katflap

Hi Mike Don't remember a Gill. Did she go to Pyebank? I left in 1961, aged 11. I did know several Denise's (very popular in our year), Avril Hastings, Susan Bamford, Kathleen Pilgrim, Audrey Vallance, Catherine Marshall, Marjorie Johnson, June Lee, Josephine Gale, Joan Gould, Chrisitine Bluff, Jennifer Mallinder. Best wishes Kathryn Dodd

Just noticed this discussion on Pitsmoor in the 60s. I was born in 1950 and lived there until the old house at 64 Nottingham Street was demolished in 1966. I don't think Pitsmoor can be summed up dismissively as the 'slums'. Our houses could easily have been modernised with and an indoor bathroom and a modern kitchen. I think it was a great pity they were all knocked down as people seemed to ge on very well together. I enjoyed my childhood there and loved the way the children could all play out together after school with a great deal of freedom, totally denied to children of today. We had to amuse ourselves and I think we were able to come up with all sorts of games and pass-times with a lot of fun and good humour. I don't remember any fighting or 'gangs', only children up to the age of eleven enjoying themselves. Pyebank school, one of the first School Board schools to be built in the country, was probably pretty average in terms of education and I hated the way Mr Cook used to cane boys in front of the whole assembly. He probably wasn't a fit person to be in charge - he plainly disliked children. My last teacher, Mr Jenkins was much kindlier. The 4th form-room was arranged on platfoms rising up to the back, with pupils arranged in double desks in 4/5 rows according to results in various tests. It must have been horrible to be in the fourth row, I passed the 11 plus and went to High Storrs with my friend Susan Burns. I think two boys went to Firth Park. Kathryn Dodd (formerly Kath Jones)

Can we open this debate and think of other sorts of journeys between home and school.? A lot of us seemed to have travelled from the poor north/east of Sheffield to schools in the more affluent west. How did this affect you? Good or bad? Can I start off by saying that I found the hour's journey from Pitsmoor to Ecclesall to get to High Storrs quite strange. I saw semi-detached, detached houses that weren't black with soot and when I went to friend's houses I found out there were houses with hallways as a big as a room. Also they were very green with all the gardens and trees. Pitsmoor had very little greenery. The two places got separated in my mind and I seemed to live a double life - different speech, different friends, different aspirations. Anyone else feel similarly?

I agree about the school dentist. I only ever had extractions, no fillings. I've still got gaps where the dentist took out second teeth. Remember the smell of rubber as you went in and that awful mouth clamp they used to keep your mouth open? When you were finished you joined other children spitting blood into sinks. Grandma always took me as my mum was too squeamish and she caught the bus home, making me feel even more sick.

dear Beezerboy. Thanks for the photo of Sutherland road baths. I've never seen one before. I don't remember a balcony. Katflap.

No I didn't. We lived on the other side of Burngreave Road and went to Pyebank School at the top of the hill where eventually the four tower blocks were built. I was there from 1955-61.

Our family used all three of the facilities at Sutherland Road: we kids used the swimming pool on Saturday morning in the late 1950s/early sixties, which was quite large and tiled throughout, except for the wooden changing rooms round the sides; grandma used the wash-house every Wednesday all through the fifties and sixties, though it had been modernised by then (she took two suitcases full of washing piled onto an old pram, from Nottingham Street, a fair walk); and I used the slipper baths in the mid sixties when I got to be a teenager and didn't want to get into a tin bath in the kitchen any more.

I am not sure you have got the right person. We were at number 64 Nottingham Street with houses on either side. You went up the passage to the back gate (which was wooden). There was waste ground opposite, which grandma said was bomb damage. My brothers were Jim, Robert and Lewis.

Thanks Hillsbro. I can't remember Mrs croft dying in 1964. We didn't leave until 1967 when the houses were due to be demolished.

Thanks Hillsbro. I don't know anyone on the 'odd' side of the road! 66, and 68 Nottingham Street are missing. Our neighbour was an old lady called Mrs Croft. More please! Kathflap

My name is Kathryn and I lived at 64 Nottingham Street from 1950 - 1968. We were a big family (seven Jones children - Diane, Jimmy, Jen, Jacqueline, Robert and Lewis). My dad was 'Taffy' the window cleaner who didn't give up work until he was 75. Other people I remember from Nottingham Street were the Millingtons, the Biggins, the Cottons, the Froggats, and the Shirleys. My grandma and grandad were the Harmans and lived on the corner of Lopham Street. We were opposite the co-op stores, a grocery shop and a butchers, which was next to a bomb site. The police box was in the middle of the road and further down at the corner of Verdon Street was Marshalls, Mr Marshall had only one eye. His son Rodney took over when they moved up to Rock Lane opposite the white chip shop. There was a bakers next door, where we got sticky buns and a sweet shop at the bottom on Rock Street, which had a penny tray. I was at Pyebank from 1955-1961. I remember Mr Cook, the headteacher, as a tyrant always caning boys with great ferocity. My favourite teacher was Mr Jenkinson who had a deformity of the jaw but who always treated me very kindly. Others in the class were: Susan Burns, Avril Hastings, Sheila Bamford, Kenneth Thorpe, Peter Swift and Edward Fenn. Does this spark any memories? Kathryn Dodd

Lived in Pitsmoor and had to get to High Storrs Grammar. Me and my friend, Susan Burns, got the 75 from Burngreave Road, changed buses in town for the 82. This took us up to Hunters Bar and up to the terminus on Knowle Road. Then another slog up hill for about 10 minutes to get to the school. it took about an hour and we got a bus pass. It did seem a long journey at the time, not least because I was travelling from one 'world', the poor part of the inner city, all black terraced houses, to the rich side with detached houses and big gardens. Kathryn Dodd (nee Jones).

Really interesting to hear people talk about the Pyebank days. I was there 1955-1961 but haven't recognised any names from my time there. I was Kathryn Jones, and others I can remember include: Susan Burns, Avril Hastings, Sheila Bamford, Edward Fenn, Peter Swift, and Kenneth Thorpe. Mr Jenkinson was our teacher when we left and I remember hating Mr Cook. My sister was in the year below, Diane Jones and my brother, Jim Jones the year below that. If anyone remembers the leaving class of 1961, I would love to hear from them.