I perhaps have got my rose tinted spectacles on and seeing it from a childs point of view but the Christmas illuminations did seem better in the 60's/ 70's.

Can anybody remember the stuff they used to do in the Peace Gardens?

The highlights I can remember were some kind of Santa's Grotto train you could ride on threading its way through a forest of pine trees and Illuminated Dancing Water Fountains that moved in time to music. Great stuff!

I never knew they transplanted disneyland to the peace gardens...? (chuckle)

I don't remember that, at all, I'm afraid.

I remember the grotto at moorfoot, and the various xmas rides at the co-op, and Pauldens, Walshes, Redgates and Robert brothers..

PT

Originally posted by Vanbast
Can anybody remember the stuff they used to do in the Peace Gardens?

The highlights I can remember were some kind of Santa's Grotto train you could ride on threading its way through a forest of pine trees and Illuminated Dancing Water Fountains that moved in time to music. Great stuff!

I do remember that one year, art students from either Granville College or Psalter Lane were involved in designing city centre Christmas stuff, and it stands out in my memory as the best year for Chrissie illuminations in Sheffield. There was indeed a lot of stuff in the Peace Gardens including a large grotto (don't remember the train ride though...) and dancing water fountains.

I think generally, Sheffield City Council did seem to have a much higher budget for illuminations in the early to mid seventies than they do now.

Originally posted by Damon
I do remember that one year, art students from either Granville College or Psalter Lane were involved in designing city centre Christmas stuff, and it stands out in my memory as the best year for Chrissie illuminations in Sheffield. There was indeed a lot of stuff in the Peace Gardens including a large grotto (don't remember the train ride though...) and dancing water fountains.

I think generally, Sheffield City Council did seem to have a much higher budget for illuminations in the early to mid seventies than they do now.

That's because if the council spend any money not directly aimed at improving the life of the sheffield motorist or homeowner, then they get it in the neck from the SF resident killjoys

I remember very well the efforts in particular of Redgates and the Co-op even when taking my own children. Today you can usually see Santa as you're paying - in days gone by Santa was at the end of some wonderful little walk or ride - I remember riding on swans at the Co-op one time. Redgates used to have a woodland walk theme with moving models of happy, smiling animals waving you on your way.

I also used to enjoy the window displays in the shops - what creative ideas and willing staff can do to brighten up the shopper's day!

I remember as a child in the sixties a santas forest at the bottom of the moor around about where the manpower building is. I think it was on a bombsite from ww2.Can anyone remember this

Originally posted by DAVEGARY
I remember as a child in the sixties a santas forest at the bottom of the moor around about where the manpower building is. I think it was on a bombsite from ww2.Can anyone remember this

I remember it very well. my mother used to take me and my sister when we were kids.

Then, later (in early 80's) there was an open market on the same site, and it's now a car park.

the santa's grotto thing, if my memory serves me correctly, was just a smidge further over from the manpower, heading back towards the dual carriageway.

PT

Originally posted by tiffy
I remember very well the efforts in particular of Redgates and the Co-op even when taking my own children. Today you can usually see Santa as you're paying - in days gone by Santa was at the end of some wonderful little walk or ride - I remember riding on swans at the Co-op one time. Redgates used to have a woodland walk theme with moving models of happy, smiling animals waving you on your way.

I also used to enjoy the window displays in the shops - what creative ideas and willing staff can do to brighten up the shopper's day!

The Co-op was fab! Didn't they have a rolling scenery background that made you think that you really were moving on the swans? Well... at least it felt like it when I was 6 :)

The garden shed with a spotty teenager in a red anorak in Orchard Square doesn't really seem the same :( No wonder children don't believe any more.

By the way... please can we call him Father Christmas? I never heard about Santa until we got American telly.

just quicker to type

I remember the Peace Garden thingy. Like being in another world.
It may be just me dwelling on childhood memories, but were the Santas more convincing then? All this technology around and dramatic effects and what do we end up with now? Some middle-aged wino in a dandruff encrusted red(ish) overcoat, stinking of either booze or Brut, trainers on feet and in full display of the entire shop floor thereby depriving the kids of any mystery. Added to this the present climate has made getting up close and personal with him (sitting on his knee) impossible.
Maybe I'm just getting old and cynical.
YES, THAT'S IT.

Remember the big Xmas tree that used to be located at the top of Fargate?

There was a rumour that Sheffield had got hold of some of Blackpool's cast-off illuminations in the 80's.And these were brilliant.
Judging by the pathetic display last Christmas a buying trip over to the Golden Mile might be a wise investment.
Perhaps a twinning arrangement would do the trick.

This year's lights are miserable again.
They honestly shouldn't bother unless they can come up with something better...

Originally posted by Lickszz
Remember the big Xmas tree that used to be located at the top of Fargate?

What? They dont put that bloody tree up anymore? Revolt by putting Daz in the Fountain..or maybe thats been removed now has it? Sorry I havnt been back to sheff for 3 years!

The Goodwin fountain has disappeared I believe.

:confused:

The Grotto in the Co-Op on town is still there every year. I take my kids and we love it!! It still has the ride with the moving scenery too lol!! It tells you a little story as you 'ride' along, then you get off and walk through to see Santa.

My son made him laugh last year when, after telling him what he wanted, he announced that he should give his sister a lump of coal 'cos she is always naughty!!

In my opinion, it's the best grotto there is!

The only thing ive seen in co-op is the christmas shop on 3rd floor.

mind you perhaps i dont notice anymore as my youngest is eleven now.
what floor is the grotto on.

Does anyone remember the yearly illuminations in chapeltown park.
They use to have all people from the nursery rhymes all lit up and doing the actions coresponding to each rhyme. there was rides there also.
I remember going there every year as a child, then going in the carousel (pub) kids telly room. where i made loads of friends while we stuffed our faces on the little cheese and onion packs.
Remember them, you got a little biscuit and a couple of onions
and a portion of cheese spread.
what was the carousel pub called in 60s- cant remember.
also we had castle and tudor crisps,and funny shaped bottles of orange very narrow necks with wide bottoms.
Oh and of course the original smiths crisps with the dark blue salt bag in them. and nibbits.

The reason why the illuminations in the 1960s were far superior to the current display is that they didn't cost the Council a penny!

The whole cost was underwritten by Sir Stuart Goodwin, President of the Neepsend Steel & Tool Corporation. In the first year, 1961 if memory serves, the cost was about £30,000, roughly £420,000 in today's money. His arguement being that such an attraction would bring increased trade to the city at Xmas, and how right he was. He continued to fund the illuminations each year until his death in the late 60s.

After that the quality of the lights quickly went into decline, particulary as the big stores, the principal benefactors, would only give, reluctantly, a token amount towards the cost.

Sadly, there are no such benefactors around these days.

I take it that this is the chap who gave sHeffield the Goodwin fountain at the top of Fargate. I always remember the illuminations being awesome in the late 60's.

I think we musn't forget while we are all shopping in the warmth of Meadowhall, that it took much wealth away from the city centre and maybe a roof over high street, Fargate and the Moor, may have been a better idea and kept the city centre alive and vibrant.

Too Late now!

Originally posted by robian
The reason why the illuminations in the 1960s were far superior to the current display is that they didn't cost the Council a penny!

The whole cost was underwritten by Sir Stuart Goodwin, President of the Neepsend Steel & Tool Corporation. In the first year, 1961 if memory serves, the cost was about £30,000, roughly £420,000 in today's money. His arguement being that such an attraction would bring increased trade to the city at Xmas, and how right he was. He continued to fund the illuminations each year until his death in the late 60s.

After that the quality of the lights quickly went into decline, particulary as the big stores, the principal benefactors, would only give, reluctantly, a token amount towards the cost.

Sadly, there are no such benefactors around these days.

Goodwin fountain was removed by the council because they said they couldn't afford the maintenance costs. What costs - a medium sized water pump, some light bulbs and cleaning out the Fairy Liquid suds every Rad Day - laughed at that every year!
When this was announced in the Star in the very same issue was a new design for the Peace Gardens with a giant fountain etc which we now see. The maintenance cost for the new fountain is I believe over £100,000 a year including security staff which apparently are needed because of the design.
How come we couldn't afford the Goodwin and a few light bulbs yet we can afford the current fountain. Ironic the two items were in the same Star issue.

Sorry, back to thread - town centre decorations are a bit feeble but for once I feel for the council staff who organise them. They're wrong either way - too feeble attempt or spending too much money.

Now council seems to be more interested in putting Happy Eid than Merry Christmas :rant: , then there's the policy of not offending others, so basically, apart from stars and trees, the decorations are pretty boring...
They haven't made jack sh*t effort this year, a few measely lights in them diing trees on what was the great Peace/St Paul Gardens (when it had all that grass :clap: ). It's also possible to get into Uni (which for god's sake is IN the city centre) without seeing a single illumination !

Goodwin fountain was ace, and the new Peace Gardens are crap ! We really got ripped off in the bargain ! Honnestly, where's all the grass gone ? and those huge humongous flower pot fountains ? What's that all about ? Where's not freaking southerners and our randomly placed marble pavements and Millenium things that get unused after 2 weeks openning.

Hi Tara

There was a whole thread on Chapeltown Park Illuminations a few weeks back, here's the link

http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?s=&threadid=16650&highlight=Illuminations

cheers Basalt.
Dont know how i missed that one.

Sorry for a very late reply on this subject, but I'm new to all this, so please bare with me!

As a child in the late 1960's and early 1970's, my Ma and Pa would take me to see the Sheffield City Christmas lights each December. I vividly remember us catching the bus to Sheffield, taking a flask of tea and some toffee, left over from Bonfire Night, to keep us going as walked the length and breadth of the City Centre.

The Christmas Illuminations at that time were spectacular. We had nothing like them in our home town, Chesterfield.

I remember the Hole In The Road, trimmed up with lots Christmas Trees in tubs in the middle, usually covered in white or clear bulbs, if the vandals hadn't stripped them before hand (and yes, they sometimes did that, even in those days!) Round the edge of the Hole In The Road was beautiful displays of lights, lanterns, bells and light up Father Chritsmas figures. The whole area looked stunning. The large display windows in the passageways beneath were lovely. Each window would have a different colour theme of lights, trees, baubles and tinsel. You could feel the warmth of the shop windows from outside, even in the cold December air.

We would ride on the escillators out of Castle Square Subway, to give it it's correct name, to see fantastic across the street displays in High Street, Fargate and beyond, down to the bottom of the Moor. These displays hung across the streets like jewls and were designed in such a way as to create beautiful patterns overhead. The displays would gracefully swing in the winter breezes and as a child I would often wonder if they came loose and fell down, but I never heard of any displays doing so.

There was a huge Christmas Tree at the top of Fargate, next to the Goodwin Fountain (that also looked great when lit up). The Christmas Tree was so stuffed with lights, the branches must have groaned under the weight of all the wiring! It was a no holds barred event!

One year they had Dancing Fountains in the then Peace Gardens, the likes we had never seen before. The fountains would rise and fall, with colour changing lights, shining on the water, in time with music. It was out of this world.

The whole City Centre was alive, as vistors and shoppers went about their way, admiring the lights. The atmopshere was great and people so freindly. Most of us were gawping at the lights or the grogeously decorated shop windows and were thoroughly exhausted by the time we got the bus home. But we always had a fantastic time. We would be a bit sad when we returned to the City in January and the Christmas Lights were switched off, hanging in darkness, awaiting their removal.

I did hear that the lights cost rate payers a lot of money, though the "big" shops of the day used to contribute towards the cost of the Christmas Illuminations, the likes of which I don't think will ever be surpassed today, as they were back then. The Sheffield Christmas Lights must have been thought out and put up with a lot of love and dedication. Thank you for the wonderful memories, which I shall never forget. Even my Ma and Pa, who are now well into their 80's, still remember those Christmas visits to the Magical City Centre Wonderland of the 1960's and 1970's.

Does anyone have pictures of the Sheffield Christmas Lights back then? It would be great to see the images again. :thumbsup:

i guess that they would be even more expensive now given that they have to be up for a longer period to celebrate other religious festivals?
leicester have there up from october right through to Jan.