I have great memories of this year being a young lad heading towards 16.The summer went on for months and it seemed everyone one was so chilled and laid back.I spent six weeks down at Torksey in Lincolnshire and had a great time fishing, swimming and girls.The music seemed cool as well and the whole atmosphere was so great.Wish i had a time machine.:):)

Mud wallow!

How daft is that, tiny garden, hole in the clay soil, mum filled it with a bucket or two of water and we got loppy. made animals out of the clay and dried them off on the coal bunker :thumbsup:

It was grim in the rolling mill ;)

It was grim in the rolling mill ;)
Iknow remember me dad saying.:):)

Ladybirds everywhere....millions of the blighters :-)

Ladybirds everywhere....millions of the blighters :-)

I remember that! The news and a VW Beetle covered in the little devils. I also remember naughty boys collecting them in sweet jars. Wasn't that the year after the aphid plague?

It just seemed a good year.Whether its the fact things seem better when your young i dont know but i certainly enjoyed it and the people just seemed more relaxed.Must have been the heat, i dont know.:):)

It was hot and them aphids was nervous :-)

i wouldve been 7 then....cant really remmeber it, but if it was the year of the ladybirds then i do, think we were in blackpool.........millions of em all over, in yer sandwiches and the lot

I have a photo somewhere showing us holding up the front page of the Sun with the headline 'Hotter than Hawai - 96 degrees'. That was one good summer.

I just remember it being the long hot summer, I was a kid and it was great!

Yes, it was brilliant. We went to the coast every weekend. Got as brown as berries on the beach. We were younger then, and had no aches and pains, or operation scars. Every time I turned on the car radio, it seemed to be Billie Jo Spears with 'What I've Got in Mind'. I thought the following year (Silver Jubilee) would be the same, but it wasn't. 1976 was a truly great summer.

We were in Skegvegas that summer and the local chippy had a sign up selling "Green fly butties!!!"


Jim

Got married that year(still am)honeymooned in London,yeh it was a scorcher,thank god for cheesecloth shirts to keep us cool.

i wouldve been 7 then....cant really remmeber it, but if it was the year of the ladybirds then i do, think we were in blackpool.........millions of em all over, in yer sandwiches and the lot
The year of the ladybirds was a little later, I think, and I thought the greenfly year was later than 76 too. I remember being in Bridlington for both of them. The only place that was bug-free was in the sea.

I restored an old BSA motorbike that summer I rebuilt it on the back lawn..Never had to put away the tools and things or cover up the bike at night co's you knew it wouldn't rain...I remember March thro' to September and not a drop...The Village green looked more like the African Savana.

Met my first wife that summer. Just completed my second year at College and spent the summer in Sheffield. Got to know some real Sheffield People as opposed to students and as a result have now lived in Sheffield for over 30 years.

Yeah, beautiful, " long, hot, summer days ". I think 1974 was similar ?

Also, Brooksy is quite correct----people seemed more relaxed and easy going and I think they WERE, really, more relaxed and laid back. We've had about a million new laws, regulations, rules, guidelines, targets and God Knows What since 1976 to make us very un-relaxed ! In fact it's difficult to believe it was all only about 30 years ago ; seemed like a different country then.

Of course, even in that glorious summer, there were a few old moaners, going on about the gardens not being green.......etc......I wonder what today's lot would have made of it ? " We're doomed. The world is frying. We're doomed ".

Oh, well, that's progress ! I suppose this generation HAVE got bigger cars, can fry in Spain instead of Britain and can watch Big Brother round the clock.

I will have been in my shorts at Nethergreen First School aged 6 and 7. I recall a sign above the taps in the toilets that read 'Use Water Sparingly'. I struggled to understand the word 'sparingly'.

The summer went on forever, endless days of blue sky. Back at school you we were prohibited from playing in the water tank outside (but we could still use the plastic sand pit). The roads began to melt. I'd sit on the kerb - we lived on a cul-de-sac - and pick at melting tar with a twig. Our garden's roses never looked better.

We'd drive out to look at the remains of Derwent village. The mud was cracked, huge slabs of rock-hard mud and we could walk around the ruins of Derwent Hall and the debris of the church. We drove right up to the top of the dams and the rhododenron were so huge that my brother could reach them from the rear window of the car as we drove past.

I think we went to the open air swimming pool next to the Rising Sun pub on the Hathersage-Castleton Road. It was packed. TV news showed people having to use standpipes in order to get water. We had a hydrant at the top of our drive and I remember thinking that if we had to use it at least we wouldn't have to travel far! (We never had to, fortunately.)

And the musical backdrop to all this? Abba's Dancing Queen, Candi Staton's Young Hearts Run Free, Starland Vocal Band's Afternoon Delight, James and Bobby Purify's I'm Your Puppet and Elton John and Kiki Dee.

It was the most memorable summer of my life. 1984 and 1989 were impressive although most of the latter was spent cooling off with plenty of Lowenbrau, Tenant's Extra and Red Stripe lager at various pubs....,

That summer was astounding.

My mother could never "catch" the sun. She had a sallow complexion, and just didn't tan, no matter how much she sunbathed. That year, she actually did get a tan, the first and only time she ever did!

My sister and I played out in that sun all day. Our already blonde hair went white.

I remember the horrendous rain, not long before the drought, and some geezer was made "minister for rain"... and almost as soon as he was appointed, the rain ceased, and the drought came. so they made him minister for drought. :lol: :lol: (and then the drought finished!)

There were lots of jokes going round, at the time, that, in view of his impressive "track record" with the rain and the drought, he ought to have been made minister for unemployment! :lol:

Fareast,

I do believe you are right that 74 was also a glorious summer. I have in my posession, photographs of me and my family in the back yard of our old,terraced house in Sharrow, from that summer. It was possibly not as "extreme" as 76, but I certainly remember it as fabulous weather. (apart from one massive thunderstorm, which damaged our house!)

It was my first summer in Sheffield. I had no holiday as I'd just started my nurse training at the Royal Infirmary- we had to ration baths for patients due to the water shortage, and take showers or share baths!!
When I did take some time off I went home to Barnsley and tried sunbathing in the garden- got covered in coal dust!!
Ah! It was a great summer- but 2003 was good too- I moved house and went to two great weddings.
I think we will tell our grandchildren about the summer of 07 that's for sure, but thanks for the memory jog which has cheered me up!!

I remember it well. Too darn hot, but fine for people on holiday. I worked in a printing unit - the air conditioning system had been ordered but was "delayed". It arrived just as the weather cooled down. I briefly had Reliant (a 21E van - the souped-up version). Bought it on a Monday, wrote it off on the Saturday. C'est la vie...

Sorry,Brooksy, to go off topic a bit......but another great summer was
1995 ;well it was in London where I was living at that time.

I had a friend come over from Turkey for the whole of August, on holiday. He wasn't looking forward to the English weather. In the event, every day that August was as hot, or hotter, than Istanbul. He could barely believe it. In the eighties every lunchtime and not much cooler at nights. It never rained once.

There was a plague of wasps that year. Every time you sat outside the pub, the wasps drank more beer than you did !

I remember the summer of 1976 well. After the long hot rainless summer, the first day it rained was 11th September, the day of our wedding.

1978 was a hot summer as well

I remember that summer, it was the year I got engaged. I think it was also the year we first had a narrow boat holiday & the weather was scorching. The locks were chained up at 6pm to conserve water, and we were scraping the canal bed in places it was so shallow......happy days!

'76 must have been the year for love, lol.
So far we have "the year I got married"...."the year I met my wife"..." the year I got engaged".

Well, just to add to it...we got married that year too.
31 years since and still in love, lol.

Don't honestly remember it being hot though....maybe we were too busy indoors?:hihi:

Google these exactly;

"Summer of 1976"

"Summer of 1976" +ladybirds

Forum wouldn't let me post the links :-(

Spent three weeks in Cornwall camping for a first time! Brilliant. Called in at Cardiff on the way back to cover a cricket match. Cardiff households were on four hours a day - water. Fortunately, my host's neighbour was on dialysis and so we weren't affected. The grass at Sophia Gardens was completely parched. Still no rain, Denis Howell Minister of Drought - getting desperate.
A fortnight later, cricket at Queen's Park, Chesterfield when there was a shower! The Geordie on the pa announced: "Ladies and Gentlemen, this phenomenon is called RAIN!" It lasted five minutes and the sun continued to shine.

summer of 76-broken arm:mad:,Blades relegated:mad: (some things never change),Billie Jo Spears,Demis Roussos and the Wurzels in the charts,:mad:Windies stuffin' us at cricket:mad:apart from that-what a great summer.....:cool:

I was 9 years old.
Went to cleethorpes with Southey Club for day & had a greenfly icecream.
I remember collecting all the ladybirds we could find with my sisters (only insect a girl would touch) & our bedroom being swarmed with them. We got into loads of trouble from dad.
But as a child I remember most of the 70's being red hot summers, that is why I can't understand the current weather.

It was the best summer ever I was 14 spent most of the summer holidays in the Milhouses Lido brilliant.

Went to skeggy as well and remember trying not to stand on the ladybirds as they were just every where.

I remember going to Silver Blades a couple of times to cool off and the ice was melting and all the lads used to try and spray the girls with water!

Even to this day if anyone asks me what was your favourite year I will always say 1976.

It was the best summer ever I was 14 spent most of the summer holidays in the Milhouses Lido brilliant.

Went to skeggy as well and remember trying not to stand on the ladybirds as they were just every where.

I remember going to Silver Blades a couple of times to cool off and the ice was melting and all the lads used to try and spray the girls with water!

Even to this day if anyone asks me what was your favourite year I will always say 1976.

I sat my 'O' levels in the summer of '76 and remember it vivdly - having to peel myself off a very sweaty plastic moulded chair after a 3 hour exam in the sub tropical heat !

That was the year that changed many British people's social habits. Before that, if you went to a pub or a cafe you generally stayed inside it. If you were at home you kept yourself. Suddenly in '76 people were sitting continental-style outside the pubs with their drinks and food, and people at home were bringing chairs out into their front gardens and on to the pavements., and actually talking to their neighbours and to passers-by. I was living in St. Albans at that time; there was a square in the town with, I think, a fountain in the middle. Round the square (if that makes sense) were about three pubs. Instead of staying in the pubs and then hurling abuse at closing time, everyone met and mingles in the square and by the fountain.
Si I remember 1976 as the sociable summer. But I don't remember the ladybirds; perhaps they were a regonal phenomenon?

That was the year that changed many British people's social habits. Before that, if you went to a pub or a cafe you generally stayed inside it. If you were at home you kept yourself. Suddenly in '76 people were sitting continental-style outside the pubs with their drinks and food, and people at home were bringing chairs out into their front gardens and on to the pavements., and actually talking to their neighbours and to passers-by. I was living in St. Albans at that time; there was a square in the town with, I think, a fountain in the middle. Round the square (if that makes sense) were about three pubs. Instead of staying in the pubs and then hurling abuse at closing time, everyone met and mingles in the square and by the fountain.
Si I remember 1976 as the sociable summer. But I don't remember the ladybirds; perhaps they were a regonal phenomenon?

At one time in Sheffield and districts, it was a regular thing for people to put chairs etc. outside their front doors and sit there all evening, talking to their neighbours. Especially so in terraced houses, as they could be very near to their neighbours. There was a much better community spirit then.

... some geezer was made "minister for rain"... and almost as soon as he was appointed, the rain ceased, and the drought came. so they made him minister for drought.

That was Dennis Howell, erstwhile Minister for Sport. I also seem to recall that some people clubbed up to pay the expenses of a rain-maker to come from Pakistan and pray for rain - his prayers were always supposed to do the trick. 1974 was also indeed hot, and in 1965 we had a hot, dry summer in March...

and in 1965 we had a hot, dry summer in March...A bit like 2007 then....:cool:

I was in Coventry then, and we had the ladybirds as well, long hot summer spent in the garden and outdoors, water fights (naughty!) and paddling pools, and playing with the melting tarmac off the roads.
Drought years we called them!

The summer of 1976.....ah! What a glorious summer for my family and I.....wife, 3 young children......but that's a story I'm reserving for the SF Writing Group. :)

Absolutely idyllic for us. :)

It was grim in the rolling mill ;)

I agree I was there as well.

I left school in 76 and enjoyed the long hot summer before starting work in September, the best thing was no talk of climate change or factor 15 sun block.

People just used their common sense and enjoyed the weather, there are some good lines in the song, "I wish I was a punk rocker", but I thing this one sums it up.

When music really mattered and when radio was king
When accountants didn’t have control and the media couldn’t buy your soul
And computer were still scary and we didn’t know every think.

:cool:

Happy days

It was grim in the rolling mill ;)

Yes, it was hotter than Hell in the steelworks.

In the summer of 1976, I was 6 years old, living in Hampshire, but holidaying here in Sheffield (as we did atleast twice a year), stopping with my grandparents.

In both Hampshire and here in Sheffield, us nippers were being bitten to shreds by ladybirds whose population had exploded due to their aphids food supply going ballistic.

I remember in Hampshire my mum laying a sheet over a couple of parallel washing lines to create some shade, and filling a plastic baby's bath with water for us to play in as we couldn't have the paddling pool out due to the hosepipe ban.

I vividly recall coming up here and seeing the water so low out at the dams in Derwent Valley. I kept asking if I could go down amongst the ruins of Derwent village on one of our many walks (I grew up hiking in the Peak District) where so many other people were investigating and exploring. I was so upset that my parents wouldn't let me, citing the fact that the silt in the bottom of the reservoir may have a hard crust on it, but it was still very soft and dangerous underneath. I've regretted not being allowed down amongst the ruins to this day :sad:

I also vividly recall being nagged to death about having my sun tan lotion regularly applied, and suffering with headaches alot (heat stroke) as I regularly refused to wear a hat.

I also recall playing in the river at Higger Tor in my Madam Cholet knickers and my brother's terry nappy drying on a bilberry bush!

'47 was also a long summer but not quite as long as '76. The reservoirs dried out and started cracking making them leaky so even if it did rain it would simply disappear. We went to the lake district and they were way down, the fish wouldn't eat because of the lack of oxygen so went into a taupur like the rest of us. The '47 summer followed a very severe winter where a lot of Derbyshire was 6-7 feet of snow and a lot deeper in the drifts, it was still there in june of '47 on the high ground.

I have very extensive memories of the “Summer of ’76”, as it came at a very important juncture in my life.
I left school in 1970 and had various jobs in the factories, firstly training as an apprentice, then ending doing some labouring, and finally, in 1975, filling in time cards at “Millspaugh”, a large engineering works next to The Don, and Tinsley Viaduct, just about where the coach park for Meadowhall is now. It was a very busy factory, supplying Oil Vessels for the North sea excavations, and pulping equipment for paper mills. The work was 7 days, and we were very well paid for it. Some of the night-shift guys, who worked Saturday and Sunday mornings, were getting a hundred quid a week, and were some of the first workers in the country to crack that barrier.
In February and March 1976 I started having time off for a number of reasons. I was 20 years old and living an active social life, which made getting out of bed early, especially at weekends, a difficult task. My boss, a guy from Elsecar, had given me a couple of warnings when, one Monday morning, he told me that the next time I missed a day, I shouldn’t bother coming back, and that they would replace me. To be honest they were very fair about it, and the fault was all mine, which made it all the more galling when, the very next day, I woke up at 8:30, an hour after I was supposed to clock-in.
Not knowing what else to do, I poached myself an egg and thought about my next step. I decided to go into town and have a look around the employment agencies, to see if anybody wanted a washed up twenty year old with no skills and a bad attitude. I jumped on the 53 at the Parson Cross terminus and sat downstairs.
As we reached town, and the bus pulled up at the stop on Castle Gate, I looked through the window and saw a poster in the Army Recruiting Office window. It was a soldier, dressed in the usual green stuff, pullover, trousers and beret, holding a soldering iron. On the table in front of him was a valve radio, open and displaying all its circuitry, which he was obviously repairing. Above him was the mantra “Join The Royal Signals and become a Radio Technician”
Without thinking, I leapt off the bus and pushed through the open door. As I got inside a guy with three stripes (even I knew that was a Sergeant) said “Yes?”
“I’d like to join The Royal Signals and become a Radio Technician” I replied.

After going through a number of tests and medicals, I was accepted into The Signals, and just seven days later (it must have been Whit Tuesday ‘cause it was Star Walk day) I got on a train and went to Sutton Coldfield for 3 days, and then off up to Catterick where I was to train as a Royal Signals Radio Technician.
Before the technical training began however, I had to do a period of Military Training. This training would last from May through until September when, if I stayed the course, I would become a soldier.

There are two things I can tell you about the weather during those months. Firstly, it was hot. Very hot. Very very hot! Every day. It was certainly the hottest summer I have experienced in this country, even through to today. Secondly, it didn’t rain. Not once. There was absolutely no sign of any rain during those summer months. There was lightning. Lots and lots of lightning. Usually accompanied by equally sumptuous helpings of thunder. But no rain….Not a drop. ….Bugger all.
The staff at Catterick, who were supposed to be teaching us to shoot and shout “Chaaaarge” and things like that, were themselves so overcome by the heat that we ended up playing football every day. It was so warm that both teams wanted to be skins. On more than one occasion I asked the corporal in charge if we were getting paid for this. When he said yes I would yelp “Yahoo” and go back to scoring goals. Imagine a three month summer holiday with a regular pay packet and you’re starting to get there.
I eventually “Passed Off” in mid September, in front on many members of my family, most of whom couldn’t believe that I had finally achieved something.
It was a glorious start to an army career which lasted 18 years and saw me travelling to Central America, getting married and having kids in Germany, and fighting in the first Gulf War, the one which we won.
But I never forgot the “Summer of ‘76”

I rememebr the lady birds at bridlington and remember starting work. I took home £15 a week which was very very high for a 16year old - think I pay that in union fees now

Didn't some parts of the country have stand pipes in the street?

I have very extensive memories of the “Summer of ’76”, as it came at a very important juncture in my life......

What a remarkable story - you clearly made the right decision to get off the bus. It somehow reminds me of Chay Blyth (born 1940) who started on a rather mundane job in a Scottish textile mill, accidentally wrecked a machine (twice), got the sack and went off to become a paratrooper. Then he rowed a boat across the Atlantic, sailed all over the world etc. etc. and picked up a B.E.M. and knighthood along the way. It makes working in a bank seem boring and mundane. OK - I was given a decent package and pension at 54, but it would have been nice to look back on a bit more excitement. All the same I'm not doing bad in retirement, travelling the world - Siberia (with a return ticket) last year, America last month, South Africa in October. Long may you enjoy life, your family and (I'm sure) lots of activities.

Yes, it was hotter than Hell in the steelworks.

I was sat in the furnace control cabin with white-hot stainless rolling out four feet under my chair - nuts were well roasted :o:hihi:

Didn't some parts of the country have stand pipes in the street?

In Hampshire, like most of the South East, the water supply comes from the water table. We were close to having to use stand pipes near Portsmouth, but it never happened where we were.

I vividly recall the whole family having to use the same bath water (Dad first cos he liked it the hottest, then Mum, then me and my brother). I remember having to conserve water like mad by not flushing the loo after you'd just had a wee, not leaving taps running when washing your hands or cleaning your teeth, using washing up water to "flush" the loo and water the plants.......hmmmm and to think us kids didn't whinge once (except for when we wanted to go to the beach and our parents wouldn't take us!).

Didn't some parts of the country have stand pipes in the street?

Yes - they were in use in Devon, and I think in position elsewhere but not used as far as I recall. The problem in Devon was that the shortage of water concided with the increase in demand due to the arrival of large number of tourists. In Sheffield we were told firmly to use less water but there was no immediate threat of standpipes. We came nearer to this in 1959, but sufficient rain arrived just in time.

Yes - they were in use in Devon, and I think in position elsewhere but not used as far as I recall. The problem in Devon was that the shortage of water concided with the increase in demand due to the arrival of large number of tourists. In Sheffield we were told firmly to use less water but there was no immediate threat of standpipes. We came nearer to this in 1959, but sufficient rain arrived just in time.

Yes the summer of '59 what a summer that was,my last year at school.In those days the Tarmac roads would melt in the heat,and the ground was so parched there were deep cracks in the soil.

I remember..... dodging melted tar on the roads...catching buses bare-footed for 2p....waggin' school.....sleeping down at Forge Dam.....cheese cloth shirts...high waisters... 'newspaper' wedgies (shoes)....going (badly) blonde and my mum dragging me inside to 'wash it out' (she wished!)...and on. :)

marvelous, the best year of my life, 1976, 15 years old, the last six weeks holidays I would ever have, spent lazing around the parks of Sheffield, mainly Hillsborough and Endcliffe, wondering if it would ever rain again, just waking up every morning to the sun blazing through the window, radio 1 on my trannie listening to Tony Blackburn, Dave Lee Travis, Noel Edmunds, I guess there have been hotter summers since, but this was special for me cause I was young and carefree, if only you could turn back time.:)

I was sat in the furnace control cabin with white-hot stainless rolling out four feet under my chair - nuts were well roasted :o:hihi:

Yes,those were the days eh.:hihi:

summer of 76 fantastic timbertop discos, midnight swimming in longley baths where did the years go.

1976 - two years before I left school. I remember the long hot summer, having my first boyfriend and being broken hearted when it all fell apart. We went to Butlins in Wales for our holidays, the car was like a greenhouse every time we got in it. In September I got glandular fever and was off school for about a month. The summer seemed never ending.

Also good was the summer of 1984.

millhouses lido , old schoolfriends there .remember kim wheeler and melanie crannage and girls from rowlinson all there one day ,probably all married with grandkids now ...

How did you get in Longley Baths at midnight

How did you get in Longley Baths at midnight

how do you think? :wink:
same way as I used to get in there, after-hours...
through the hole in the fence! LOL

Was longley open air then like millhouses lido

About my only memory specific to that Summer is of my Dad taking my Sister and I to Greenwich to the museums or something [?] and there was a chap selling cans of pop from a wheelbarrow full of ice. For 40p!!! Which was obviously so ludicrous that I still remember it now. I don't usually buy fizzy drinks, so I'm not sure how much cans cost now but I don't think it's much more than charged by that enterprising chap, 31 years ago.

In May 1976 we moved house to where I live now looking at the Totley Moors.
We also decided to go to North Scotland in our then Camper Van.
Just before we left for Scotland, from where I am sitting now,
I looked up onto the moors and noticed puffs of smoke from a fire.
After making sure that someone local was not just burning the bracken,
I phoned the Fire Brigade. The devastating fire of Blackamoor had started.

We went to Scotland having three weeks holiday in perfect weather,
On our return, all the beautiful colors of the moorland, were just Black.

Who started the fire or fires probably we shall never know,
I only hope that a ' Forum members ' conscience is pricked
And a answer given to the question.
If a conscience is pricked - Please don't do it again.

I remember..... dodging melted tar on the roads...catching buses bare-footed for 2p....waggin' school.....sleeping down at Forge Dam.....cheese cloth shirts...high waisters... 'newspaper' wedgies (shoes)....going (badly) blonde and my mum dragging me inside to 'wash it out' (she wished!)...and on. :)

Those were the days, I remember feeling hard done by when I had to start and pay the full fare, 12p.

:hihi:

Ah yes, no talk of factor 15 sunblock all the time, where did that suddenly come from? I never even thought about sunblock in 1976 - not until last year actually as now its just rammed down our throats.

The summer of 76, after a particularly good Friday night at the Hoffenbrau followed by the Penny Farthing, my mate had a rather bad experience. Stumbling home to Pitsmoor in his fetching white suit, wide lapels and Lionel Blairs, he walked up past the Signpost pub ( sorry can't remember the name of the road ) and drunkenly fell to the floor. As one does after too many sherberts, he thought he would just lay there for a while. He awoke in the early morning unable to get up, fearing he had been the victim of some terrible accident rendering him paralysed. It took a while for him to realise he was stuck in the (now set solid) tar which had obviously been not so solid at the time of the fall. He had to literally yank himself out of the tar, leaving great chunks of his previously immaculate mullet decorating the pavement and his Travoltaesque suit in ruins. Of course, when he turned up to play football later that day looking like Friar Tuck, we were full of sympathy. yeah!!!

was penny farthing scamps then? seem to remember crazy daizy closed at 12 on week days so we went to scamps or samanthas after till 2. dave rothwell had scamps and dave jamieson had the daisy.

Around this time the ' Fiesta ' was going strong. Another club was on the corner of Bank Street down Snig Hill. Can anyone remember its name ?

Around this time the ' Fiesta ' was going strong. Another club was on the corner of Bank Street down Snig Hill. Can anyone remember its name ?

was it baileys or black swan?

was it baileys or black swan?

Yes Baileys was down there. Black Swan was also, but that was a pub.

Good one Hindy and well written too.

I lived in Wivenhoe, Essex during that long hot summer and I remember the local reservoir drying out and the clay cracking thus making the whole thing useless since any subsequent rain would simply run through the cracks.

was it baileys or black swan?

You have 'Hit the nail on the head' - Spot on Baileys.

Summer of '76 I was just 17. We went to Yarmouth and went on the beach almost on arrival. I stupidly fell asleep and got sunstroke.My back was covered in blisters - ouch! I had to spend the rest of the holiday covered up. A fine holiday that was through being careless. I seem to remember the Winter of '76 being really bad weather?

IIRC that summer broke during the first few days of September when the rains finally came.

The summer of ' 47 was long and hot after a severe winter.

We moved to this house in July 76 with 2 children and spent most of the six weeks decorating(what a chore in the heat) and because we had not had a holliday we decided to take them to Cleethorpes for the day before they went back to school.Guess what that was the day that it rained and dozens of us tried to fit into a bus shelter to keep dry!And as we drove home to Sheffield there were people out in the streets cheering.:hihi:

Like my little sister Silly, above, I moved to my present house in July 1976. I was serving with the RAF in the north of Scotland and thought I would relocate to the Fens. We bought a house and my wife and daughter moved in. I then applied for a posting to the area and sod's law saw me posted to Germany. Not wishing to let my new house before I had lived in it, I spent 2.5 years unaccompanied over there.

I had been away for 6mths in the merchant navy, on the way home to Plymouth the country side was brown and parched. The day after I arrived home it rained cats and dogs,I was upset because I was looking forward to sharing a shower.

1976 was the summer i left school and became 16. I got my first job working at Loxley Brothers Print on Aizlewood Road, Heeley. The roof was glass and it really was like working in a greenhouse, it was an unbelievably hot summer. Remember Wimbledon being baking and well into the 90's, and the minister for drought, what a laugh that was! There wasnt any talk of global warming then though was there? Remember being glad when it was all over so i could work a bit more comfortably, and me and me dad ran out into the street when it eventually rained, it had been so long!

Summer of '76.


Went out to play all day without telling my parents where
Went out without sun protection
Climbed trees
Paddled in streams
Didn't drink 8 glasses of water a day
Didn't eat anything that wasn't flourescent


And I'm still alive :D

yea it was the reyt hot one wernt it god yea remember showin off big time begging for my dad to fill my paddling pool up but cus of a water ban we wenrt allowed but i wernt having none off it showing off because i was convinced he was just being lazy n couldnt be bothered to fill up the thing bless him and queing up on the street for water to drink if im correct was it about the same time that there was a strike with the ambulence men ??? or am i wrong probably knowing me xx:rolleyes:

yea it was the reyt hot one wernt it god yea remember showin off big time begging for my dad to fill my paddling pool up but cus of a water ban we wenrt allowed but i wernt having none off it showing off because i was convinced he was just being lazy n couldnt be bothered to fill up the thing bless him and queing up on the street for water to drink if im correct was it about the same time that there was a strike with the ambulence men ??? or am i wrong probably knowing me xx:rolleyes:


Bottom right of your keyboard there should be a full-stop key. Once you've found that let me know and I'll get someone to translate your post.:hihi::hihi:

I think the ambulance strike was 1977 although I stand corrected.

I think the ambulance strike was 1977 although I stand corrected.

The ambulance strike began in January 1979 as part of the "winter of discontent" that effectively put paid to the Old Labour government. It was firefighters who went on strike in 1977, resulting in "green goddess" fire engines on the streets.

The ambulance strike began in January 1979 as part of the "winter of discontent" that effectively put paid to the Old Labour government. It was firefighters who went on strike in 1977, resulting in "green goddess" fire engines on the streets.


You are correct - I confuddled myself.

I recall the Green Goddesses on the streets of our city. And I most certainly recall the Winter of Discontent...,

1976 was the summer i left school and became 16. I got my first job working at Loxley Brothers Print on Aizlewood Road, Heeley. The roof was glass and it really was like working in a greenhouse, it was an unbelievably hot summer. Remember Wimbledon being baking and well into the 90's, and the minister for drought, what a laugh that was! There wasnt any talk of global warming then though was there? Remember being glad when it was all over so i could work a bit more comfortably, and me and me dad ran out into the street when it eventually rained, it had been so long!

Do you remember the bloke who was made "Minister For Drought"?

he was also minister for flood, around the same time (it was either immediately before the drought came, or immediately after), but the funny thing was, almost as soon as he was made minister for *X*, the problem vanished. the standing joke at the time was that he ought to have been made "Minister for Unemployment", too! *ironic- :lol: *

Do you remember the bloke who was made "Minister For Drought"?

he was also minister for flood, around the same time (it was either immediately before the drought came, or immediately after), but the funny thing was, almost as soon as he was made minister for *X*, the problem vanished. the standing joke at the time was that he ought to have been made "Minister for Unemployment", too! *ironic- :lol: *

That was the late Dennis Howell (later Lord Howell of Small Heath) who was Minister of Sport before he was handed the drought portfolio, and anything else they thought he could handle. Must have been a busy bloke...

Hey remember that time v well, had just finished @ Ecclesfield School ( 6th Form ) Went to Job Centre @ Chapeltown wiv mates and got a job @ Bramall Lane, for Longdons Buliders, erecting the then new stand. Oh happy days hot hot hot hot, but straight to the Sportsman on Denby St for a Pint of sHANDY !!!!!!!!!!!!

Does anyone remember the Lanndlord of the aforementioned Pub, The Sportsman on Denby St ? Believe his name was Wentworth Reginald Foreshaw, can anyone confirm plz ?

Does anyone remember the Lanndlord of the aforementioned Pub, The Sportsman on Denby St ? Believe his name was Wentworth Reginald Foreshaw, can anyone confirm plz ?
yes,i remember reg,air force type with brylcreamed hair and a tache,had the best juke box ever in the back room.

yes,i remember reg,air force type with brylcreamed hair and a tache,had the best juke box ever in the back room.
oh,you got the name right too.

summer of 76 fantastic timbertop discos, midnight swimming in longley baths where did the years go.

treetops was it called many a good night in there and longley baths we really showing our age

Iremember 76 my daughter was born ladybirds greenfly everywhere wall to wall sunshine PERFECT :

WE ate lollys for England DANCED EVERY WEEKEND AT SAMANTHAS BRILL NIGHT OUT IF ONLY I COULD TURN BACK THE CLOCK::cool:

Summer of '76.


Went out to play all day without telling my parents where
Went out without sun protection
Climbed trees
Paddled in streams
Didn't drink 8 glasses of water a day
Didn't eat anything that wasn't flourescent


And I'm still alive :D

And global warming hadn’t even been thought of; all we had was a great British summer.

I remeber my late husband telling me he and his builder pals started work at 5.30am and would finish around 1pm, then straight into the pub!!! They would often hose each other down!!!!

I remeber my late husband telling me he and his builder pals started work at 5.30am and would finish around 1pm!!

So that’s where all Spanish builder that ruin your holiday got the idea from. :hihi:

brooksy .... I remember that year cos my aunty and uncle had a special anniversary must have been their 25th and they had a do at a pub but I can't remember where, we were upstairs and it was the night of the eurovision song contest and we won with save your kisses for me - another uncle kept popping downstairs and a mighty cheer went up when we knew we'd won

Drove my first car, a 8 H.P. can't remember the model, to the lake district with 3 kids, my young sister and the kitchen sink. The fish floated on the surface of the almost empty lakes, had a great time. 1976 I lived in North Essex and the local resavoir (sp)dried up and cracked the clay bottom so it couldn't collect water. 1947 after a very long cold winter was also a summer to remember.

Yeah, I was there !

Yeah, I was there !

I missed it,I was in Armley for Budgie rustling.
I came out on a rainy September day.

I missed it,I was in Armley for Budgie rustling.
I came out on a rainy September day.

whats budgie rustling?

What a remarkable story - you clearly made the right decision to get off the bus. It somehow reminds me of Chay Blyth (born 1940) who started on a rather mundane job in a Scottish textile mill, accidentally wrecked a machine (twice), got the sack and went off to become a paratrooper. Then he rowed a boat across the Atlantic, sailed all over the world etc. etc. and picked up a B.E.M. and knighthood along the way. It makes working in a bank seem boring and mundane. OK - I was given a decent package and pension at 54, but it would have been nice to look back on a bit more excitement. All the same I'm not doing bad in retirement, travelling the world - Siberia (with a return ticket) last year, America last month, South Africa in October. Long may you enjoy life, your family and (I'm sure) lots of activities.

Oddly I was a Signals Radio Technician but I retired in 1973. An interesting story about Chay Blyth. I was sitting in my boat in Benelmadena Spain and another boat pulled alongside. I got talking to the owner who told me it was the boat Chay Blyth attempted to take around the world. He sailed down the Solent ok and managed to miss the Isle of Wight but then got lost in the Channel and called for help.. The owner of the boat went out and brought the boat back to shore, taught Blyth some navigation but this time he got as far as the Cape of Good Hope where he lost a rudder.