Can any one help me with prewar memories of the staff or photos of the original store in Angel Street, which was bombed flat during the Sheffield blitz?

I am gathering material for a history of the store.

John Cockayne

Have you tried the Local Studies Library ? - there will be loads of newspaper cuttings..and I think there was a commemorative booklet produce on some anniversary or other.

Can't help with before the war as I was 3 when it started but as I was on my way to Infant School I would pass and play on the pile of rubble which was Cockaynes. I remember there were a few wells around there too, we would drop stones and listen for the splash.
But as a young women I used the store quite a bit. Very good store from which I bought clothes and my engagement ring from their second hand jewellry counter.
hazel

There are a few photos on the Local Studies Library website http://www.picturesheffield.co.uk/database_search.php.
I remember the firm from the 1960s/70s when it was still a family business. The Cockaynes (J.E. Cockayne and J.J. Cockayne, father and son) banked at the Midland Bank where I worked (now the Banker's Draft).

my gran worked there sellin stockings between 1966 to 72

I remember as a teenager doing the sandwhich run in the 60's, being sent to Cockaynes food dept for Kosher corned beef for a Jewish workmate.

I remember it as Schofields, and the cafe it had with the clocks on the wall.

Hi - I can't help with pre war but my first job was on Lingerie at Cockaynes.

I remember the hierarchy there. The buyer (Miss Marshall) was very revered and would never have to serve customers. There was a 'pecking order' in the department (Like on Are You Being Served) - Miss Peace was first sales and I as the junior was last. I spent most of my days tidying drawers of knickers and posh nighties but it was a good time. My friend Sandra worked on haberdashery - are you out there Sandra??

Ginger

I loved Cockanes basement well it was street level I think, anyhow it was the China dept, they use to have a big basket in the corner with there seconds in it, god what they considered seconds where perfect to me, couldn't fine a thing wrong with them,

My Mom and I use to get some lovely bargins out of that basket, the China sales they had were fantastic. :love:

Oh - the china department and the "seconds"... I am still using some superb "seconds" cups and saucers that I bought there in c. 1972. The china department was run by the matronly Mrs Wilson, and what she didn't know about china and crockery in general wasn't worth knowing. It was to Mrs Wilson I went when I slipped on the stairs at the bank where I worked (now the Banker's Draft) and dropped the tray with the manager's teapot - it duly smashed. Fortunately the Midland Bank could stand the loss, and a gleaming new Wedgwood teapot was soon pressed into service.

Memories....

Hi ginger, my mum worked in Cockaynes in the 1950's in the lingerie department. When were you there?
jacqui

Hi ginger, my mum worked in Cockaynes in the 1950's in the lingerie department. When were you there?
jacqui

Hi I was there 1966 - I was on Lingerie but the department also covered 'corsetry'. I know that some of the staff had been there for years and I am trying to remember some of the names - with old age and poverty creeping on I am struggling - I recall Janice and Mrs Gilliver? on corsets and with me ... I can see their faces..... but the names are not coming.. I will think a bit more

We used to use the 'tube' system for payments - very old fashioned the money and bills were dispatched down the vacuum tubes and the girls in the tube room would send change and receipts back.

I also remember we had 'floor managers' (Captain Peacocks) ours was Mr Proctor who if I recall had some connection with the furniture shop on Fargate. He walked around the place very quietly and was always very smart.

Ginger

Hi, thanks Ginger. I'll try and get mum to remember some names, she would have been in her late 20s, early 30s when she worked there. She loved it. Her name is Joy Eyre, so if you think of anyone I'd be grateful for any information. She was the last salesgirl, I remembered her telling me when I read your stuff about that. She said she hardly ever got any customers. It seems a weird way now for retail staff to work. We left Sheffield in 1959 and came to live in Australia, but the roots go way back.
Cheers
Jacqui

my mum used to work there up to about 1970

Hi thanks for your message. My mum left there in 1959, was your mum there then?
Jacqui

I remember Cockayne's being relocated to Glossop Road, Broomhill in the early 50's after being blitzed out of the city centre. They had a row of about 6 shops between Peel Street and the Mount.
Incidentally the Mount , a huge building, was occupied by the department store John Walsh at that time.

I thought that the Walsh's family lived at The Mount it being their family home. didn't know the shop was there too.
I used to pass it going to school on the no 60 bus I remember a small lake/pond in front of it and thinking how rich you would have to be to live there.

hazel

I remember Cockayne's being relocated to Glossop Road, Broomhill in the early 50's after being blitzed out of the city centre. They had a row of about 6 shops between Peel Street and the Mount.
Incidentally the Mount , a huge building, was occupied by the department store John Walsh at that time.

I met a very posh old guy many years ago whos family home used to be The Mount, I believe that they were wine importers.

One thing I liked about Cockaynes also is that the staff didn't look down on you like the Walshes staff did, the staff at Walshes thought who they were,

If you came in from the rain and went upstairs to use Walshes lavs on the top floor, the women would give you terrible looks because they knew you weren't there to buy, just to use their precious lavs :roll:

Oh! What bargins I still have from Cockaynes :love:

i worked in the Tube room at cockaynes in 1956 you had to work in the tube room before you got a position on the Shop floor or in the offices I work in the offices with Miss Berry and Leila I was the Junior shorthand Typist the M.D. was Mr Parkes and the manager was Mr Brooksbank everything was so proper and everyone knew thier place but a lovely place to work happy days
anniegray53

I had an aunt worked there, Ada Hayes, this would probably be 60s though.

my mum worked there until it was bombed ,i dont think she returned when it was rebuilt but i remember her telling me she walked to work from carbrook just to find it had been flattened to the ground but i know she had many happy memories of working there early war years j.....

Thank you to Greybeard, hazel, hillsbro, ginger, poppins, ironmonger and annie gray for sharing your memories. It seems that they were mainly happy ones. If I get round to writing a history of the store, the experiences of the people that worked there will merit a chapter or two.

Keep ypur memories coming please

John Cockayne

Are you by any chance related to James Lomax Cockayne? He was the MD of Porter Wright and Company of Millsands. His wife was a keen golfer and they had a daughter who would be aged about 60 now. I worked for Mr Cockayne for a short time in the 1960s and wondered if he was still around and if so how he was.

Thank you to Greybeard, hazel, hillsbro, ginger, poppins, ironmonger and annie gray for sharing your memories. It seems that they were mainly happy ones. If I get round to writing a history of the store, the experiences of the people that worked there will merit a chapter or two.

Keep ypur memories coming please

John Cockayne

Hi Xenia
I know Max Cockayne as he was known. He is not related to our family as far back as I can trace.

Before Porter Wright, he was the proprietor of White Favell and Cockayne, who traded in Church street close by the Cutlers Hall, wine and spirit merchants and cigar importers.

You will understand that I cannot discuss any personal details about Lomax Cockayne on Forum.

John Cockayne

Hi Xenia
I know Max Cockayne as he was known. He is not related to our family as far back as I can trace.

Before Porter Wright, he was the proprietor of White Favell and Cockayne, who traded in Church street close by the Cutlers Hall, wine and spirit merchants and cigar importers.

You will understand that I cannot discuss any personal details about Lomax Cockayne on Forum.

John Cockayne

You mean your family was the "Real Cockaynes" family that were all talking about ? :o

Hi John , Looks like i'm the only one to answer to have worked for T B &W Cockanes, my headmaster got me the job as an apprentice cabinet maker at in 1937/8, it was a good firm to work for, although l was not very pleased with my wage , 9shillings a week ,[45 pence] but worth 100 pence in those days, before decimalisation came and reduced our money from 240 pence to 100 pence in the £1, over night,lt was very hard work for a little'un the workshop was at the top of Angel yard, as it was called probably because the residential hotel called the Angel was at the bottom on Angel st, there were 2 flights of steps ,up the first was the sawmill a man called Bill Merrit was the boss , then up to the cabinet shop, there were 17 benches all occupied, l can see them all in my minds eye,mr Dobson [no christian name allowed for boys] Ted Cousins, John and Ernest,Bill , Frank , Tom , to name a few there was 16 glue kettles to check and fill first , then sweep round the benches, clear round 2 circular saws, put 2 big kettles of water on the open fire then ask all of them if they required anything fetching from the shops ,Davy's for pork pies & sandwiches, down Dixon lane with a "morning" to big Ada at the top, fruit from just lower down , chemists, post, bank, and so on, till my2 bags and my apron pocket was all full, stagger back, dish out their change, not a a half penny short or trouble, then collect all the mugs and mashings[tea and sugar ] ram sticks under the kettles if not boiling, mash and deliver, then eat my lunch and fall asleep many a time , halfhour over when the buzzer went, after lunch one day Bill Gillam said that cocoa was breakfast next time dinner cocoa [you can guess the rest] ln the afternoon l sometimes fetched timber from the mill below, but mostly helped ,and watched the men, and did little jobs, 5 o'clock and first down the steps and ask if any vans were going my way [ once l had a ride]then clock out, go home have dinner and promtly fall asleep , there are so many memories of my time there but l enjoyed those days, Well John if l go on much more i'll fall asleep Cheers Arthur.ps Jimmy Cockayne was nice, always said hello,

I was a van lad at Cockaynes in 1958 it was my first job on leaving school Mr Elson was the transport manager my driver was George Walker one of the packers was Jack Roebuck. I went with my first girlfriend who worked in the tube room she used to bring me sweets every day the only problem was she was about a foot taller than me and I felt a right narna walking beside her, I think her name was Marie

One of the leaders of our Girls Life Brigade worked at Cockaynes. This would be in the
60's. I can't remember her first name. I knew her as Miss Coddington.