wheaty

Pub being converted to a house - planning permission also been granted to build a new house on the car park.

As well as the Grouse at Longshaw, there were two others in the area. The Grouse at Pewit (near Owler Bar) in Holmesfield lost its license c.1860 due to the landlord being rather erratic, fighting with customers and such like. The one I think the original query refers to is the Grouse Inn at Totley Bents. This was just up from the Cricket Inn and closed in October 1958. http://www.totleyhistorygroup.org.uk/s/cc_images/teaserbox_33243131.jpg

The Robin closed many years ago and is now a holiday cottage - not cheap, too! My folks still live 100 yards down the road from it.

Superb range of 5 ales in the Rutland at the moment, including Castle Rock Harvest Pale - last time I was in (10 days ago) The BrewDog Trashy Blonde was in great nick. The other 3 beers are fairly standard - Theakstons Bitter and the like. Whilst in Holmesfield, have a meander up the hill to the George and Dragon for Barnsley Bitter (Oakwell), Abbeydale Moonshine and Peak Ales Bakewell Best. Have fun !

Lest we forget the RATS (real ale tasting society) that former landlord Paul Basham ran at the Jolly Farmer (ex-Gorsey Brigg) on a Thursday night (also offering a t-shirt when you paid your subs).

Holmesfield is quite a mecca for ale these days - even the thai restaurant in the former Travellers Rest offers a cask ale - Theakstons XB Rutland Arms offers 3 ales including Camerons Strongarm and Deuchars IPA (the tipple of choice for celebrity former prostitute, Belle du Jour!) Horns Inn is now on the SIBA list and has had Peak Ales Bakewell Best on recently and Thornbridge White Swan currently. George and Dragon is now a genuine free house offering Tetley, TT Landlord, Oakwell Barnsley Bitter and Peak Ales Bakewell Best Angel Inn offers 3 ales including Adnams Bitter and Abbeydale Moonshine Venture a mile down the hill to Millthorpe and the idyllic Royal Oak (reopened and run by locals) offers 3 changing guest ales. Holmesfield is now well worth a pub crawl - and the Thai food is excellent with a drop of Theakstons at the Travs!

RAF Worksop was at Scrofton (between Worksop and Retford) and has been returned to agriculture, though you can still make out the main runway. Several aircrew who were killed are at Manton cemetery but that is in the suburbs of Worksop. Did you mean Gamston near Retford which was a small satellite airfield of Worksop?

Check also this link to the thread about a USAF F-84 Thunderstreak that ran out of fuel over Hathersage Moor and crashed into Lodge Moor Hospital, killing a patient and wounding several others... http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?s=&threadid=10336 (page two contains the salient facts) The pilot bailed out safely in this instance.

The plane was a Gloseter Meteor F8 No. WE916 and crashed at 11.22pm on Thursday 26th May 1955 whilst on a night flight training excercise from RAF Worksop. The pilot was 21 year old John Alexander Cohen from Cardiff and apparently lost control whilst undertaking a controlled descent though cloud. The pilot was killed instantly as the plane dived steeply into the ground and exploded on impact in the field at the bottom of Silkstone Crescent. I have copies of the crash investigation report, police and witness statements plus photographs. Check my website for details of another Meteor Crash in the area just two weeks prior at Millthorpe, Holmesfield and our efforts to provide a memorial to the pilot who was killed. http://www.millthorpeaircrash.org.uk

No problem - can you email me off-list, please? I'm reseraching this crash for a book and I'd like to get in touch with Mrs. Murdoch's descendents. Thanks.

The accident was indeed extensively reported in both Sheffield Newspapers - the Star and the Sheffield Telegraph. These are the salient details of the crash. o Aircraft was a Republic F-84 Thunderstreak from the 3rd Air Force. A photograph of the crashed plane shows airframe serial number of 26692. o Pilot was Lt. Roy G. Evans, 24, of Polaski, Tennessee who was attached to RAF Weathersfield. o Flight originated from RAF Sculthorpe, Norfolk and was for instrument training. o Colonel Harold Bailer, base operations commander at USAF Burtonwood (Lancs.) arrived at crash site and said trouble started when flight was over Derbyshire. Burtonwood were only people with contact with pilot at the time by radio. The base could faintly hear the pilot, but the pilot could not hear them. Pilot reported "I have a flame-out.... leaving the aircraft". Pilot ejected in cloud after several attempts to re-start his engine over the Peak District at what was believed to be 2,500ft and was recovered on the moors east of Hathersage. Pilot suffered an injured ankle and was returned to USAF Burtonwood, the nearest US base "with very minor injuries". o Pilot recovered to Hathersage police station who telephoned Burtonwood to say he would be returning to base. o Plane flew over 8 other wards before crashing at just after 5.00pm on December 9th 1955. o Impact speed believed to have been 300mph. o Plane hit roof of Ward North No.2 before demolishing a covered connecting corridor and end of Ward North No.1 before coming to rest by the mortuary in two pieces. o Blazing wreckage put out by fire brigade, preventing it spreading to other wards, despite exploding ammunition. This was due to a smashed gas main. Fire was under control by 7.30pm o Wards occupied by 28 cubicles out of 32 capacity. Casualties deemed to be relatively light considering. o Only fatality was Mrs Elsie Murdoch, 46, of Walkley, Sheffield. She was convalescing and was due to be discharged on the Monday (crash was on a Friday). After the crash, nurse Margaret Schofield, 20, ironically of Hathersage, stayed with her until she died. o Injured people were all patients: Florence Stanton, 67, of Wickersley, Rotherham (shock) John Wilson, 12, of Manor, Sheffield (injury to left hand) Patrick Handley, 13, of Upperthorpe, Sheffield (slight foot injury) Sandra Williams, 10, of Rotherham (superficial injuries to legs, right hand and scalp) Dorothy Corrill, 30, of Dalton, Rotherham (superficial injuries to scalp, face and hands) Florence Burcoyne, 45, of Tinsley, Sheffield (slight Shock) Harold Wilcockson, 47, of Woodhouse, Sheffield (cut finger and bruising) o 19 year old nurse Nita Richardson was a patient (convalescing) and left her cubicle for a cup of tea when the crash occurred and shattered her cubicle - she would almost certainly have died had she not done this! o Pilot unaware of death when he left Burtonwood hospital for his home base of RAF Sculthorpe. o Colonel E. Salisbury of the 3rd Air Force was to investigate the crash. The following day, the USAF personnel present on site comprised Brigadier-General John "Troup" Miller (Burtonwood), four colonels, two first-lieutenants, and over 50 technical staff. B-G Miller visited Mr Murdoch, the dead woman's husband with Frank Kershaw from the hospital management. o Messages of 'deep regret' sent by Major General Roscoe C. Wilson, Commander US 3rd Air Force. == I hope that clarifies things. Please visit my website for extensive information on two aircrashes that happened in Holmesfield, North Derbyshire. The first was an RAF Gloster Meteor in 1955, the other was a USAF RF-4C Phantom in 1970. http://www.millthorpeaircrash.org.uk

In those glorious Stalinist days of mid-1980s Sheffield, did anyone else try to extend the "anywhere in sheff for tuppence" bus fare as a kid? The 24 to Totley was often conducted by a middle-aged beast of a woman with long blond platted hair - we called her Rapunzel. I think the child fare cut-off was 14 years old but at 16 & 17 we gave it a high pitch "two, please!" and usually got away with it exept when Rapunzel was on duty. She stood for no nonsense!