John Heeley

I was 9 years old in 1960 and left Sheffield for university in October 1969. Those intervening 9 years in the so-called 'swinging sixties' are full of good and bad memories; the former include the Hole in the Road (yes, liked it at the time), long-hair, under-age drinking, short skirts, fish and chips, Sheffield Wednesday, the '66 World Cup, and seeing Hendrix live at the City Hall; the latter range from military bands playing at Hillsborough, dentist drills and school dinners, through to being charged for under-age drinking at the Golden Ball, and to the blandness of the food generally and the drabness of the urban environment - Xmas illuminations excepted. I suppose the ugly was learning how many of the otherwise decent folk who formed the older-generation against whom we rebelled in the 'sixties could be so narrow-minded and parochial; I discovered in myself and others a pervasive ignorance and mistrust of foreigners and cultures - Dad referred to chinese and indian food as 'foreign muck'. Indeed my best memories of these years are tiny acts of rebellion against 'authority' - refusing to read the bible when it was my turn at school assembly, pushing away a school teacher who tried to put a ribbon in my hair (he considered it too long), and remaining seated in the Playhouse while the national anthem played. I even persuaded my parents that capital punishment was unacceptable - that two wrongs don't make a right. What is your good, bad and ugly from these momentous years?

I just love hot chocolate, but it is rarely served up well - either the temperature is wrong or it is insufficiently strong or too rich and sugary! After far from exhaustive research, my winner is Bragazzi's on Abbeydale Road where the sarnies are reet good, too! Marmadukes's comes second in the hot chocolate stakes, with Remo's a close third. Am I missing somewhere where the hot chocolate is even better?

What I am trying to put over is my frustration at the relative dearth of places other than pubs and the standard city centre brands like Subway. What I would like is department stores with a good cafe/restaurant - compare, for instance, JL in Liverpool and Nottingham with our humdrum "Place to Eat" - and more cafes/restaurants like Tamper and Marmadukes which offer something a bit different. I went for breakfast recently at Grand Central in Birmingham and had a choice of no less than 23 places. These included Square Pie and Muffin Break, and an excellent JL unit. I plumped for bacon and egg at Giraffe World Kitchen and a fruit and vegetable drink at Joe and the Juice. You simply do not get anything like this level of choice, value for money and quality in Sheffield city centre.

Does anyone agree with me that Sheffield city centre is really bad for daytime eateries, setting aside pub fare and standard brands such as Greggs and Nandos? I use Marmadukes on an almost weekly basis and occasionally I will pop into Tampere, and these two places are excellent. The rest, however, is in my opinion a poor lot, and I include in this the likes of the John Lewis restaurant/cafe? Maybe the long-awaited city centre redevelopment will improve matters, but for the moment Sheffield on this count is way behind Glasgow, Manchester, Newcastle and Birmingham, and even Leicester, Bristol, Reading, Nottingham and Derby.

As a schoolboy, I used to get buses each weekday morning from Malin Bridge to the town centre, and then on to Gleadless. Come late afternoon, there would, of course, be the return journey home. I remember those 'smoking permitted' top-decks very well indeed. Indeed, I contributed to the fog of smoke, trying as a callow youth to be 'cool' by puffing away on exotic French and American 'ciggies' procured from the specialist tobacconist shop in Surrey Street. Other, more normal, folk smoked brands like Embassy, Players, and Park Drive. I also remember being really irritated by whistlers on the morning bus into town; that loathing of random whistling has never left me! Invariably, the guilty so-and-so's would be part of a small army of metal-bashing workmen who - armed with their 'snap' tins - would pile off the buses as they headed along Infirmary Road. Only a half century ago, but already a lost world.

I am John Heeley, and I was at the Central Technical School for five years, leaving in the summer of 1969. There was too much corporal punishment and silly rules at the place, but latterly I had three wonderful teachers (Knight, Hill and King) and left with 3 A levels (two at grade A). Career-wise, I never looked back from that point onwards, and for that reason feel most grateful to the Tec. My hazy school-day memories have been jogged by reading the threads. Names like Chris Pryor and Nobby Clark have suddenly come back to me, while the posts by David Theaker really do resonate! I remember you well, David, and it would be good to hear from you and any other long-lost friends who can remember me! P.S.On leaving school in the summer of '69, I worked for 6 weeks at a Butlins Holiday Camp with my Central Tec matey, Richard Ellin - anybody know what happened to him? ---------- Post added 17-11-2016 at 13:48 ---------- Hi Chris, remember me, John Heeley. Unsure we were in the same class, but I seem to recall you were a Wisewood lad. It looks like you are now living in Lodge Moor. I am just down the road! I see 2 old Tec mates for a drink at Christmas - Alan Curtis and Dave Salt. Let me know if you want to join us. Best, John ---------- Post added 17-11-2016 at 14:05 ---------- Hi Dave, Maybe you remember me - John Heeley? I think we may have shared a route through 2 schools - Wisewood and Central Technical. I remember you well. In one of your posts you also mention K.Harrison - well, she was the focus of my first real 'crush', though you are the first person to whom I have ever owned up! The education I received at the Tec set me up for life and a career which is still rumbling on. I get up to Scotland quite a lot, so who knows we may meet up again after all these years. All the best, John ---------- Post added 17-11-2016 at 14:28 ---------- Yes, Wadge was 'old school' and unforgivably sadistic. I recall shortly after the move to Ashleigh, the whole school was abruptly summoned to witness some poor boy being ritually humiliated by Wadge for prising a small marker disc off a chair. He sobbed abjectly as he was caned ferociously by a seemingly incensed Wadge. to this day I cannot say whether or not the man's anger was theatrical or genuine, all I do know is that this awful spectacle is stamped indelibly on my mind. ---------- Post added 17-11-2016 at 15:01 ---------- My recollections of Charles Haydock are less favourable. He rapped the knuckles of girls for the most trivial of matters; he slung blackboards at pupils; and it was nigh on impossible to judge what his mood would be. His 'jokes' were puerile. He caned me twice, on separate occasions, for spelling mistakes. On the first occasion my hand was so sore and swollen I could not hold my knife properly at tea later on that night, though thankfully Mum and Dad did not spot anything untoward. I hated him so much that on my last day a fellow-sufferer (Keith Dungworth) and I stole his legendary cane and burned it on a bit of wasteland near the school. That little act of rebellio felt mighty good! ---------- Post added 17-11-2016 at 15:12 ---------- New to this thread, but I was at CTS 1963-70 and had a few years of Wadge and all of his rantings and ravings, so I just love this story! ---------- Post added 17-11-2016 at 16:18 ---------- Further to my last post, four of the class of 1969 (myself included) are meeting up for a drink in Sheffield shortly after Christmas Day. Let me know if that is of any interest to other reprobates from the class of '69 who might be out there and more or less alive and kicking!