like a metal colander, upside down, on the bottom of a stick. it was used the same way as the doly pos with the three legs. I believe the holes, like on a colander made the detergent and water go through the clothes with more force, which helped them get cleaner (IIRC)

carbolic soap? the school loos used to whiff of that stuff! it stank awful!

did it come in like an olive green and a sort of dusky dolly pink? i remember at school the bars were cut up into slivers for the toilets, We had "hand-washing parade" at our school, before lunch break. we had to go, under supervision to the toilets and wash out hands, and have them inspected before we could go to the dining hall for our lunch.

PT yes your right about the colour of the soap,my mum used to scrub dads collars with it and we also had both of those poshes,we were living on the woodthorpe estate then and when my mum got her first electric washer from wigfalls i think she was scared to use the electric mangle

Hello , Well after being of the comp for a few days what a great suprise to see such a lot of great memories have surfaced.
I can,t single anyone out at all Just have to say thanks to you all for sharing all these stories. Like living it all over again (no bl.....y) fear says me laughing. OWDLAD I remember the bit about shouting the steps had been done LOL.
Keep these letters coming in luv em all
Regards Vera.

Vera, another one to add to the list is the smell of fresh bread cooling on the stone window sill, and no one dare to steal it.......but waiting until it was just cool enough to have lashings of dripping spread over it. happy days indeed.

One of my earliest memories is of the kitchen in the house where I was born. It had a huge old black range that was not only for cooking but also supplied hot water. Our cat was forever climbing up above it and disappearing up the chimney, luckily 'mother puss' was black as she certainly came out black.
However in the middle of the kitchen was a large kitchen table with a hinged top, when the top was lifted there was our bath which had to be filled by bucket. At one end of the bath was a mangle that again was hinged to go into the bath when you put the table top back down. I've never heard of these in Sheffield was this a Warwickshire thing or were we just posh?

Originally posted by WALLBUILDER
One of my earliest memories is of the kitchen in the house where I was born. It had a huge old black range that was not only for cooking but also supplied hot water. Our cat was forever climbing up above it and disappearing up the chimney, luckily 'mother puss' was black as she certainly came out black.
However in the middle of the kitchen was a large kitchen table with a hinged top, when the top was lifted there was our bath which had to be filled by bucket. At one end of the bath was a mangle that again was hinged to go into the bath when you put the table top back down. I've never heard of these in Sheffield was this a Warwickshire thing or were we just posh?

re the bath that was "hidden" in the kitchen..

No, it was not a Warwickshire thing... my great-aunt's house, at Shiregreen (bog-standard council house) had the bath in the kitchen, and it had a sort of worktop thing that went over it, a bit like the covers that went over twin-tub washing machines.

I don't remember the mangle being hidden in the bath, but i remeber the huge ones that "lived" outside, as they were too heavy to move indoors.

I also remember the electric mangle, that came with my mother's single-tub washing machine, an "English Electric" brand. I remembe r the "door" on the side of the machine, where the mangle was stored.

i also remember being a small child of about 2/3 yrs old, and my mother drilling me in the way to push the mangle's roller-release lever "in case" she ever got her hand trapped in the rollers.

(yes she was a bit paranoid about things like that, at times... she drilled me, in how to get the latch, on the front-door undone if she ever passed out and someone had to come to the house, and how to turn off the electricity if she got a "zap" lol)

PT

I also remember the electric mangle, that came with my mother's single-tub washing machine, an "English Electric" brand. I remembe r the "door" on the side of the machine, where the mangle was stored.

i also remember being a small child of about 2/3 yrs old, and my mother drilling me in the way to push the mangle's roller-release lever "in case" she ever got her hand trapped in the rollers.

(yes she was a bit paranoid about things like that, at times... she drilled me, in how to get the latch, on the front-door undone if she ever passed out and someone had to come to the house, and how to turn off the electricity if she got a "zap" lol)

PT [/B][/QUOTE]

PT, we had a Hotpoint, and the bit about the the mangle brought it home to me, and it also went off if you put in the clothes too fast.
We can laugh now, but do you think giving us what we saw then as a very important job, was just our Mother's way of keeping us busy and out of mischief.

Originally posted by owdlad
Vera, another one to add to the list is the smell of fresh bread cooling on the stone window sill, and no one dare to steal it.......but waiting until it was just cool enough to have lashings of dripping spread over it. happy days indeed. .............


Hi Owdlad, Yep I can smell the breadcakes now. Yum! We used to get our bums smacked for lifting the cloth off the panshion whilst it was sat in front of the fire waiting to rise. Think it was a panshion . That pork dripping was good specially the last bit with all the jelly there.
Vera

Speaking of mangles and old stuff, these are on display along with yorkshire ranges at the " Castle museum" at york.
It is well worth a visit, there are loads of individual rooms all set out in different periods of history including an old sweet shop.
it is fairly in- expensive to enter as well.

Originally posted by saxon76tr
What interesting reading off you gals.
I am into local history, have a quick scan at what i am trying to achieve. www.members.aol.com/syp99/index.html .................................................. ..........................................
Just saying thank you for such interesting reading. It was good to read all about the village. I think you had some good reliable memorabillia from the family too which leads to a good down to earth story
Regards Vera

Originally posted by saxon76tr
Speaking of mangles and old stuff, these are on display along with yorkshire ranges at the " Castle museum" at york.
It is well worth a visit, there are loads of individual rooms all set out in different periods of history including an old sweet shop.
it is fairly in- expensive to enter as well. There's a couple of museums up here in the North East of England with simular period rooms and little old villages with shops selling stuff from the Victorian times...also an old tramway and railway and loads of other stuff..One is at Preston Park Nr Stockton on Tees, and the other is at Beamish Park in Co Durham..Both well worth a visit.

Hi everyone.
Just got back from the Yorkshire Dales and have read yuor delicious evocative posts.
The people I visited have an aga but it's no more efficient than mine and your moms Yorkshire Range ( Apart from the central heating part of it thats a bonus)

Maxwell, the luckybag man lived about 4 houses from us and I suppose my mom used to buy them. Think they were 1 old penny. He used to sell them at the door and he was also the Knocker upper. Not sure whether u were joking tho, easily fooled me.!
Seems as if ww11 has broke out again on some of the other threads. Seems such a shame.
hazel

we had a cast iron fire place in moms room and when it was really cold dad would light it and we would all sleep in there..remember them bieng taken out when the clean air act came in force....whish i had a load of them now they are very costly,last time i saw a yorkshire range was in the .RIVELIN HOTEL a few years back,remember having the oven plate wrapped up in a sheet to warm the bed on a cold winter night..

I can still feel the warmth and comfort of the oven plate at night and the cold hardness of the same oven plate in the morning.

hazel

does any 1 rember the pikelett man selling his wares from a push bike lol!!!

I remember him walking round with a basket coverd with a white cloth and ringing a bell like a school bell. Can't remember his bike tho

hazel

Originally posted by hazel
I can still feel the warmth and comfort of the oven plate at night and the cold hardness of the same oven plate in the morning.

hazel yes thats true once your feet touched the cold plate you practically jumped out of bed..never late for school in those days.ps..also used a fire brick as a water bottle.remember that ?

Yes Depoix. Remember the house brick so well. I think some were full house bricks and some were half thats like they were split in two. I remember the half didn,t keep hot as long..

I am suprised noone has mentioned the old fly catcher. They used to hang them over the dining table to catch flies Well they did at our place anyone else remeber this. Pooh!! no flies sprays in those days

Vera

Yes Vera I remember those.
Long string of sticky brown paper hanging from the ceiling. it came in a small cylinder and you pulled it out in a line.
Seems very unhygenic now but very effective. Ours was always full of flies. No sprays then to pollute the atmosphere.

Can you remember washdays. We had a mangle that folded down into a kitchen table top. It had cogs on one side and a handle on the other, and wooden rollers it was my job to turn the handle whem my mom pulled the washing up from the tub. had a shelf at the top where we piled the folded wash. We had a posher, a rubbing board, and some blue dye.? Was it reckets blue. We used to rub the clothes up and down the board to get the dirt out. Washing was an all day job and exhausting.

I was standing by the rollers one day when my frock became entangled in the cogs taking my flesh with it. left a lasting impression.
Hazel

Anyone remember Old Mother Riely on tv, can't remember the daughters name, began with a K, think it was Kathy, then i found out mother Riely was played by a man, couldn't belive it.

Hi Poppins

Old mother Riley was played by Arther Riley and his daughter Kitty who I think was his wife.
Remember going to the pictures to see them. I thought them very funny at the time, don't know that they would go down well now.

Hazel
You are right - they were husband and wife but his stage name was Lucan (real name Towle). I think Old Mother Riley also appeared in a comic strip.

Originally posted by PeterJames
Hazel
You are right - they were husband and wife but his stage name was Lucan (real name Towle). I think Old Mother Riley also appeared in a comic strip. Yes it was Arthur Lucan and Kitty Mc Shane..Arthur Lucan was an alchoholic and sometimes could not perform due to his drinking problem and another two guy's Frank Seaton & Roy Rolland who travelled with them and used to stand in for him and they did it so well nobody knew the difference...On the night Arthur died Frank Seaton stood in for him.
Have a look at this site www.its-behind-you.com/doubleacts.html -

Timbuck
Thanks for such good reading on this topic. Really enjoyed it. You know not many folk remember who BIG ETHEL AND LITTLE GRACE were. Used to read of them in the comics. What about the WESTON BROTHERS remember them. Loved you letter
Regards Vera. :

Originally posted by hazel
Yes Vera I remember those.
Long string of sticky brown paper hanging from the ceiling. it came in a small cylinder and you pulled it out in a line.
Se.ems very unhygenic now but very effective

Hazel OUCH!!! yep those rollers were killers. It was hard work turning the cogs around especially when our rollers were so worn out in the middle It must have done a lot of washing before we got it. One thing it must have saved my poor mother a lot of work instead of wheeling an old pram full of piled up washing in a basket. to go to the wash house. We used to see a lady come round called RAG ANNIE. She used to come in the yard empty a load of used clothes out for people to buy.Wow!! Now they have the op shops and some of them are decked out like boutiques.
Good description of the fly catcher I had forgotten that bit

Vera

Vhopkinson,that stirred some long forgotten memories,the Western Brothers,Kenneth and George,who I think were sub- billed as "just a couple of cads",always immaculately attired in full evening dress,white tie and tails etc who delivered their routine in a sort of upper class drawl,and Ethel Revnell and Gracie West a very popular variety act,and can I forget queueing for hours at the old Empire to see Lucan and McShane,Old Mother Riley!what memories!

They still sell thos efly catchers today for some reason, they haven't changed one bit, maybe they use them on out door decks or for camping

can you remember seeing the sand shufflers at the Empire, dressed as egyptians and walking on sand.
I queued to see Joan Regan there and they were on the same bill.
Can you remeember the Gods at the Lycemn and Empire !/6d to go up there, no backs to the seats and tiny figures on the stage.
Hazel

Hazel...

The sand dancers would be "Wilson, Keppell and Betty".

PT

What was the name of the cinema near coles, might be still there.
I waorked there in my teens as an usher, i had to sell the ice creams in the intermission, stand at the front with the tray, when the lights went up in intermission every one jumped out of their seats, i thought they were going to attack me, i got so paniki trying to give change back i started just giving the ice creams away just to get rid of them, if they asked for change i just gave them anything to get rid of them, neadless to say that was my last night there, anyhow the uniforms were so itchy they could keep the job.

Poppins

Do you mean the Regent , I think later called Gaument.
Your career in the icecream business sounds so funny now but I don't expect it was then, I can just imagine the chaos.
I once sold icecreams with a tray in the intervals at a BIngo place at Handsworth. Not an easy job. I could never get the change right. I too didn't last very long. The first night I was there I was put on the stage flicking lights on when the numbers were called. When someone called out for a line, I thought we had finished and cleared all the lights. Felt such a fool.

Thanks PT, Yes thats who I meant,
hazel

i thought you were going to leave this forum ?americans are betta than britts (your last post ,was shocking 4 a firefighters wife)

ianl
Please show me where i said exactly those words,

the americans are better than the brits ?

i still think u were wrong about brits my son is in b/watch over there get pride 4 uk not usa u were born here

Thanks to you all for such great reading. Look forward to this site but it is addictive, get nothing else done. Great stuff Harlan glad you remembered those 2 toffs the brothers Lol

Regards Vera.

Originally posted by ianl
i still think u were wrong about brits my son is in b/watch over there get pride 4 uk not usa u were born here

ianl
sorry don't know what you'r talking about, honest , whats a b/watch , still want to see the quote you'r talking about

Spent the last hour reading through all the letters in this thread
and enjoyed every single one. they brought back many memories some of which were long forgotten. So thought l would throw in another couple of memories. remember the bed bugs Ha! we had to sprinkle some type of powder around the old iron bedstead every night but this didn't seem to upset them too much as you still woke up in the morning with bites and didn't they itch. nothing seemed to get rid of them. lt was concidered that only the unclean had bugs yet our house was always clean and you would often see some of the La-De- Da folks hiding their bites. Thats not such a good memory.
Anyone re member Dick Barton SPECIAL AGENT??(Radio)
Desperate Dan (Beano or Dandy)

Hi Kiwi
I nearly put Dick Barton's tune in favorites in the entertainment section. yes I remember the thrill of listening to Dick Barton special agent With his pals ? Jock and Snowy. We used to listen with our heads close to the radio so we would not miss much. Did you also listen to radio Luxenberg 1/4 to 7 for 15 mins. only pop we used to get. I remember Frankie Lane.

My dad said the Bugs lived in the walls of old houses and you could never get rid, under the wallpaper. I suppose hey came out at night to feed. We were lucky in that we had a new council house so missed that experience.
i worked at Darnall Day Nursery as my first job and spme children there used to come to nursery and have their cllothes hung in a bag in the hall to keep the bugs at bay. We kitted them out in nursey clothes.
hapy days
hazel

Hi Hazel
We use to listen to radio lux for the top ten, for some reason we kept the radio on the floor, use to lay on the floor to listen.

my first job was at WH Smiths, it was a lovely old building, about three floors high, on the corner of a street i don't remember the name, was a bus terminal st, on a bridge i think, WH Smiths back then wa s just wholesale, we use to get orders out for small shops.

Bugs in the wallpaper, never had that, but mom had a lot of woodworm in some old furniture she had to get rid of, now they can cure woodworm, imagine all the lovely furniture that had to be thrown out before they knew how to treat it.

we all had these great big sideboards, that was the main piece in the house, every thing went in there, mom had brass candle sticks on ours for years with lace doilies.

nice memories

Hi Girls, Just have to get this in before a storm hits here. Great reading. Yep Kiwi! remember those bed bugs ok. We were supposed to be spotless clean too, guess it was the old building. What about this one though.
While the war was on we had 3 evacuees from London twin girls and a boy. Well they came and they were loaded in head lice. Yep We all got them. Mum made us sleep with snoods on our heads you would think this would hatch them eh!!!
We all used to go the clinic Sat morning to have our heads cleaned and this rotten stuff poured on us. terrible. Prince Edwards school clinic which was the dental clinic too, they used to do the inoculations as well our arms used to come up like balloons. Not bad enuff the lad had impatigo I think it was and had to be painted with this blue paint, must have been the talk of the school. My mum used to serve school dinners as well she did it for years. Imagine this wouldn't go down to well in this day and age. Anyone add to this
Cheers Vera

I went to the dental clinic at Manor top when I was young to have a tooth out. Must have been very young.
I caught a glimpse of a pure white tablecloth on a table set for dinner with gleaming knives and forks (which were alien to me then) and I thought they were going to eat me. So ran round and round the clinic they never caught me and my mom brought me home still with toothache.
I too regually had nits. No-one else in the family got them and my mom used to comb them out, on to a newspaper. Think it was the boy I sat next to at school who always had his head shaved except for a tuft at the front. Suppose they must have collected there.
Your family must have been very kind to take in evacuees. The ones I came across were very tough, so fierce I was fightened to death of them. I suppose underneath they were frightened themselves.
Hazel

:shakes: good grief,all this talk about bed bugs and head lice is costing me a fortune in shower gel,by the way you scruffy lot how did you get rid of them???
was this the only ailments you suffered with,i was led to belive that in the forties and fifties there were other nasties knocking about :gag:

I did a little research about bed bugs and those dreaded cockroaches and where they hide, and also silverfish.
click here to start itching :heyhey:
www.members.aol.com/syp99/mortality.html

Originally posted by fridgeman
:shakes: good grief,all this talk about bed bugs and head lice is costing me a fortune in shower gel,by the way you scruffy lot how did you get rid of them???
was this the only ailments you suffered with,i was led to belive that in the forties and fifties there were other nasties knocking about :gag:
Hi Fridgeman
We used to spread some kind of powder to kill the bugs ,we also used to run a lighted candle round the iron bedstead, and of course a few incendiary bombs helped.and yes there were other nasties around in the forties and fifties, they were called the next generation.

Sorry, didn't mean it.

A few more memories

On cleanliness...my mother managed without a hoover until about 1954. Before that it was a daily routine of sprinkling damp tea-leaves on the carpets and a good sweep with a hard broom. Once a week all the furniture was shifted so she could sweep under the settee and armchairs etc. (and anything less than a tanner I found was mine !). Every so often the carpet was lifted and turned 90° "to spread the wear"...what a performance that was !! Small rugs and mats went out on the washing line and had seven bells (and probably some wildlife) knocked out of them

On entertainment..who remembers the weekly comic "Radio Fun" ? I was lucky enough to see a few of the characters live at the Empire. Two acts I particularly remember were Jimmy Jewel and Ben Warris, and Laurel and Hardy. Can't remember what year we saw L&H...probably about 1950 but I think it was during their last tour of the UK. Pretty sure we saw 'Old Mother Riley' too but that might have been in pantomime.

I also remember one Saturday morning walking back from town with my Dad, George Formby stopped us on Pinstone Street to ask the way to the station, and I got a scutch round the ear from my Dad for being so cheeky as to ask him for his autograph. :mad:

We all loved listening to the radio, some programmes I remember were "In town tonight" on a Saturday I think, "Much Binding in the Marsh" "Family Favourites" and "Down your way".

Someone already mentioned Dick Barton but there was also a really scary science fiction serial I can't remember the name of, - the intro music was 'Mars' from the Planets Suite.
Not forgetting Billy Cotton and his band who had a regular programme for years.

yes there were other nasties around in the forties and fifties, they were called the next generation.

Sorry, didn't mean it. [/B][/QUOTE]

:clap: do you mean the people from the sixties, i thought they were the lovin generation, you know,woodstock,brighton that sort of thing.

Originally posted by Greybeard
A few more memories
s.

Greybeard, I really enjoyed reading your letter. I can relate to all that. Somehow I don't think we have to justify being very high on the list for cleanliness. Maybe we were cleaner then than some people are now. With all this very modern cleaning gear folk should be squeaky clean but not so. How many nowadays pull all the furniture out on a weekly basis and search for dirt eh!
Just thinking, when I see some of the third world countrys on t.v. washing their clothes in the rivers there. welll I always think their clothes look spotless they have nothing a t all not even a home.
Soap powder forget that one..
I think the training we had was good it sticks with you our parents did well
Regards Vera

early 50s

I remember listening to the radio on Sunday dinnertime.
Jean Metcalfe and her husband ? BIll did a request programe for the troops in germany ? Forces Favourites.
The smell of the meat cooking in the oven, Yorkshire pudding spitting in the pan Jimmy Young singing unchained melody, The sheer excitment of just being young.
After that came BIlly Cotton's band playing his introduction tune "Somebody stole my gal "
Then LIfe with the Lyons, Ben Lyon and his his dizzy wife and children. What was her name?

My brother was in Germany in the army at the time and my Mom sent a request in. to the Metcalfes Unfortunately he was in the glasshouse at the time and was marched out to listen to Jim Reeves singing something like "And I love you so" he said he never lived it down!
Not sure whether its all remembered right, but someone will know

Hazel

'Hey you down there with the glasses!"

(part of Billy Cotton's show)

Jean Metcalfe was married to Cliff Michelmore - still is?

Same memories - even now if I hear just a few bars of 'With a Song in My Heart' I am whisked back to playing in the street with my mates. All the kitchen windows steamed up from the cabbage boiling for about two hrs.

All the men stood waiting outside the pub for the doors to open and without exception everyone of them in a suit 'cus it a Sunday.

After lunch all the streets quiet (or so it seemed), people really did look upon Sunday as a 'special' day and rested, maybe because they all worked so bloody hard - the six day working week was not uncommon back in the fifties.

Other radio shows - Jimmy Clitheroe

...and then we got our first TV and 'Sunday Night at the London Palladium' - but that could be a thread all on its own!!

HI HAZEL.
Loved your memories of youth,lt had me crying into my semolina pudding(how l hated that stuff at school meals,tasted like wallpaper paste) As for the roast beef and Yorkshire well l still get them,but that sheer excitement of just being young, as you so aptly put it,is but a memory,hence me crying in my pudd.
The wife in life with the lyons was Bebe Danials, carn't remember the kids
Also remember the Itma show and Flanagan and Allen(underneath the arches)
Keep those memories coming in folks, there all l have left,(Tut-tut too bad, never mind,)

Originally posted by KIWI
HI HAZEL.
Loved your memories of youth,lt had me crying into my semolina pudding(how l hated that stuff at school meals,tasted like wallpaper paste) As for the roast beef and Yorkshire well l still get them,but that sheer excitement of just being young, as you so aptly put it,is but a memory,hence me crying in my pudd.
The wife in life with the lyons was Bebe Danials, carn't remember the kids
Also remember the Itma show and Flanagan and Allen(underneath the arches)
Keep those memories coming in folks, there all l have left,(Tut-tut too bad, never mind,) Ben Lyon, Bebe Daniels, Barbara Lyon, Richard Lyon..You can find lots more about them with Google..Did you know that "Richard Lyon" was adopted by Ben and Bebe?...Also do you remember Wilfred Pickles..I met him when I was 7 years old at the E.S.C. Sports Ground at Shiregreen in 1946.

Originally posted by Timbuck
Ben Lyon, Bebe Daniels, Barbara Lyon, Richard Lyon..You can find lots more about them with Google..Did you know that "Richard Lyon" was adopted by Ben and Bebe?...Also do you remember Wilfred Pickles..I met him when I was 7 years old at the E.S.C. Sports Ground at Shiregreen in 1946.

yea! Wilfred Pickles and Mabel. Remind me, what was their pet saying??????

:P just been in the sarni shop and the old dear next to me ordered 1/2 pound of chickling and bag it looked disgusting, any of you warriors tasted this if so what's it like :gag:

[QUOTE]Originally posted by fridgeman
:P just been in the sarni shop and the old dear next to me ordered 1/2 pound of chickling and bag it looked disgusting, any of you warriors tasted this if so what's it like :gag:

[/QcUOTE]

Chickling and bag, we used to live on it, still have it occasionly.
Give it a try mate, lts great lashed with salt and vinegar.

What about Peter Brough [I think] and Archie Andrews.
The greatest ventrilaquist ever.
I never saw his lips move once ,listening to it on BBC.
Ray's a Laugh, was another show.
What about 'Big Bill Campbell', can't remember the name of the show,he used to say "Throw another log on the fire ,".
Wilfred Pickles saying was "Give him the money Mable"
All these were just breaking ground for the greatest radio show ever "The Goon Show"

Originally posted by KIWI
Originally posted by fridgeman
:P just been in the sarni shop and the old dear next to me ordered 1/2 pound of chickling and bag it looked disgusting, any of you warriors tasted this if so what's it like :gag:


Chickling and bag, we used to live on it, still have it occasionly.
Give it a try mate, lts great lashed with salt and vinegar.

Isn't it Chitterling and bag? I've no idea what the "bag" was, but chitterlings (known in the USA as "chitlins") are pigs innards of some description

Originally posted by KIWI
yea! Wilfred Pickles and Mabel. Remind me, what was their pet saying??????

Wilfred Pickles' catch-phrases were 'How do, how are yer?', 'Are yer courting?' and 'Give him the money, Mabel' (a reference to wife Mabel Myerscough) and 'What's under the table, Mabel?'.

He started out as a BBC newsreader in 1941 and caused an outcry with his sign-off, "...and to all in the North, good neet".

Regarding Wilfred Pickles "Good Neet",I believe it was allowed by the BBC so listeners knew it was a genuine news bulletin and not something false broadcast by the Germans as Lord Haw Haw, some local pronouniciation of local dialects and words being difficult to reproduce by foreigners,this is how the Resistance groups were able to find spies by putting them in a position to say such words.

I think I am correct - Violet Carson was Wilfred Pickle's pianist

You are correct Peter James.
She had another claim to fame but I am dammed if I can think of it

Originally posted by sweetdexter
You are correct Peter James.
She had another claim to fame but I am dammed if I can think of it

Erm..? are you being serious?

(lol)

She played "Ena Sharples", with an awful hairnet, on "Corro" for donkeys years.

PT

Originally posted by mojoworking

Isn't it Chitterling and bag? I've no idea what the "bag" was, but chitterlings (known in the USA as "chitlins") are pigs innards of some description

An old pal of mine did his apprenticeship as a pork butcher and he did once explain to me what part of a pig's anatomy this came from. Sadly I can't now remember but have remembered my resolve never, ever to eat it ;)

Originally posted by Plain Talker
)
She played "Ena Sharples", with an awful hairnet, on "Corro" for donkeys years.

PT

But she was also 'Auntie Vi' on Children's Hour on the radio a good while before that.

Originally posted by Greybeard
An old pal of mine did his apprenticeship as a pork butcher and he did once explain to me what part of a pig's anatomy this came from. Sadly I can't now remember but have remembered my resolve never, ever to eat it ;)

hiya Greybeard, you don't know what you are missing, the "Bag "
is the pigs stomach. It's lovely with salt and vinegar and a couple of slices of bread and butter, just try a little it's best bought from a butchers such as Beres or another pork butchers.

deecee

Originally posted by deecee
hiya Greybeard, you don't know what you are missing, the "Bag "
is the pigs stomach. It's lovely with salt and vinegar and a couple of slices of bread and butter, just try a little it's best bought from a butchers such as Beres or another pork butchers.

deecee

Thanks for the info, - but I'll still pass.

Makes me wonder what your stomach thinks when it finds it has to digest the stomach of another animal....which of this lot is me and which is "dinner" ? :suspect: :D

I' been watching Miss Marples a lot over Xmas and lots of things from the past jogged my memory buds..Like Telegram Boys on there red BSA Bantams..if anyone got a Telegram it was always bad news..and Children asking if they could leave the table,P's and Q's.. Austin Princess Limo's..Boys playing with toy soldiers..The Milk cart pulled by horse..Policemen blowing whistles to comunicate..and Dick, Jock and Snowy on the Radio..
The Light Program and the Home service..and the football results on Saturday Night...Horice Bachelor on luxemberg flogging his method of winng the pools..and Tommy Sleel Singing "Butterfly". I could go on and on "The wife say' I do".

And listening to the 9 o clock news during the war, which we all had to be silent for before my dad went on night shift.
People who came to the door lugging suitcases out of which they sold goods.
The smell of the coalfire when just lit.
Cold feet on linolium when you went off the pegged rag rug and the nights spent cutting and pegging the new rug to replace the old one.
The sheer delight of getting the long white official envelope through the letterbox which said you had won a scholarship.
Being on National Assistance when my dad was blinded in a steel works accident.
Being the only child at High School on free dinners.
Seeing my dad with a white Stick.
Some good memories some bad.
Hazel

Originally posted by Greybeard
Thanks for the info, - but I'll still pass.

Makes me wonder what your stomach thinks when it finds it has to digest the stomach of another animal....which of this lot is me and which is "dinner" ? :suspect: :D

You just don't know what you're missing. if a local butcher sells it, ask him to cut you a small piece and try it. It's no different to eating tripe.

we also use to eat udder. Use to be favourite Saturday night tea, Bag, tripe or udder, bought from the Castle Market each served with vinegar, salt and white pepper, with bread and butter.

regards

Tazz

Originally posted by vhopkinson
Yes Depoix. Remember the house brick so well. I think some were full house bricks and some were half thats like they were split in two. I remember the half didn,t keep hot as long..

I am suprised noone has mentioned the old fly catcher. They used to hang them over the dining table to catch flies Well they did at our place anyone else remeber this. Pooh!! no flies sprays in those days

Vera

Looking backthro the thread, they still sell those old fashioned fly catchers in local hardwear shops, some people use them on their outside decks, don't know how good they work.

what a good topic,anyone remember a chilhood favourite of mine,mr.pastry,why i ask myself now,but when i was little i loved him.I also remember gloops clubs,anyone know how these started?Dad used to take me to see john hanson in the musicals at the lyceum,they always were very colourful.

Originally posted by hazel
I remember him walking round with a basket coverd with a white cloth and ringing a bell like a school bell. Can't remember his bike tho

hazel Hazel i remember him walking around with a basket covered with a white and i remmember his bike.

Hi Alan 52

You must have reread all the posts to find that which made me reread them. They make such interesting reading and made me realise that there are more Oldies out there than I thought.
The muffin man must have travelled futher than I thought.. so he would need his bike

Hazel

Hi,
Can anyone share my memories of Whitsuntide clothes.

Every Whitsunday we had to be dressed in new clothes from top to bottom. My Dad, with 3 children in tow, our new shoes rubbbing blisters on our heels, would visit relatives who would give us money for our new clothes. Never found out why. Just tradition I supose.
Our best clothes would have to last the year out, the shoes already scuffed on the toes. On the way back He used to call in the old pub in Pond St. The Queen's Head ? We used to sit on the step and wait for him clutching a pork pie, with the words Don't tell your mother. Not the fact that he had had a drink, but he had left us outside.
These trips ceased when I was 11, my dad was blinded in a steelworks accident, so no more whitsuntide clothes.

Hazel

Yes, I remember that it was great to get new clothes and yes, we did have to make them last.We went out and we went on the Sunday school march with our whitsuntide clothes on.
I rember loving clothes as a kid and feeling really good about myself when I had something modern.
I am and was very tall as a child and I remember that my Mum would not at first let me wear platform soles as they made me look like a giant and also she didnt want me to look to old.
I now feel the same about my own daughter ..Our kids seem to get clothes today when they need them and all that tradition has disappeared..
My favourite shoes were batas as they were fashionable but flat so I could wear them with no conflict with my Mum!

There are too many odd memories to give a coherent story so here is a sprinkling that might resonate with someone.

Does anyone remember:
The drinking fountain at the entrance to Meersbrook Park or the Ruskin Museum inside?
The shop that sold old stamps on Kent Rd?
The clinic on Heeley Bottom?
The pet 'cave' in the Sheaf market or the `Guess your Weight' at the entrance on Dixon Lane or the Pie and Mash shop?
The smell of the old Victoria market hall and Woore's stall that sold old books, stamps etc?
Enoch's bakery on Cat Lane. (Our house backed onto this.)
Trams with wooden seats?
The magic of a tram journey at dusk past the small active iron foundries in Attercliffe.

Wow! Memories of the past. I can remember all of that stuff, the rationing, the 'donkey stone' doorsteps, the cockroaches, not being able to see from the top to the bottom of Fitzalan Street, washing strung over the backyard, with all the muck falling on it. Yes, memories. But I also remember the Broomhead sisters, they used to do 'concerts', kids stuff, in the backyard on little Hayward Road, off Fowler Street, and I swear that they were better than some of the 'pop' singers making a fortune in show business today. I caught nits off Minnie Broomhead! By the way harlan, where were the gardens on Birley Street? Missed those.

Steam trains running into the Midland station-----bit scary when you're about 5 years old !
Lovely smell of coffee from Davy's [?] about where W. H. Smith's is now on Fargate.
The trams , swaying and rattling to almost every suburb---and never seemed to stop , no matter what the weather.
The little , Dickensian streets and alleyways that were all round and in the city centre. Both sides of the Moor had dinky little streets running off it and other areas too.
The warmth of chip shops on cold nights.
Sledging down Southgrove Rd. in the late '40's and early '50's and turning left or right to slow up at the bottom , going into Ecclesall Rd. Imagine doing that today ! Suicidal .
The smell of fried onions and candy floss at the Norfolk Park fairground and the sound of the generators.
The railway winding its way through the East End , past the massive steelworks and feeling , " No other city in the world is as famous as us for steel ".Seeing the blood red flames , occasionally through the open doors of workshops and foundries. {It always amuses me , today , when different organisations talk about "having a workshop " to discuss ideas orteachers go on about "at the chalk face' .If they had even seen a steelworks or been down the pit , they'd probably faint. Perhaps it's an attempt to proletariat-ise [?] themselves ?}

Originally posted by Fareast
{It always amuses me , today , when different organisations talk about "having a workshop " to discuss ideas orteachers go on about "at the chalk face' .If they had even seen a steelworks or been down the pit , they'd probably faint. Perhaps it's an attempt to proletariat-ise [?] themselves ?} [/B]

Aye flaming teachers are all the same! but of course they would be they're only grown up students (well some of them grow up) The others go to China :D :D :D

Owdlad
You've sussed me out.
I'm really here for the Bejing Olympics.
It's the 10 metre zimmerframe----free-style

Sat here for over an hour reading all these posts........ as a new person in here I must say I have really enjoyed all your comments! Not from Sheffield myself! (my claim is I married a man that was) I was also born a little too late for some of the memories of all our yesterdays but can remember a few things. Keep the good old stories going! WELL DONE! X

Hi everybody ! Reading some of the posts regarding old radio shows like Dick Barton etc. There's a web site www.radiolovers.com on the net that has a few old BBC shows on there such as The Clitheroe Kid, Educating Archie, The Likely Lads and Men From the Ministry. Unfortunately no Dick Barton. It's free to download them and listen to them. Try it, it's a blast from the past.

Another radio (wireless as we called it) program was desert island discs.

Originally posted by peterdo
Another radio (wireless as we called it) program was desert island discs.
Was? Is, it's still going!

Originally posted by chuffinel
Hi everybody ! Reading some of the posts regarding old radio shows like Dick Barton etc. There's a web site www.radiolovers.com on the net that has a few old BBC shows on there such as The Clitheroe Kid, Educating Archie, The Likely Lads and Men From the Ministry. Unfortunately no Dick Barton. It's free to download them and listen to them. Try it, it's a blast from the past.

This is great, i don't think we can get these in the states, i understand someone bought up all the rights to these old radio/tv shows, i think it was Bill Cosby few years back, thanks again.

Poppins

Do they still play "music while you work" as well? :smile:

Originally posted by peterdo
Do they still play "music while you work" as well? :smile:

NO! but they play music while you sign on and music while you drink all the dole money in the pub :rant:

I remember the tram covered in lights at the end of the war passing by as I stood in the doorway of my Aunts shop at 366 Attercliffe Common ( near Tinsley Terminus)- Sitting for hours watching the cobbler a few doors away making clogs- walking up the cobbled street next(?) to Tinsley Wire at Tinsley Terminus,over the railway and canal to slide down the slag heaps- watching the men working at Tinsley Rolling Mills, the steel bar becoming strip steel as it was caught and thrown into the rollers - watching the "Road in the sky" creeping across the valley

[QUOTE]Originally posted by PeterJames
[B]I remember the tram covered in lights at the end of the war passing by as I stood in the doorway of my Aunts shop at 366 Attercliffe Common ( near Tinsley Terminus)- Sitting for hours watching the cobbler a few doors away making clogs- walking up the cobbled street next(?) to Tinsley Wire at Tinsley ...............

Hey Peter, That cobblers was where I had my pair of Red Clogs made. I remember tormenting my Dad for a pair, he finally gave in and said I had to wear them all the time. Even went dancing to the Astoria in them but being cunning as I thought, my friend took a pair of extra shoes for me to wear.Red Clogs with a gold trim I ask you??

Regards Vera

Originally posted by poppins
This is great, i don't think we can get these in the states, i understand someone bought up all the rights to these old radio/tv shows, i think it was Bill Cosby few years back, thanks again.


Poppins

Hi Poppins, Thanx for the radio station infor. I have been listening to it. You can easily sit there laughing all by yourself when you know what it's all about.
Regards Vera.

Memories of the Past

I'm going back now to when I was 16, It would be 1952//53.
The yr I left school, the old King's funeral and the new Queen' s coronation. Everything shone new. The sun seemed to shine all day and I had my first real boyfriend. Tony Wood. An Adonis, brown eyes, long eyelashes and black curly hair.
She wears red feathers and a hula hula skirt was on the radio all the time and sets me and Tony Wood forever in that time warp. Quartermast Experiment was a serial on TV, Youth club, amatuer dramatics, cricket at the weekends with a picnic. All is a lifetime away. It all disappeared he went to uni and I found someone else.
I met Tony Wood 40 yrs on he still had the lashes and the brown eyes but the hair was grey and so was mine, but the memories were still there.
hazel

Great to hear your memories , Hazel about 1952/3.
I'm just a stripling at the side of you [!] ; I was 10-11 years old at that time but they did seem great days when the world seemed to be getting better and better.
Memories of the war were fading ; I think everything had come off ration ; no unemployment to speak of ; Stalin had died in March '53 so the Cold War was now less threatening ; the Korean War ended , or at least the fighting did , in 1953 ; then the conquest of Everest and the Coronation.
I started at grammar school that year and we moved house , only about half a mile away and so on a personal level too , it seemed like the dawn of a wonderful new era.
When did it start going wrong , I wonder ?

HiFfareast

Perhaps it didn't go wrong, perhaps we just grew older and saw life from a different angle. I must have left Grammar School as you started.!
It's good to capture exactly what it was like being 16 with the songs, smells, innocence and first love---- all evocative of those times.

hazel

We were all taken out of school to the pictures to see the Queens coronation, we were all given souvornirs, i jusr remember getting i pair of scissors but i think we got something else too.

I remember my mom saying, if those scissors are made in Sheffield they won't cut butter !

We were at StPatrics then so we just had a short walk down the hill to the pictures, forget the name of the place now.

Originally posted by hazel
Hi,
Can anyone share my memories of Whitsuntide clothes.

Every Whitsunday we had to be dressed in new clothes from top to bottom. My Dad, with 3 children in tow, our new shoes rubbbing blisters on our heels, would visit relatives who would give us money for our new clothes. Never found out why. Just tradition I supose.
Our best clothes would have to last the year out, the shoes already scuffed on the toes. On the way back He used to call in the old pub in Pond St. The Queen's Head ? We used to sit on the step and wait for him clutching a pork pie, with the words Don't tell your mother. Not the fact that he had had a drink, but he had left us outside.
These trips ceased when I was 11, my dad was blinded in a steelworks accident, so no more whitsuntide clothes.

Hazel
Yep Hazel
I remember Whitsunday very well, i allso remember new years eve,i had dark hair so at 1 min to midnight i was pussed out side freezing cold, with my bit of coal, wood,a tanner wrapped up in a bit of news paper and told not to come in till next year, then i had to go to all the Neighbours but it was worth it as i got a tot of sherry off every one, i dont know if the sherry was traditional or it was just to keep me from dying of hiperthermia.
good memories

Hi Poppins,
I went to St Pats, the cinema was called the Capitol then,later called the Esaldo, Us boys got a penknife each and the girls got a pair of scissors. I was about 7yr old then.

Originally posted by radiomick
Hi Poppins,
I went to St Pats, the cinema was called the Capitol then,later called the Esaldo, Us boys got a penknife each and the girls got a pair of scissors. I was about 7yr old then.

Imagine today giving out weapons as akeep sake ! can't even get on a plane now with those things.

Do you remember a Moreen Wild from St Pats ? she was my best friend, came from a realy big family.

Originally posted by poppins
Imagine today giving out weapons as akeep sake ! can't even get on a plane now with those things.

Do you remember a Moreen Wild from St Pats ? she was my best friend, came from a realy big family.
The name dont ring any bells, the girls in my class were the Bishop twins, Margaret Bell, Rita Atkins, and some more who's names i cann't remember.

i remember shuffleing round a packed castle market with mi mam on a saturday..i used to hate it but i put up with it coz i used to get a small plate of cockles:D :D how come the place is never that busy these days:confused: :confused: :confused:

Originally posted by kirky
i remember shuffleing round a packed castle market with mi mam on a saturday..i used to hate it but i put up with it coz i used to get a small plate of cockles:D :D how come the place is never that busy these days:confused: :confused: :confused:

Those cockles were great, soaked in vineger, they never washed the plates, just filled them up for the next person, didn't do any body any harm back then, place would get closed down if they did that now a days.

Oh! those good old days !

Originally posted by kirky
i remember shuffleing round a packed castle market with mi mam on a saturday..i used to hate it but i put up with it coz i used to get a small plate of cockles:D :D how come the place is never that busy these days:confused: :confused: :confused:

:( there's only two stalls left in the castle market that sells shell fish and the like,even the tripe stall has closed down,in fact i don't know why they just don't close the place all together,i mean have you visited barnsley,rotherham or leeds markets, out of this world,wonderfull friendly people,not like the castle market wollers! :rant:

Originally posted by fridgeman
:( there's only two stalls left in the castle market that sells shell fish and the like,even the tripe stall has closed down,in fact i don't know why they just don't close the place all together,i mean have you visited barnsley,rotherham or leeds markets, out of this world,wonderfull friendly people,not like the castle market wollers! :rant:

I am a big lover of indoor food markets, and have some fond memories of Castle Market (cockles included!!) but the last time Ivisited (last summer) I could have wept - stalls closed and no 'life' to it.

I hate to say this as a staunch Sheffielder, but I agree with fridgeman - not long ago visted the market in Leeds and it was just how I remember Sheffield used to be - with that special atmosphere only indoor markets can bring.

I have been away from Sheffield nearly twenty years now - what happened??

Docmel ,

I'm afraid what's happened is that the Powers-That-Be , who have variously been running Sheffield for the past 20 years or more , have no idea what goes to make a city , a real city.
They've spent a hell of a lot of money on different prestige affairs and neglected the "bread and butter" things that make a good city. I , like you , left Sheffield 25 years ago and I still have fond memories of it. Like you , I criticise what's being done [or not done ! ] from a position of affection for Sheffield , not hatred.
A good few of us on S.F. have also pointed out how Sheffield seems more and more like a grim East European city , circa 1985 , but we're always told how wonderful Sheffield is and how the Council are doing their utmost.....etc.....
Ostriches , in my opinion !

Originally posted by kirky
i remember shuffleing round a packed castle market with mi mam on a saturday..i used to hate it but i put up with it coz i used to get a small plate of cockles:D :D how come the place is never that busy these days:confused: :confused: :confused:

So that's why someone said you look like a prawn :D

I hated the damned things, especially if you got some sand to crunch on, but the boiled ham sandwiches from the stall opposite were to die for :thumbsup:

MEMORIES MEMORIES

Anyone remember going caroling with a lit candle in a jam-jar,
with a piece of string tied round the top to carry it with or do the kids still do it?? Used to enjoy it and got a bit of spending money for it, though to be honest l dont think they paid me for my singing but rather to get rid of me. Used to get the odd mince pie too.

Kiwi:--

We used to do some genuine Carol singing , as kids , but when we got to about 14 or 15 we used to go mainly to be with the girls in our gang , in the dark.
We used to go round Victoria Road , Broomhill-----plenty of shrubbery round the gardens there !
If you'd have said to the girls , " Coming for a walk ?"
they'd probably refuse but Carol singing gave everyone a good reason to be roaming round in secluded areas , in the dark.

Not specifically about Sheffield, but I thought those of you of a 'certain age' would like this site:

http://www.whirligig-tv.co.uk

certainly bought back a few memories for me

Way back........



I'm talking about Hide and Seek in the park.

The corner shop.

Hopscotch.

Butterscotch.

Skipping.

Handstands.

Football with an old can.

Marbles

Roly Poly.

Hula Hoops,

The smell of the sun and fresh cut grass.

Bubble gum.

An ice cream cone on a warm summer's night from the van that plays a tune - Chocolate or vanilla or strawberry or maybe Neapolitan or perhaps a screwball ice cream!



Watching Saturday morning cartoons....short commercials,

Buses where you knew the name of the driver and he yours

Banana Splits, Road Runner, He-Man, and staying up for Doctor Who.

When around the corner seemed far away and going into town seemed like going somewhere.



Earwigs, wasps, stinging nettles and bee stings.

Sticky fingers.

Cops and Robbers, Cowboys and Indians, and Zorro.

Climbing trees.

Walking to school, no matter what the weather.



Running till you were out of breath and getting a stitch, laughing so hard that your stomach hurt. Jumping on the bed. Pillow fights. Spinning

around, getting dizzy and falling down was cause for giggles. Being tired from playing....remember that?



The worst embarrassment was being picked last for a team.

Water balloons were the ultimate weapon & playing cards & pegs in the spokes transformed any bike into a motorcycle.



I'm not finished just yet.....



Eating raw jelly. Red ice blocks.



Remember when...

The only types of trainers were - girls and boys, and Dunlop Whites - and the only time you wore them at school was for P.E.



You knew everyone in your street - and so did your parents. It wasn't odd to have two or three "best" friends.



You didn't sleep a wink on Christmas Eve.

When nobody owned a pure-bred dog.

When 25p was decent pocket money

When you'd reach into a muddy gutter for a penny.

When nearly everyone's mum was at home when the kids got there.



When it was considered a great privilege to be taken out to dinner at a real restaurant with your parents.

When any parent could discipline any kid, or feed them or use them to carry groceries and nobody, not even the kid, thought anything bad of it.

When being sent to the head's office was nothing compared to the fate that awaited a misbehaving student at home... Basically, we were in fear for our lives but it wasn't because of drive-by shootings, drugs, gangs etc. Parents and grandparents were a much bigger threat! - And some of us are still afraid of them!!



Remember when....

Decisions were made by going "Eeny, Meeny, Minny Moe"

"Race issue" meant arguing about who ran the fastest.

Money issues were handled by whoever was the banker in "Monopoly".



The worst thing you could catch from the opposite sex was germs. And the worst thing in your day was having to sit next to one.



It was unbelievable that 'British Bulldog 123' wasn't An Olympic event.

Having a weapon in school meant being caught with a catapult.

Nobody was prettier than Mum.

Scrapes and bruises were kissed and made better.

Taking drugs meant orange-flavoured chewable aspirin!

Ice cream was considered a basic food group

Older siblings were the worst tormentors, but also the fiercest protectors



If you can remember most or all of these, then you have LIVED.

Nice one, Kirky. I can just about tick all those boxes!

What about garden fires on a Sunday evening. Coming home just as it was getting dark always smelling of smoke? Hands smelling of grass, leaves, bark and mud.

I'm currently reading a book I just know you'd enjoy. It's called Where Did It All Go Right by Andrew Collins and is nothing more than an account of his childhood in Peterborough with chapters devoted to the dairies he kept from 1972.

If it's Action Man, Multi-Coloured Swap Shop and Operation you're after, along with the power cuts and Pineapple Chunks, then you'll love it.

Originally posted by Ousetunes
Nice one, Kirky. I can just about tick all those boxes!

What about garden fires on a Sunday evening. Coming home just as it was getting dark always smelling of smoke? Hands smelling of grass, leaves, bark and mud.

I'm currently reading a book I just know you'd enjoy. It's called Where Did It All Go Right by Andrew Collins and is nothing more than an account of his childhood in Peterborough with chapters devoted to the dairies he kept from 1972.

If it's Action Man, Multi-Coloured Swap Shop and Operation you're after, along with the power cuts and Pineapple Chunks, then you'll love it.

ah the power cuts of 74 ish being the oldest it was my job to fetch the coal from the celler i used to proper **** mi sen going down with mi candle..i reckon i used to get down the celler and back in about 4.2 seconds:hihi: :hihi: :hihi: :hihi:

very good kirky i remember all that you mentioned,enjoyed reading all you wrote,good memories.

Originally posted by vhopkinson
Oh!! I remember so well all this Hazel. We used to wait around for the rug to be finished so we could have it on our bed before it got dirty. If we missed out we mite get my brothers army coat if he was on leave this was always warm.
Remeber the Zebra yes and the Ronuck for the floors. clean piece of newspaper in the doorway too to step on.
I often thought of writing a book.My memory goes back to when I was only 3yrs old. Mind you we were always spotlessly clean but not well off. This scrubbing and polishing has stayed with me all my life as still luv to do house work, these mod appliances help though .Hey. wash days 2 tubs in front of the fire one to wash the other to rinse. Stand there waiting to get in the wash tub before it went cold Shudder!shudder!. Sylvan soap I think it was that floated. Rubbing board and ponsh1 Hope we ain't boring anyone sorry if we are. Good memories tho. Hi Poppins
Regards Vera.

Hi Vera,
I don't think yours or Hazels memories are boring, I was around in those days and it's lovely to look back and be reminded of things gone by I remember quite a lot and some of the things you mention bring more memories flooding back. keep on writing
regards Jan

Wanted to bring my favorite thread to the top again !

Now thinking back, wasn't the old money very confusing ? i don't think the young ones realise it, i bet some of us oldies couldn't make change with it now either.

How confusing it must have been for tourists, bet a lot of them got ripped off in the shops back then, those coins were heavy to to carry around, i like the pound pieces thats used now.

How long since the change over ?

I remember when people off the Manor and Parson cross estates did not think that Driving licenses, Road tax and Insurance were "optional Extras" for a car.

PS, And chav free areas

Originally posted by kirky
Way back.....
...
HEY tHERE kIRKY
You did well that lot was fabulous, here I am racking my brain trying to add on to it and youv'e said the lot. (apart from those joggers you mentioned we always called them pumps) Tell you it makes you think because not much of that happens these days does it. The beauty of it all it nealrly all cost nothing.
Don't suppose you tied string to people letter boxes, hid behind a bush when they opened the front door. Ran Off. Tee! Hee!

Thanks Kirky Vera.
.



B
remember most or all of these, then you have LIVED.

Originally posted by Jan39
Hi Vera,
I don't think yours or Hazels memories are boring, I was around in those days and it's lovely to look back and be reminded of things gone by I remember quite a lot and some of the things you mention bring more memories flooding back. keep on writing
regards Jan

Hi Jan, Yes this is a great topic and we all enjoy it and remember so well. Wonder if these were really the "good old days" I think we should write a book between us. lol

Regards Vera.

Sunday Lunchtimes - every pub at 12 o'clock had men outside waiting fro opening. They ALL wore suits.

Originally posted by docmel
Sunday Lunchtimes - every pub at 12 o'clock had men outside waiting fro opening. They ALL wore suits.

Yes, my Dad had one suit had it on every sunday to go to the Magnet, in fact the best photo of him i have now is outside the Magnet in his sunday suit.

I remember going once in a while us all going to like a small posh club onBurngreave road, at the end just before the 97 bus turned the corner towards that road towards the Hospital.

The place didn't look like a pub from the outside so i thought of it as a club, mom use to get dressed up to go there, we all sat outisde and drank tizer.

Originally posted by poppins
Yes, my Dad had one suit had it on every sunday to go to the Magnet, in fact the best photo of him i have now is outside the Magnet in his sunday suit.

I remember going once in a while us all going to like a small posh club onBurngreave road, at the end just before the 97 bus turned the corner towards that road towards the Hospital.

The place didn't look like a pub from the outside so i thought of it as a club, mom use to get dressed up to go there, we all sat outisde and drank tizer.

When I first came to Canada and went to the pub with my cousin he thought I was nuts because I put on a suit( 2nd best one yet) I soon got out of that habit especially when the temperature hit 90 degrees.

Originally posted by radiomick
Hi Poppins,
I went to St Pats, the cinema was called the Capitol then,later called the Esaldo, Us boys got a penknife each and the girls got a pair of scissors. I was about 7yr old then.
i remember i got a pen knife for the 1936 coranation
and a small thin tin box wlth chocolate king and queens head on the top

Who remembers going to the pavillion in Norfolk Park and getting those chocolate covered ice cream lollies or you could get Vimto diluted with hot water in the winter?

Playing football and not have to keep a look out for pervy old men.

Going home, worried s**tless because you've ruined your shoes or trousers and your mother was going to give you hell.

Clubbing together to buy 10 Park Drive.

Buying a packet of condoms (3s 9d for 3, Durex lubricated, first ones I bought) and still having all 3 left 2 months later.


Oh Happy Days.
:smile: :smile:

harping back to one of the earlier posts, the donkey stone was named so because the trade mark of the major firm that made them was a donkey. I dont know how I learned this - it might have been here on the forum. I'm just waiting to be able to use this info in a quiz.

Didin't they use to sell cigs in fives ? I'm sure i use to be able to buy 5 park drive or woodbines, could be wrong though, maybe they came in 10 packs only.

No, You're right,

I remember woodbines being in 5's. In a paper packet with the ends of the cigarettes showing so you could just tip them out.

hazel

There used to be a mechanical vending machine outside the Post Office on Gleadless Rd near the Heeley Green Cinema that sold Woodbines in 2's I think. You'd put your money in and pull open the drawer. When you closed it the next pack dropped into position. Used to be a skinny little packet, obviously.

We use to be able to nip one out of our Dads pack until he started rolling his own, I can just imagine how strong they must have been.

Originally posted by sultana
harping back to one of the earlier posts, the donkey stone was named so because the trade mark of the major firm that made them was a donkey. I dont know how I learned this - it might have been here on the forum. I'm just waiting to be able to use this info in a quiz.

Hey Sultana,
I mentioned the Donkey stone but have no idea where the name came from, you could be rite there someone may confirm this for you to use on trivia. The more you put on the whiter the step came up.I used to have to do the (lavy step) with a little ladling can, must have been only five years old. Is that called child labour these days. having a laugh that. Ha Ha.

Regards Vera.

Originally posted by poppins
Didin't they use to sell cigs in fives ? I'm sure i use to be able to buy 5 park drive or woodbines, could be wrong though, maybe they came in 10 packs only.

Hey poppins

They sure sold the woodbines in fives. the little packet was open at the top so you could smell the tobaco. I used to fetch them for my Dad at the corner shop. I sniffed at them all the way home then got a good hiding for the bacca was all hanging out the top.When I was in the "Brownies" we put our money together and bought a packet, thought we could smoke and we were all as sick as dogs. Can't stand the smell of smoking now

Regards Vera

Can remember when you couldn't buy cigarettes of the english variety unless you was well in with the corner shop owner,
the only fags you could get was Turkish cigs
, one brand was called Pasha the other slips my mind, l've no doubt someone will remember the other one. My father used to send me all around the district looking for them and believe me if you ever smoked one wich l did,you would never want to smoke again, they tasted like camel dung. however not to be detered l started smoking cinnamon sticks purchased from the chemist, hell of a thing to keep alight though
My father also used to send me to the corner shop for ONE razor blade.
Kiwi

Originally posted by KIWI
Can remember when you couldn't buy cigarettes of the english variety unless you was well in with the corner shop owner,
the only fags you could get was Turkish cigs
, one brand was called Pasha the other slips my mind, l've no doubt someone will remember the other one. My father used to send me all around the district looking for them and believe me if you ever smoked one wich l did,you would never want to smoke again, they tasted like camel dung. however not to be detered l started smoking cinnamon sticks purchased from the chemist, hell of a thing to keep alight though
My father also used to send me to the corner shop for ONE razor blade.
Kiwi


HI KIWI
Just having a laugh at those Pashas geez they were rotten. The others may have been those Camel cigs but not sure on that.
We used to be able to get a cinnaon stick to take to school when Mum couldn't get us any (cocoa and sugar) this we use to have in a lttle bit of paper to dip our fingers in. had all the other kids dipping in too. What a laugh!!!!!

Regards Vera.

Originally posted by vhopkinson
HI KIWI
Just having a laugh at those Pashas geez they were rotten. The others may have been those Camel cigs but not sure on that.
We used to be able to get a cinnaon stick to take to school when Mum couldn't get us any (cocoa and sugar) this we use to have in a lttle bit of paper to dip our fingers in. had all the other kids dipping in too. What a laugh!!!!!

Regards Vera.
i was just wondering what play ground "crazes" you had then,we had loads in the 70's but the two that stick out were marbles and football cards,alo vaguely remember something that resembles a hoover pipe and everyone used to swing'em round because of the noise they made (sad or what and yes i had one) oh yeah not forgetting the clackers but i think they were banned coz some kids broke thier wrists:hihi:

Kirky, with reference to playground crazes, I can't think of too many. For some reason around 1981 there seemed to be a lot of girls (mainly) playing tennis, albeit with their bare hands and a tennis ball, over a drawn square approximately 4' X 4' square.

Ofcause, the most popular craze amongst the lads was the swapping of Figurine-Panini footie stickers. "I'll swap one of my Kenny Dalglishes for your Arthur Albiston". And that's about it; pathetic really isn't it?

But one great craze took place in the boys' bogs at Nethergreen Middle School (it's okay, nothing too rude. Read on).

Above the urinal was a window with a wide ledge. It was quite high up. Silly bit of planning really. A Blue Peter badge went for the Big Guy who could aim his tid and reach the window ledge.

(Mind if I omit my own personal achievements (or lack of) on this subject?)

We used to play 5 stones, marbles, whip and top, tiggy and something called delivio, hopscotch. handstands up against the wall, Nip into church which was in the playground and see an occasional coffin lying in state surrounded by candles. The boys used to nip into the crypts under the church but I never did.

And at home see-saw on the curved pieces of anderson shelter, skipping with a long rope across the rd and 4/5 skipping at the same time, The only traffic up Arbourthorne Rd then was the 105 bus. .

hazel

Does anyone remember playing that game with a tennis ball in a stocking/ pait of tights.

You'd swing the ball, knotted in the tights/ stocking, left/ right, and up and down in a cross shape, as you stood against a wall...

PT

Originally posted by Plain Talker
Does anyone remember playing that game with a tennis ball in a stocking/ pait of tights.

You'd swing the ball, knotted in the tights/ stocking, left/ right, and up and down in a cross shape, as you stood against a wall...

PT

Yes. i remember doing that, the tennins ball were white then, also doing a handstand up against the wall and see how long you could stay up while the blood rushed to your head, if you stayed up too long someone would pull you down.

i remember doing handstands in the playground. do you remember doing the handstand "stunt" where you did a handstand, then someone else did a handstand in front of you, and another person did a handstand onto them, and so on, to see how many peole you could get piled up against each other in the huddle?

and what about singing "the big ship sails on the alley-alley oe"
and gettigng ourselves all twisted around ourselves, like when you join hands to sing "auld lang syne?"

PT

i remember doing the alley alley oe like it was yesterday, what we did for entertainment after we finished swapping comic books the every kid on the street, we never threw on away, always foundsomeone to swap one with, all got our moneys worth out of those.

Here are one or two games we used to play.
we would get a couple of pieces of slate( there was plenty
around during the blitz,)and play nick-nacks,they play it with spoons these days. Then we would purchase two piece of bamboo from the hardware shop, a penny for a thick one to make a bow and a halfpenny one for a arrow these turned us instantly in to Robin Hood, then when we tired of that we would take the string off the bow put on a piece of cotton and a bent pin grab a jam-jar and we were off fishing for stickle-backs we also used to tie string to the four corners of a hanky
put a wieght on the ends and we had parachutes all good fun until l made a bigger chute after cutting a big chunk out of my mothers bed sheet, ouch.
We also had another ouch when we just about destroyed a neibours trellis fence getting slats to make swords after watching Zorro films.
We also had fun belting a tire up and down the street, then there was conkers,marbles, tops, cigarette cards and used to spend time watching the girls do handstands with their frocks tucked into their knickers
I think the saying little things amuse little minds originated with us
Kiwi

My Mom was born in 1911 and she used to tell me about when she was young and her father was a nghtwatchman for the new estates being built
He was married in 1890's so I am going back a long way. He and her mother came from Birmingham and she said they were so poor they walked from there to Sheffield pushing a handcart with a blanket chest on it carrying their worldly goods.

When he was a nightwatchman she said it was her job, being the youngest of 8 to take him a meal her Mother had cooked and put in a pudding basin and tied in a hankerchief.

She lived in Solly St and she caught the tram as far as it would go which was to the crematorium on City Rd and walked the rest of the way. So I'm thinking he was nightwatchman for the Manor estate being built.

She said her Dad loved plants and birds and when a bird was injured he would bend saplings over and stick the other ends in the ground to make a cage for it So I'm presuming the manor Estate was part woods at the time.

She told me to pass the time he used to cut out silhouettes of trees and give them a siver paper backing and I can just remember these being popular.

hazel

Originally posted by Plain Talker
Does anyone remember playing that game with a tennis ball in a stocking/ pait of tights.

You'd swing the ball, knotted in the tights/ stocking, left/ right, and up and down in a cross shape, as you stood against a wall...

PT

Yes! I remember doing that against the wall of our house. The faster you went, the better you were.

It was great until the stocking / tight finally wore out and after one almighty whack the tennis ball would fly off at high speed never to be seen again. :)

ONE OR TWO PEOPLE HAVE SPOKE ABOUT THE FLEACHERS BREAD VANS BUT DOSE ENEYONE REMEMBER A MAN CALLED TOMMY WALLS WHO WAS SELLING GILLOTTS BREAD AROUND THE ARBOURTHORNE.THANKS AND KEEP THEM COMING.

Hi Vera
Thought I'd better transfer to This thread as GPO isn't really talking about Coles Corner.
You've reninded me about Dainties, I'd forgotten all about it. A really wonderful sweet shop..
Was it in Norfolk St and was Marsdens on Change Allley.
I can't remember what was across from the GPO before the cinema, can you ? I think bombed buildings
I used to go to school from Pond St --Sycamore St--Milk St (past the postman's club )---Change Alley--- cross to Angel St and on Campo Lane and so on.

I knew a girl who worked as a telephonist called Nora Hardwick
but perhaps before your time. She said they were ruled with a rod of iron and you had to ask permission, of a very strict superviser, to leave your seat to go to the toilet.

hazel

To THe Mods-------I meant this to go in the old thread

Hi Hazel,I remember Marsdans Milk Bar on Change Alley, and there was newsagents on there I think called Westons?who could be relied on to obtain specialist publications,(no not that sort!)and Dainties was on Norfolk St if I remember, a posher sweetshop than the normal ones.The mention of Sycamore St brings back a memory,my Mum and Dad and their friends used to go in a pub on there called I think the Shakespeare,and one Saturday night me and a mate went to have a drink with them, and when my Dad asked us what we wanted we said " A pint and two straws", and my Dad always one for a joke had a word with the landlord and sure enough we got a pint and two straws!!Keep up the memories Luv'em

Hazel
There was a bomb site opposite the GPO building on Flat St. I don't know what was there before. i worked in the GPO in the 50s & 60s and my wife was an operator.

Hi Prioryx

In the thread on Coles Corner Vera was asking if anyone worked at he GPO around that time.
Yes I remember the fence round the bombed buildin now.

harlon

Do you remember as you went up Sycamore St that there was, to the rightt, a Blacksmith who used to shoe horses. I'm sure that as I came home from school as a child we passed the open front and sparks used to fly as he hammered. his shoes.

(reminds me of the song, "down in old kentucky where horse-shoes are lucky" )

And can you remember the 100 steps down from the Lyceum to Pond St. We used to run up and down them as children counting as we went.

I remember Westons we used to call in there on Sundays after going to Mass to buy american comics which were different to ours, if we bought tem before, we read them in church. almost a mortal sin.
We could buy a whole lot ffor 2 shillings.
hazel

Originally posted by prioryx
Hazel
There was a bomb site opposite the GPO building on Flat St. I don't know what was there before. i worked in the GPO in the 50s & 60s and my wife was an operator.

I remember the bomb site opposite the GPO, It was steel girders I was told it was something they had started building before the war,but was posponed because of it. I could be wrong on this.

Originally posted by prioryx
Hazel
There was a bomb site opposite the GPO building on Flat St. I don't know what was there before. i worked in the GPO in the 50s & 60s and my wife was an operator.

Hi there Prioryx
Ask your wife if she knew me Vera Pope, I worked in the GPO from 1952-1958 I have a good memory for names I may remember her, I haven,t yet met anyone on here who knows me since I live in Australia now

Regards... Vera.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by hazel
[B]Hi Vera
Thought I'd better transfer to This thread as GPO isn't really talking about Coles Corner.
You've reninded me about Dainties, I'd forgotten all about it. A really wonderful sweet shop..
Was it in Norfolk St and was Marsdens on Change Allley.
I can't remember what was across from the GPO before the cinema, can you ? I think bombed buildings
I used to go to school from Pond St --Sycamore St--Milk St (past the postman's club )---Change Alley--- cross to Angel St and on Campo Lane and so on.


Hi Hazel, Just caught up with the rite thread. Daintys was actually in Fitzalan Square. on the row of shops just where the Taxi Cabs used to stand,think there was a fruit shop but not too sure. Yep. The bomb buildings were opposite the Post Office side where the telegram boys used to go in Were you a telegram boy Priory X LOL

Regards Vera.

My uncle was the MD of Marsdens. They had milk bars at Change Alley, Pinstone St. and a bakery at Abbeydale. All my family sold ice-cream at Clumber park and ran the lakeside cafeteria. My Grandma who was the Clumber Cafe Manageress actually lived at the back in the old servants quarters of the long gone clumber House. In the 50's I sold ice cream in the kiosk on the cricket pitch. every weekend in season for 12/6d a day. Marsdens eventually became part of the Northern Dairies.

Hi hazel, you're at it again arn't you my friend, great thread but can I ask if anyone can remember a Thorntons at the corner of Norfolk Street? I might be wrong and I also remember some single story buildings at the other end of that row which must have been high Street,and eventually it became a steak house?
Nice to "speak" to all us older ones.

Applegrim,

I remember a Thorntons on Norfolk Street which would have been situated roughly between Chapel Walk and what is now Arundel Gate. I think it is a Chinese Buffet place now.

I think I have access to a photo of it somewhere.

Thank goodness someone else remembers,do you remember the steak house as well? there was some gardens there with some forms, I suppose it's where TJ Hughes is now.
now this is of subject, and i don't know whether I dreamt this or not, but does anyone else remember a boat on the sands at Cleethorpes, about the time we all went away with the workingmens clubs, it had been made into a cafe and I recollect going with my grandad,can anyone else remember?

Also can you cast your memories back to the steps near the Lyceum,which lead down into Pond street, I'm back on food again, can you remember a long wooden building where they sold cheap dinners, and wonderful puddings and custard

Applegrim

You brought back some Sheffield memories there.

My mom used to take me to a place at the old Art College on Arundel Street to get fixed up with secondhand shoes.

I say shoes but invariably it was walloes or boots.

Leaving there we would have a dinner and great pud in the cookhouse in Pond Street.

I also remember another eating place which was like a prefabricated building on Blonk Street.

Can anybody remember it?


Happy Days!

Speaking of Thorntons - there used to be one on Church Street opposite the Cathedral. My aunt worked there at one time - when my mum and I were in town she used to take me there - if I got bored with the 'gossip' I used to stand just outside the shop entrance - there were some brass letterboxes which belonged to teh offices upstairs and they used to fascinate me for soem reason.

Originally posted by Jan39
I remember the bomb site opposite the GPO, It was steel girders I was told it was something they had started building before the war,but was posponed because of it. I could be wrong on this.

Correct :) It was the construction site of a posh new cinema, - I have the details somewhere....

I can't honestly remember Marsdens in Change Alley but I do remember a milk bar in the row of pre-fab shops on the bomb site that would become Walsh's store, - was this also a Marsdens ?

The only shop I remember on Change Alley was the large hardware/ironmonger's shop on the corner with Norfolk St....or was it on Mulberry St ? Anyway the building is some kind of a clinic now.

[






The "cookhouse" you mention was the British Restaurant. They were to privide a decent meal cheaply.QUOTE]Originally posted by PopT
Applegrim

You brought back some Sheffield memories there.

My mom used to take me to a place at the old Art College on Arundel Street to get fixed up with secondhand shoes.

I say shoes but invariably it was walloes or boots.

Leaving there we would have a dinner and great pud in the cookhouse in Pond Street.

I also remember another eating place which was like a prefabricated building on Blonk Street.

Can anybody remember it?


Happy Days! [/QUOTE]

Enjoying this thread, but does anyone remember the Oxford Cinema

I'm now beginning to think my Cleethorpes ship must have been a dream because I'm sure we all went on the club trips, and you good folk would have put me out of my misery by now.

I've just passed the old Locarno, and I'm shocked to think that they are pulling the front facade down,just to make room for another block of apartments, haven't we got enough? and why can't thet incorporate the front into their plans? I remember going into the building when it was a Marks and Spencers, which was just after it had been a cinema

Originally posted by 399Leighton
Enjoying this thread, but does anyone remember the Oxford Cinema

Yep - I was a regular for the Saturday Afternoon kids matinee they used to have in the early 60's.

6d used to get admission and an ice lolly shaped like a rocket - if you had any extra money you went to the sweet shop across the road from the Oxford. As I remember chocolate covered peanuts were the most popular.

After the show the kids came out either wearing their coats like capes and pretending to be Rocketman or they ran around slapping their backsides making noises like horses, depending on teh film they had just seen.

Sorry Hazel I don't remember the blacksmith on Sycamore St as I lived on Upper Hanover St as a child during the war and did not venture into that part of town,and Greybeard the large ironmongers you are referring to was Thomas Ashtons who sold everything in that line.

Originally posted by prioryx
Hazel
There was a bomb site opposite the GPO building on Flat St. I don't know what was there before. i worked in the GPO in the 50s & 60s and my wife was an operator.

The girder structure that was on Flat St was for the Odeon Cinema and it stood like that for years. I can remember it like that in the early fifties. I thought it was a bombed building but it was new girderwork.
Further down Flat St where the Poly is now, there used to be a brewery, I never saw that but I remember the steps up to Sycamore St to where the Adelphi pub was.
I think it was Berrys Brewery and Samuel Plimsol ( of the Plimsol line on ships) worked there as a Clerk he lived up on Regent St just off West st

Originally posted by Harlan
and Greybeard the large ironmongers you are referring to was Thomas Ashtons who sold everything in that line.

Thanks Harlan. My grandfather sent me there quite a few times when I was 10 to 12 yrs old, with a list and a pound or ten bob note in a brown envelope. He couldn't get about very well but was always doing little jobs for his neighbours, - mending fences, re-hanging gates, replacing snicks etc. It was he who showed me how to replace sash cords and fit new pulleys ;)

He always used that shop as there was nothing they didn't stock !

Mod: Threads merged. Enjoy! :thumbsup:

Yes I remember Daintys in Fitzalan Square,and there was a fruit shop and a cleaners, but the main Daintys was right at the side of the Gaumont cinema, my sister-in-law worked there for years, till she opened a sandwich shop on Leopold Street.

Originally posted by Applegrim
Yes I remember Daintys in Fitzalan Square,and there was a fruit shop and a cleaners, but the main Daintys was right at the side of the Gaumont cinema, my sister-in-law worked there for years, till she opened a sandwich shop on Leopold Street.

Hi Applegrim.

Yep! you were dead rite with that information. Good to get correct info on these messages

Regards Vera

I spent most Saturdays afternoons at the Forum pictures in Southey Green while our dad was in the Devonshire Arms.


HI Hazel, missed you !

Hi Poppins
I saw you were back on the Forum, Joe said your computer was giving trouble. Nice to see you back.
I spent most of my time in the Rex cinema which I've put in the Rex thread.
hazel

Originally posted by vhopkinson
Hi there Prioryx
Ask your wife if she knew me Vera Pope, I worked in the GPO from 1952-1958 I have a good memory for names I may remember her, I haven,t yet met anyone on here who knows me since I live in Australia now

Regards... Vera.

Hi Vera, my mum (Brenda Gordon) used to work at the GPO as a telephonist 1952 to 1958 and she sends her regards.

Originally posted by redwine
Hi Vera, my mum (Brenda Gordon) used to work at the GPO as a telephonist 1952 to 1958 and she sends her regards.

Come on then Redwine, get your Mother to spill the goss on Vera, we wont let on who said it about her ;)


Vera, I hope your giving those Aussies hell over the cricket result today :clap: :clap: :clap:

Originally posted by redwine
Hi Vera, my mum (Brenda Gordon) used to work at the GPO as a telephonist 1952 to 1958 and she sends her regards.

Hi There Redwine.

Thanks for reply, not so good on names as I thought I would have known her for sure even though there was a lot of us there. Give her my Best Wishes anyway We had some good times there even though the supervisors were very strick specially if you were on the cheeky side and had too many private calls.. Oh not me though(cough cough) Hey tell that Owdlad nothing at all. thanks Redwine.

Originally posted by owdlad
Come on then Redwine, get your Mother to spill the goss on Vera, we wont let on who said it about her ;)


Vera, I hope your giving those Aussies hell over the cricket result today :clap: :clap: :clap:

Good Day there Owdlad.

No goss on me the sunshines out of my (you know what) lol.
Cricket eh! Heard they were taking up marbles instead. Can't be good at everything. Hm! what are they good at Surfing and swimming.
Nice to hear from you Owdlad.


Regards Vera (the Hell0" Girl.

Hello Vera
Did you know any of the messengers or engineers when you were at the GPO

Have read up to June 2005 tonight as I hadn't been on to the "Memories of the past" before.

KIWI mentioned cigarettes named -Pasha- I think that the other one was "Passing Cloud" one of them was oval and slightly perfumed but I cannot remember which one.

CHUFFINAL- you mentioned the post ofice on Gleadless Rd. I used to work there about 1946/7 the post mistress was Mrs. Dalton.

I have enjoyed reading about all the things that have brought happy and some sad memories back to me.

Intend to read the rest of your contributions tomorrow night or should I say tonight as it is 12.30am here.

Thanks for the memories,
Cynthia, Ontario, Canada.

Originally posted by prioryx
Hello Vera
Did you know any of the messengers or engineers when you were at the GPO

Hi Prioryx
I knew a couple of the engineers but can't think of names, sad to say ,one of them was courting a friend of mine, Didn't know any of the messingers tho Prioryx wish I could place someone from there, anyway thanks a lot Prioryx
Regards vera.

Originally posted by vhopkinson
Hi There Redwine.

Thanks for reply, not so good on names as I thought I would have known her for sure even though there was a lot of us there. Give her my Best Wishes anyway We had some good times there even though the supervisors were very strick specially if you were on the cheeky side and had too many private calls.. Oh not me though(cough cough) Hey tell that Owdlad nothing at all. thanks Redwine.

Hi Vera, my mum agrees there is no goss on you or her and yes she agrees that the supervisors were very strict. She claims she was very quiet in those days (?) which is probably why you don't remember her. I gather that there was a great deal of camaraderie at the GPO in those days. Best wishes, Redwine

Vera
If you can't remember any engineers or messengers you were not one of those operators who used to swan off to the AmericanBases at weekends? Remember how the lobby was stacked with weekend cases on Friday afternoons.
Do you remember the names of the men who sat in the lobby threading lead seals onto string for mailbags.#

Originally posted by prioryx
Vera
If you can't remember any engineers or messengers you were not one of those operators who used to swan off to the AmericanBases at weekends? Remember how the lobby was stacked with weekend cases on Friday afternoons.
Do you remember the names of the men who sat in the lobby threading lead seals onto string for mailbags.#

Hi prioryx
Sorry can't remember any names. We always used to congregate at the bottom of the stairs( which had many steps particularly when you were late for work. used to get to the top breathless. Not guilty of swanning with the Americans cos we were too busy arrangeing our dates with the RAF at Norton
Base. Where abouts were you employed prioryx.
Mite have been your byke we used to let the tyres down on.
Regards Vera

Originally posted by redwine
Hi Vera, my mum agrees there is no goss on you or her and yes she agrees that the supervisors were very strict. She claims she was very quiet in those days (?) which is probably why you don't remember her. I gather that there was a great deal of camaraderie at the GPO in those days. Best wishes, Redwine

Hi Redwine. Been racking my brain and I remember one Brenda. This girl was shy, had short dark straight hair and wasn,t very tall never know could be your mum.
Regards Vera.

Originally posted by vhopkinson
Hi Redwine. Been racking my brain and I remember one Brenda. This girl was shy, had short dark straight hair and wasn,t very tall never know could be your mum.
Regards Vera.

That seems to fit her description. Best wishes, Redwine

Originally posted by vhopkinson
Hi prioryx
Sorry can't remember any names. We always used to congregate at the bottom of the stairs( which had many steps particularly when you were late for work. used to get to the top breathless. Not guilty of swanning with the Americans cos we were too busy arrangeing our dates with the RAF at Norton
Base. Where abouts were you employed prioryx.
Mite have been your byke we used to let the tyres down on.
Regards Vera
Vera
Not my bike...I was a messenger.... could have been any ones ....left in 54

Originally posted by Cynthia
Have read up to June 2005 tonight as I hadn't been on to the "Memories of the past" before.

KIWI mentioned cigarettes named -Pasha- I think that the other one was "Passing Cloud" one of them was oval and slightly perfumed but I cannot remember which one.

CHUFFINAL- you mentioned the post ofice on Gleadless Rd. I used to work there about 1946/7 the post mistress was Mrs. Dalton.

I have enjoyed reading about all the things that have brought happy and some sad memories back to me.

Intend to read the rest of your contributions tomorrow night or should I say tonight as it is 12.30am here.

Thanks for the memories,
Cynthia, Ontario, Canada. Hiya Cynthia, God I remember PASSING CLOUD cigarettes they were oval and they were in a redish/pink packet and on the front was a picture of the head of a red indian chief (passing cloud) when I was an apprentice smoker I tried loads of brands including BLACK SOBRANIE or Black Russian as they were nick-named, black paper with a gold paper tip.
I live just down from where the old Gleadless Post Office was.

I liked Abdullah cigarettes. They were oval
too.

Chitterlings are lovely with plenty of salt and pepper and vinegar, with bread and butter

I liked Abdullah cigarettes. They were oval
too.


Cigarette packets where collected as a hobby, lots to collect.
Remember the double length cig's ,can't remember the name

Have to say Hazel Mother Riley was played by Lucan Mac shane Kitty was his daughter Arthur.

Bag was pigs stomach lining , chitterlings intestines both lovely if cooked and presented right. Arthur.

Have to say Hazel Mother Riley was played by Lucan Mac shane Kitty was his daughter Arthur.

I thought it was Arthur Lucan who played Old Mother Riley, and his real-life wife, Kitty Mc Shane played his daughter

???

PT

You are right PT as always- they were weird but fairly funny.

PS. My mum was an avid music hall fan and told me some years later that they fought like cat and dog backstage.

We always had the grey drippin pot in the pantry ready for drippin sandwiches, white bread, pinch of salt, folded in half so you could get it down faster and onto the next one.

Mom use to put the jelly in a big glass bowl and put in in the bath with cold water to set for the next day...took ages.

Poppins I cooked a large pork roast yesterday (when the grandkids came down) and Himself is looking forward to pork dripping sandwiches. I tell him it's his cholestral??

can you remember seeing the sand shufflers at the Empire, dressed as egyptians and walking on sand.
I queued to see Joan Regan there and they were on the same bill.
Can you remeember the Gods at the Lycemn and Empire !/6d to go up there, no backs to the seats and tiny figures on the stage.
HazelHazel Do you recall the gods at the Hippodrome you went in on wellington st,

Hi hazel, you're at it again arn't you my friend, great thread but can I ask if anyone can remember a Thorntons at the corner of Norfolk Street? I might be wrong and I also remember some single story buildings at the other end of that row which must have been high Street,and eventually it became a steak house?
Nice to "speak" to all us older ones.
Bit higher up. the Elephant was on the corner, Arthur.[ was it a Dainties shop where the bus stop for Petre st was in the sq]

A few more memories

On cleanliness...my mother managed without a hoover until about 1954. Before that it was a daily routine of sprinkling damp tea-leaves on the carpets and a good sweep with a hard broom. Once a week all the furniture was shifted so she could sweep under the settee and armchairs etc. (and anything less than a tanner I found was mine !). Every so often the carpet was lifted and turned 90° "to spread the wear"...what a performance that was !! Small rugs and mats went out on the washing line and had seven bells (and probably some wildlife) knocked out of them

On entertainment..who remembers the weekly comic "Radio Fun" ? I was lucky enough to see a few of the characters live at the Empire. Two acts I particularly remember were Jimmy Jewel and Ben Warris, and Laurel and Hardy. Can't remember what year we saw L&H...probably about 1950 but I think it was during their last tour of the UK. Pretty sure we saw 'Old Mother Riley' too but that might have been in pantomime.

I also remember one Saturday morning walking back from town with my Dad, George Formby stopped us on Pinstone Street to ask the way to the station, and I got a scutch round the ear from my Dad for being so cheeky as to ask him for his autograph. :mad:

We all loved listening to the radio, some programmes I remember were "In town tonight" on a Saturday I think, "Much Binding in the Marsh" "Family Favourites" and "Down your way".

Someone already mentioned Dick Barton but there was also a really scary science fiction serial I can't remember the name of, - the intro music was 'Mars' from the Planets Suite.
Not forgetting Billy Cotton and his band who had a regular programme for years.Hi Greybeard Ithink i lived at your house ,moving the carpet round and tea leaves coppers down the COUCH! were mine , and Laurel &Hardy Isaw on my first time at the PICTURES at the Star in Ecclesall rd Arthur.

Wanted to bring my favorite thread to the top again !

Now thinking back, wasn't the old money very confusing ? i don't think the young ones realise it, i bet some of us oldies couldn't make change with it now either.

How confusing it must have been for tourists, bet a lot of them got ripped off in the shops back then, those coins were heavy to to carry around, i like the pound pieces thats used now.

How long since the change over ?1971 Ialways remember that rip off Arthur.

Hazel

What a lovely story, I enjoyed reading all of it.
I can remember my mum telling me a smilar story. Keep up the good work.

Cheers from jauntyone

1971 Ialways remember that rip off Arthur.

that's right, it was february 1971 what a rip off!

I still want my other 140 pennies back!

I'm only 42, but i still find it easier to visualise a pint than a litre, an inch than a centimetre, and a mile than a kilometre. I still think in Lbs and Ozs not grammes and kilogrammes.

grrr!

PT

Hazel

What a lovely story, I enjoyed reading all of it.
I can remember my mum telling me a smilar story. Keep up the good work.

Cheers from jauntyone

We should print out all these pages to show our Grand & Great-grand children to save us saying....When i was your age !

ONE OR TWO PEOPLE HAVE SPOKE ABOUT THE FLEACHERS BREAD VANS BUT DOSE ENEYONE REMEMBER A MAN CALLED TOMMY WALLS WHO WAS SELLING GILLOTTS BREAD AROUND THE ARBOURTHORNE.THANKS AND KEEP THEM COMING. just by way of interest I went to school with Colin Gillot of the same firm Iwas a pal also didnt see or hear of him for years then heard he commited suicide poor lad Arthur.

I remember the bomb site opposite the GPO, It was steel girders I was told it was something they had started building before the war,but was posponed because of it. I could be wrong on this.
You are right about the steel work at the bott of Norfolk st Iused to watch them putting it up as i waited for the Petre st bus inthe sq; and it was on hold till after the war then finished and called the classic i believe. Arthur.

There are too many odd memories to give a coherent story so here is a sprinkling that might resonate with someone.

Does anyone remember:
The drinking fountain at the entrance to Meersbrook Park or the Ruskin Museum inside?
The shop that sold old stamps on Kent Rd?
The clinic on Heeley Bottom?
The pet 'cave' in the Sheaf market or the `Guess your Weight' at the entrance on Dixon Lane or the Pie and Mash shop?
The smell of the old Victoria market hall and Woore's stall that sold old books, stamps etc?
Enoch's bakery on Cat Lane. (Our house backed onto this.)
Trams with wooden seats?
The magic of a tram journey at dusk past the small active iron foundries in Attercliffe.
remember slamming allthe seats back atthe turminus

just by way of interest I went to school with Colin Gillot of the same firm Iwas a pal also didnt see or hear of him for years then heard he commited suicide poor lad Arthur.

Don't now Colin but i did know Terry Cox, he drove the Fletchers vans, i had a big crush on him, i think he married a girl called Valerie.

Hazel, I remember all the things you mentioned and as you said we had no fear as children. I remember grandma who refused to stay in the anderson shelter walking across the yard with a tray laden with the teapot and cups etc. while bombs were falling all around and then she would walk back to the house to do her knitting, I never knew her to knit anything but socks. I also recall us all sitting around the table cutting up strips for the pegged rugs, I still own one of the punches that we used for pushing the strips through the sacking. We are all showing our age aren't we? I was 11 when the war finished.

Cigarette packets where collected as a hobby, lots to collect.
Remember the double length cig's ,can't remember the name


I’ve been racking my brain for more than an hour, trying to think of the name of those double length cigarettes, but no luck. JUST on my way to bed (at 2.20am) when I remembered! JOYSTICKS.

Eyup Greybeard..I think that science fiction programme was Quatermass. I remember it used to scare the pants off me.
Who metioned bread & drippin? I could just do with one of my mam's fresh bread cakes wi some on right now. Also remember the sweepin of the carpet anall, also cleaning the lino with a wet cloth. Polishing the table/chairs and the sideboard with that lavender wax polish .Also remember my mam washing with the owd scrubbing board in the sink using a block of fairy soap..and the mangle:suspect: once got my fingers caught in that bl***y thing:mad:
Saturday mornlng my Dad picking the horses out for a bet .Me and my mam taking the bet to a "bookies runner" stood in some outside loo's round the back of some shops Shalesmoor. My Dad was the worst tipster going, used to sit hours on end studying the horses. Never had a winner though :huh:
Memories eh!

Quatermass, yeah old films like that used to have me hidin when I was a kid. Spooky!

I remember the 1st family sitcom, "The Groves Family" and the 1st murder serial "Little Red Monkey".

I remember the Quartermass very well, it seemed like the first time I had seen a progamme on TV that gripped me. I met friends coming out of chapel and we all went to the one house that had TV and sat on the floor and watched it.
I also remember the song the Little Red Monkey which went with the serial of the same name,which links up in my mind along with She Wears Red Feathers and a Hula Hula Skirt.
I think around that time must have been the first Top of he Pops

This all coincides in my mind with the Coronation of 1953, leaving school and my first boyfriend which all left a lasting impression of those years.
The Festival of Britain too seems mixed in with that time.
hazel

I remember the Quartermass very well, it seemed like the first time I had seen a progamme on TV that gripped me. I met friends coming out of chapel and we all went to the one house that had TV and sat on the floor and watched it.
I also remember the song the Little Red Monkey which went with the serial of the same name,which links up in my mind along with She Wears Red Feathers and a Hula Hula Skirt.
I think around that time must have been the first Top of he Pops

This all coincides in my mind with the Coronation of 1953, leaving school and my first boyfriend which all left a lasting impression of those years.
The Festival of Britain too seems mixed in with that time.
hazel

I don't think TOTP started till about 1963 Hazel. The charts started in 1952 I think which could have been about the time Guy Mitchell was doing his Red Feathers thing.

The start date of TOTP was either Dec 9th '63 or Dec 9th '64, I think it was 64?

PT

Six Five special with Pete Murray was the 1st pop programme, I think.

You will be right, Thinking about it I used to have to tune in to radio Luxenburgh to hear Frankie Lane etc around 7 pm.
hazel

Yes radio Luxemburg, The original top twenty Sunday night. In those days it was the only station to play the hits of the day, only thing it always seemed to fade when your favourite record was on then come back when it came to the adverts Ovalteenies,Horace Batchelor,etc. Remember when the tellies were on how you would get that annoying whistle.

Six Five special with Pete Murray was the 1st pop programme, I think.

What about Cool for Cats with Kent Walton? A quarter of an hour's miming at 6.45pm I think.Or was it the music with just dancers? It may have been on around the same years as Pete, and Jo Douglas on the 6.5 Special. Who could forget Don Lang and his Frantic Five? You had? Ah well.He did have a one eyed, one horned flying purple people eater though.

Gone through this entire thread and haven’t seen any mention of the one-time Sheffield Corporation City Engineers department’s — SCCE on the sides of their lorries — hallowed night-watchmen, the men who before the second world war used to sit all night in a sort of sentry box, keeping a beady eye on road works where tools and repair materials were left overnight. They had coke-filled braziers to keep them warm throughout the night, and in winter they were a welcome haven for any late-nighter who cared to warm his hands, have a chat and afterwards wend his way home.

Just gone through this thread thinking memories of the war are on it but they must have been transfered elsewhere.
Enjoyed rereading it though.
hazel

Seeing mention of Don Lang reminded me his son Brad is currently touring with Barbara Dickson as her Bass player