soft ayperth

Remember well finishing the last pint in the Raven then piling into a car with a horde of other guys. No seatbelts of course. Heading off into Derbyshire to drink until early hours of the morning. Driver of the car (not me) undoubtedly drank with the rest of us. In retrospect, we were playing a highly dangerous game but somehow we and others on the road whom we may have come across survived it. Attitudes about drinking and driving have changed.

Never had a library at High Storrs Grammar (Boys). Required texts were dished out to us at the beginning of each school year and we had to cover them with brown paper. Remember using wall paper once.

Moving from the past to the present, I can attest to the fact that the Local Studies library on Surrey St is an excellent place to source information. I spent weeks in there during 2 consecutive summers when I was writing my memoir. The microfiches of old newspapers go back to the early 1800s. I was also able to track down the whereabouts of my mother using the census records there. Staff very helpful. One funny exchange while I was on the microfiche readers. "I think you'll have to make way for that gentleman now. He's come all the way down from Newcastle." "Oh," I replied, "No problem." "And where are you from?" she asks me. "Just somewhere in Canada," I replied. But, I did make way and it was all good.

you might be right.

Back then, you'd never dream of holding a party without supplying a generous number of ash trays. Or, the shag carpet would have cigarette burns on it. If an ashtray wasn't available at the eating table, people would use a dinner plate or saucer to stub their butts out on. To return to the topic of cinemas, all seats as I recall had ashtrays built into their arms. But, people would often use the floor and their feet anyway.

Because the reading room of the library (now Local Studies, I believe) on Surrey St was used by students as a study area and as has always been the case, smoking was not allowed, people used to congregate on the front steps of the library for cigarette breaks. People entering the library had to run the gauntlet of a crowd of smokers. Alas, in those days, I would have been among them.

Hard for me to comment accurately from this side of the pond as I'd really need to be there to see what is no longer there if you see what I mean. But, I'll give you my general impression as I do visit every few years. The downtown area is now very poorly served with decent stores. Cockayne's, Walsh's, Robert Bros have given way to Poundlands and other discount stores. In the neighborhoods, the corner stores, "off licences," are hard to find. I guess they call this progress?

I remember when I used to smoke the ceiling had nicotine stains all over it.

One of these blokes used to come around the Raven, one of my favorite drinking spots. I liked the mussels and the whelks. Lots of vinegar!

No, you did absolutely the right thing echo. I smoked for about 25 years. Gave it up in 1978. Never looked back. I'm not sure what percentage of people would have smoked back when folk used to go to the pictures, but it would have been much higher than today. In any event, nobody seemed to mind that their eyes might be watering during the showing, the view of the pic looked at through a curtain of smoke, their lungs full of second hand smoke, and the fact that they would come out with their clothes smelling of cigarette smoke. Values have changed.

What I remember about the libraries back in the 50s and 60s was that they were places where you were supposed to be absolutely silent. If you spoke to a librarian asking for help you'd have to speak in whispers. You'd hear Ssshhh and a finger across the lips of a librarian as she chided people, especially children, who dared to break the cone of silence. Nowadays, at least at the university library where I live, people talk, use computers mainly, drink coffee and eat sandwiches from a canteen area which is right in the middle of the library. The concept of a library has changed quite a bit over the years.

On the not so pleasant side, the cinemas were always filled with cigarette smoke. Oxygen must have been at a premium. That would never fly nowadays. Back then, it was one of the places where kids who were too young to smoke could do so covertly. I was one of them. Puffed my way throw many a film.

Wonder what time they actually finished building that college. I'm sure I used to use those steps regularity when I went to High Storrs as I used to have to cross town to go to the "baths" at King Teds. I started going to High Storrs in '54. Also, the wind storm of '62 caused a gigantic construction crane to collapse on to the building site of the Trades College. Surely they couldn't have been buil;ding it for more than a decade?

The old row house looks cozy with the flowers in the windows. Bungalow looks very nice!

Oh, dear. We've strayed into sports. Well, my biggest disappointment is twofold. First, the choking of the Blue Jays in the ALCS playoffs last year (though I was glad they at least got there) and second, the Habs showing so much early season promise then going progressively downhill. Back to the pictures. Do you remember when some films had "continuous" showings. You could enter the cinema mid way through a film and stay there until it went right around again. Or longer. I'm sure some people would spend half the day in there and see the film a couple of times through.If the cinema filled up, a queue of people would form outside and people would be allowed in as others left. The Cinema House in Barker's Pool was well known for that. A bloke would go up and down the line: "Two seats on the front row. Not together," he'd shout until a couple of customers emerged to take up the offer.

What a great article, Philip. While I didn't actually live in what might be termed a "slum" house, I only had to walk 5 minutes down the road to see them (back of Talbot Street). Your article is written so vividly and with so much detail that it takes me right back there. It sounds a bit of a cliche to say that people rise to the occasion and make the best of things when they are enduring hardship, but it's actually true. You make that case very well.

I used three libraries as study areas when I was a student at Sheffield university. The reading room at the main library on Surrey Street was a great venue as it provided desk space and peace and quiet, which were not always available at home. I also used the Manor Top library for the same purpose, as well as the Woodhouse library. The Surrey St library was also a spot where street folk and those in low income boarding houses used to hang out during the colder months. It was warm in there and they were no problem.

Anyone remember that long steep flight of steps that used to lead down from the City Library area to Pond St bus station? They were on the LHS of the land where the Tech College was built and from what I remember, preceded the College.

Disturbing images indeed. I'll often reminisce nostalgically about the wonderful little stores on Duke St and how life used to be. I have to remind myself that Duke St and Talbot St enclosed some very poor homes that were really unfit for dwelling. They had to come down. Hence, the Park Hill Flats. Just wished the latter could have been designed more tastefully, with history and heritage in mind. But that's another topic.

I used to buy those drainpipe trousers with 14 in bottoms. I wanted 12 in but mum wouldn't allow that. The trousers were very low quality and used to become threadbare in a short time. I also used to buy those luminous bright pink and vivid green socks there. What kids will do for fashion.

Zakes, I was also a patient of the dermatologist, Dr. Sneddon. While an inpatient at Whiteley Wood Clinic, I was given a medication to which I was allergic. It resulted in a serious systemic reaction, one of the symptoms of which was exfoliation (peeling off) of the skin. I was transferred to the Infirmary and placed under Dr. Sneddon's care. After over a month of this, I recovered to the point where I could be transferred back again to WWC. Doctors make mistakes and in my case, it was giving me a drug that had a bad history of causing allergic reactions. No longer used nowadays.

I remember going to that little cinema in Woodhouse town square to see Rock Around the Clock. People got up during the film and started to jive in the aisle. They got thrown out of course.

I can relate to this old tup. I have recurring dreams about returning to each of my 2 childhood homes. In one case, the dreams are pleasant, in the other case not so I'm afraid. Dreams are very difficult to interpret. I can only say that in my own case, they mirror the experiences I had in those homes.

There was a small store down West Bar, on a side street, that sold mining equipment. I was an avid potholer so I used to go there to buy my caving helmet, lamp, boots and protective clothing.

I can't but they are an amazing set of photos that capture the squalor that many people had to endure.