i cant remember much about this but i can remember going down to the sheffield show then coming home and watching live coverage of the show on this cable channel.It must have shown the days events later on cos i was so excited when i saw myself on there.I think was all either sheffield or regional things that was on there not actual tv programmes.If anyone can remember it properly and fill me in i'd appreciate it.thanx

I vaguely remember something about a local cable company when i was a kid. The cables were attached to the houses under the guttering and they paid something like a shilling a year for allowing them to run them across your house.

I'm sure they had a sort of local interest slot where people could broadcast their own programmes? Obviously it never caught on ... otherwise would still be around today? It was based somewhere in Heeley, Saxon Road?

On a related issue, when Yorkshire Cable first started up - didn't they intend to cover the whole of Sheffield? What happened?

I seem to remember' was it to do with radio rentals? . You would receive extra local channels plus radio circa eary to mid 70's

Hey yeah - I do remember this

I think it was only available in certain areas

My friends gran had access to it (she lived in Walkley just off Howard Road) and we all piled into her living room to watch 'Bonnie and Clyde' (way under the X certificate rating age)

There was a grey box on top of the TV which had a slot in it for the money - for some reason I seem to remember it was 5/- (five shillings) to watch the movie

It was not long after the movie had been on general release so that puts it around 1968

I used to work for a firm called British Relay in the sixties. They were a cable T.V. company who cabled up the city with copper cable around actual houses ( not fibre optics through street ducts as they do now) They got you a good picture in bad reception areas by picking up the tv signals with a big aerial at Crookes, amplifying it and sending it round the cable network.
Most of the new developments in the 60's had it, Norfolk park, Batemoor etc. Don't remember any locally produced content though.
regards

That sounds like it chumpy ... what happened to them? any idea?

... I suppose a lot of their network went down with the houses during the mass destruction of areas like Heeley, Park and lower Walkley in the 70s?

Originally posted by chumpy
I used to work for a firm called British Relay in the sixties. They were a cable T.V. company who cabled up the city with copper cable around actual houses ( not fibre optics through street ducts as they do now) They got you a good picture in bad reception areas by picking up the tv signals with a big aerial at Crookes, amplifying it and sending it round the cable network.
Most of the new developments in the 60's had it, Norfolk park, Batemoor etc. Don't remember any locally produced content though.
regards
We lived on Longley and British Relay cabled up at least our part of the estate. You're right it just provided the main channels, nothing locally produced. I have a vague memory that it piped in radio too, but I'm not sure.

Started working for British Relay on the Moor in 1967 this was taken over by Visionhire 1978 then Granada 1988 I finished work with Granada in 1997. yes a studio was set up I think it was on Matilda st this was around 1974 [short lived] the cable operation finished around 1985 by then it was out of date and the aerial signal in Sheffield had improved, there was a radio service included.:thumbsup:

Rubydazzler, that brick hut on Saxon Rd beside the river was one of the repeater stations.
regards

http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?s=&threadid=41979&highlight=cable+local

I thought this thread seemed familiar and with a teensy weensy bit of searching found this thread which is on the same subject.

thankyou for all the replies,you brought a few memories back.I remember having british relay.My mum used to have a couple of things that were on rental as we were a large family and money was a bit tight.(altho i think it was same for most families then).She also used to rent a twin tub washing machine,and when videos first came out we rented one of those too.

Originally posted by chumpy
Rubydazzler, that brick hut on Saxon Rd beside the river was one of the repeater stations. regards

well at least i had something right ... even if it was only the name of the road!! :D

Whisper, did the meter always run out right at the most exciting part of whatever you were watching? It did in our house!

Father didn't really like the idea of television watching so he decided we'd have a coin in the slot one when they became available. He decided how much money could be put into the meter and that was it ... when the money ran out, no more viewing. It always seemed to run out five minutes before the end of "play for today" or whatever ...

British Relay ran the cable system and the building is still there at the bottom of Matilda St on the left hand side as you walk towards St Marys Road but I think it has been made into flats years ago, just like every other vacant building.

The installation depot was about where the park square roundabout is now. I used to work out of there with Dave and Jim doing the new council estates and stripping cable off the old houses (legally ) before they were demolished .
Happy days.
regards

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by rubydazzler


Whisper, did the meter always run out right at the most exciting part of whatever you were watching? It did in our house!

i don't think we had ours on a meter Rubydazzler.i think my mum used to go into the shop and pay a monthly rental.

I vaguely remember something about a local cable company when i was a kid. The cables were attached to the houses under the guttering and they paid something like a shilling a year for allowing them to run them across your house.

I'm sure they had a sort of local interest slot where people could broadcast their own programmes? Obviously it never caught on ... otherwise would still be around today? It was based somewhere in Heeley, Saxon Road?

On a related issue, when Yorkshire Cable first started up - didn't they intend to cover the whole of Sheffield? What happened?
it was redivusion

BRW (British Relay Wireless) used to broadcast around Heeley in the 60's. There was a special box that you had to have, but the picture quality was u/s. Every programme was like Look Leeds, but was about Sheffield. I don't think that it lasted long - I hope that the same happens to Look Leeds.

it was redivusionRediffusion covered Rotherham British Relay Sheffield.:)

British Relay had a depot on Cliffe Field Rd,the builing is still there but i dont know what it is now.At the time they seemed to employ a lot of people.I remember the man used to call every week for the rental money ,nobody bought tvs back then.If i remember you got 4 channels BBC1,BBC2 ITV and Midlands tv plus 4 radio stations,which in the70s was pretty good .Now we just have 250 channels of crap to watch .

While at Hurlfield school about 1973ish we had cable tv film a school production of Peer Gynt. Was wondering if anyone remembers this or knows what company it was?

I used to do doorstep rental collection for British Relay around '72/'73. We used to do our accounts at the offices above the shop on the Moor. I bet I knew you Hutch.

I used to do doorstep rental collection for British Relay around '72/'73. We used to do our accounts at the offices above the shop on the Moor. I bet I knew you Hutch.:help:As i was at 61 The Moor from 1967 until i moved to the Rotherham shop in 1976 our paths must have crossed do you remember the domino sessions with Fred Green.you will remember Jack Spooner and others, so come on who are you?

Still got the old cable stuck to the back of our house.

Hi Hutch. My memory is hopeless. Was Fred the manager? If so I was only there for a short while after he came.Spooner rings a bell but can't place him, was he an old chap? I remember Vin and Dennis who lived Hillsborough way,a lad about my age called Bob from Woodseats, a chap from Derbyshire Lane works, Fletcher? smoked a pipe, his son in law whose name escapes me, was a collector, he went on to work as a barber at John Fanthams on Division St. A tall girl called Sue worked in the office. Couple of other girls whose names again escape me but you WOULD remember those! Frank Prince, Geoff Hale,Snelson?? A salesman who played drums, had a smashed up Lotus2+2?? A collector called John who played trumpet in a band. Come on Hutch, fill me some gaps in, my brain hurts.

Andy

Hi Hutch. My memory is hopeless. Was Fred the manager? If so I was only there for a short while after he came.Spooner rings a bell but can't place him, was he an old chap? I remember Vin and Dennis who lived Hillsborough way,a lad about my age called Bob from Woodseats, a chap from Derbyshire Lane works, Fletcher? smoked a pipe, his son in law whose name escapes me, was a collector, he went on to work as a barber at John Fanthams on Division St. A tall girl called Sue worked in the office. Couple of other girls whose names again escape me but you WOULD remember those! Frank Prince, Geoff Hale,Snelson?? A salesman who played drums, had a smashed up Lotus2+2?? A collector called John who played trumpet in a band. Come on Hutch, fill me some gaps in, my brain hurts.

AndyHi Andy I cannot remember you,yes Fred was the manager i was down in the showroom with Colin Simmonds dark haired older than me i was 26 in 1957, plus girls on the payment counter lots of laughs over the years, Snelsons was the tv firm taken over by BR you may be thinking of Sid Snell. Jack Spooner was an older man lived at Lowedges,--- Fletcher worked at D Lane plus Sue.i remember but have lost track of others. there was the collector who was found dead at home with all the customer books and money in front of him now that is dying on the job.that was around 1973. as i managed around 8 shops for visionhire / Granada after that my memmory bank is full or worn out.but i did retire at 58 brilliant.

Yes i can confirm sheffield had a cable company in the Mid 70's it was run by British relay and relayed BBC 1,2, Yorkshire tv and Atv. it also transmitted a few radio stations.it also made local programs from its studios on matilda street and was called Sheffield Cable Vision,I remember chatting to one of the camera men at the Sheffield show in the 70s (i think he was called alf Tucker) he lived near me in thoes days.