Tina-w

I checked on Google, looks like a big car park now. After Mecca left, I think it became a Casino. (?)

There are a lot of free MS Office/IT refresh courses around like this one from Reed: https://www.reed.co.uk/courses/essential-it-skills-level-2/31701#/courses/free/microsoft Old computers aren't a problem, anything from 2011 or so will run the latest versions of Office. If you're on Windows 7 you can almost certainly (still) update it to Windows 10 if you have the Certificate of Authority (CoA) sticker with the Licence key on it. If not, refurb machines like a Dell 790 I3 are still very capable and will come with Windows 10 installed. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Cheap-Dell-OptiPlex-790-SFF-Desktop-PC-4GB-DDR3-RAM-250GB-HDD-Windows-10-Pro/122870522740?epid=219538110&hash=item1c9ba76374:g:~O4AAOSwhclbSM1N A lot of businesses are still using older versions of Office, but again, you can get a full version of Office Pro Plus 2016 very cheaply online. I paid a tenner for a legit licensed version last month. (I'm using a 2011 computer.) Most Office questions are answered online if you get stuck. The easiest way to start is to dig in and work on producing documents with Word and Publisher, using tables and images.

Cripes, I remember Upperthorpe School. Midgely, Toogood and the others. There was also a Mrs Brigands (?) who was a real bully. The food was terrible, and you had to finish what was on your plate. If you didn't you were kept behind after meals and forced to eat it. Still have the mental scars. :-) I remember the sloping playground behind and the toy 'crazes' - there was one with little plastic rockets- the kids put a cap in the end, chucked it in the air and it came down with a crack. I think there were also school trips to the swimming baths at Upperthorpe. My parents pulled me out at some point and sent me to Morley Street which was much better. That would have been 1959-1960 or so. Can't remember any classmates though. There was a white single decker bus went past the school. We used to call it the 'Little Bus'. Seem to remember it also took me to Morley Street, but it was a long time ago.

Cripes. I remember that shop on the corner of Westmoreland Road. My mum used to call the owner Enoch. You could go over with a jug and he'd fill it with beer. Also the public laundry, locally called the 'wash-house'. Went in once with my mother, was like a scene from hell. We used to go the public baths at Upperthorpe.

I remember Pete Briggs by name. I also knew Harry Stocks. We used to hang out at the Heartbeat. He seemed to have a new ritzy girlfriend every other week. :-) Would have been 69/70 or so. Also had a part-time job at the Mecca Bowling Alley. They closed it and moved most of the staff to London. Thought most of the people there were pretty nice, the bowling alley alley manager used to lend me his car sometimes.

We're looking to move back up to Sheffield next year, shortlisted Millhouses area, or south-ish, as easy access to Peak District. Millhouses Park was always a favourite. See there's a Tesco/sainsburies around the corner. :-) I'll ask again next year, when we have firmed up plans. Any thoughts? T.

I can add a bit of research to the Norfolk Park Area. What is now Norfolk Park Rd was called Belle Vue Road. There was a triangular plot adjoining it and and Granvile Road. There were four or so old cottages parallel with Belle Vue Road, where the stables were, and Belle Vue House, a grandish residence owned by John Curr, the Duke of Norfolks Colliery agent. It was demolished in the Sixties and largely forgotten. In the grounds to the east of Belle Vue house there were two gravestones with the names of favourite greyhounds on them. The Sheffield Star did a piece on the 'hauntings of Belle Vue House' which would have been 1963 ish. ---------- Post added 12-01-2018 at 12:39 ---------- More info: Old pic: http://www.picturesheffield.com/frontend.php?action=printdetails&keywords=Ref_No_increment;EQUALS;s05707&prevUrl= Map pic:

Hi Brian, et al. The PM didn't take, so to speak. I was only at the Squirrel a couple of times, so I can't add much - my mother said it was a den of iniquity so of course that made it even better. I remember it as having a pleasant crowd. Great juke box. Hillsborough Park had an 'old mans hut' shelter by the playground, we used to meet up there in the summer, handy for the Squirrel. After Phil moved to London we kept in touch on the phone for a bit, Mecca moved a lot of their Sheffield staff to Streatham in London. I was in Sheffield last month, and drove around looking at old haunts, but most of it seems to have been rebuilt several times since 1966, so I didn't recognise much of it. Even Myers Grove school seems to have disappeared. The paddling pools at Rivelin Valley are still there, although Malin Bridge shops seemed to have changed hands a million times. PW was, as someone in the thread mentioned, a pretty quiet proto-hippy. I can't imagine anyone mistaking him for a thug. :-) He said he used to get into a lot of trouble at school, he was brainy and read all the text books at the start of term, then was bored stupid for the rest of it. I was at Myers Grove school, I found the other thread on it. Fun times indeed. Anyway, all the best. It's good to see this forum keeping the memories alive. T.

As mentioned, you have to register. Applicants are graded on need and prioritised. Living in substandard rented housing, for instance, can get you a grade sufficient to get a log-on. From there you can start bidding. While this might seem to be an impossible task, it can work, especially if you don't need a property that's adapted for special needs, or you're flexible on area. If properties go un-let they are offered to bidders with lower priorities. So with some patience, it's possible to be offered properties you've bid on even if you are graded with a low priority. New stock arrives weekly, so the trick is A) Register, B) keep searching, and C) place bids, even if the task seems impossible at first. One downside is that once housed, you're unlikely to be offered anything else if you take up a tenancy and decide you don't like it after a while. If you are offered a property there are varying regulations up and down the country about how long you have to accept it, and removal from the register if you do or don't accept.

Hi there. I found this post looking for details of Marlciffe School, and up comes Phil. Small world and all that. I was Phil's g/f for a while, a long time ago now. I've got friends in Sheffield, and we drove down Marcliffe Rd, the other day, and it triggered the memory. Phil moved out to Chesterfield and then London aged about 17/18. I stayed in Sheffield. He worked for Mecca at the Bowling Alley, then the Heartbeat club. I think Mecca moved him to London when they closed the Queens Rd bowl. After that he moved around the country as an engineer for AMF the bowling people, then out to Dubai. We used to meet in the Squirrel Caff, I remember it had a pinball machine at the back next to the toilets. Can't remember the dates but Nancy Sinatra's 'These Boots are Made for Walkin' used to play on the juke box. So that would be 1966-ish. He went to Marcliffe for a year or so from junior school, and then the entire school got moved to Chaucer. He was always angry at that. Family had a prefab at Stannington, then they went to Chesterfield. I vaguely remember the names John Whitham and Pete Sides, I think they all used to hang out together. The caff was opposite Hillsborough Park, didn't it become 'The Continental?' or vice-versa? He had a great chum called Brian who was a butcher at Malin Bridge. Phil used to 'borrow' his mum's car and drive out to see him. Anyway, the last letter I had from Phil was decades ago. He was working in Dubai on generators or something and had a house and a boat in Tunbridge Wells. All the best.