SputnikBoy

Hi Alan. So good to hear from you! If you would shoot me an email I'll communicate with you in that manner. My email address is: sequencerman2005@yahoo.com.au Hope to hear from you! Rod

Hi Graham. I DO remember you, rather vaguely but it's starting to come back to me. We were in the same cottage (#9) at the same time under the care of Miss Bower. We also attended the same school, Crookes Endowed. I was Rodney Fearnehough. Would you respond ASAP?

Thanks Sue. You're right. The Platters performed their concert at the Sheffield City Hall on 14 March 1957. My God, that's almost 64 years ago! How can that be? I'm only 46! Anyway, to get serious, the article in the Sheffield Star regarding the stolen shoe would have appeared the following day, 15 March 1957. So, I can actually pinpoint the exact date! The problem is, I live in Townsville, Australia. Is there anyone from Sheffield who could offer any suggestions as to how I could obtain a copy of that newspaper item? Thanks in advance.

Hi joep. Yep, it's been 14 years since I initiated this thread but I do drop in to the forum periodically. I'm afraid I'm not familiar with the names you give above. Perhaps if Skippy is still around he may know. Keep in touch.

Hi David. Your name sounds very familiar. I wonder if we knew each other? The name of the 4th house was Arden ...another forest.

Hi Susie. The Platters Tour WOULD have been in 1957 because I was still at school at the time and showed off the lifted shoe of the Platter to my schoolmates. I left school the end of the 1957 school term so it couldn't have been 1959 or 1960. Did you find the actual tour schedule for the Platters' 1957 Tour? Anyway, thanks for the post.

The Everly Brothers, 16 April 1960. Not 'amazing' or 'mind-blowing' or any of the other superlatives used here for the exaggerated head-banging stuff that has turned so many people on. Just two guys - Don and Phil - and their backing band - members of Buddy Holly's Crickets - with, if I recall, on-stage plug-in amps, singing some beautiful ballads in their two-part harmony and also belting out some GENUINE 1950's Rock and Roll!

Hi. Are there any former pupils still alive (😉) who attended Crookes Endowed School? I was a kid from Fulwood Cottage Homes who, along with a few others, was 'bussed' to the school every week day morning and returned in the afternoon to FCH. I left Crookes Endowed in 1958. Some of the teachers I remember were Mr. Shaw, Miss Ramsden, Mr. Grant and the headmaster, Mr. Glossop. Anyway, I'd love to hear from you.

I notice that after my above post on March 20 this thread came to a grinding halt. Was it something I said? 😟

I was the apprentice to Jones and Robey Auto Trimmers. We would get regular auto upholstery work from Kennings. That would have been around 1958-1960.

Thanks. I'll see how this goes first. The daughter of Clive Richards, Michelle, responded to my similar initial post several years ago but I didn't participate in the forum again until some years later. Had I responded pretty much immediately to her post I would now have had contact with Clive for about 5 years. It's most frustrating and I'm hopeful that Michelle (or 'Mish' as per her screen name) will venture on to the forum again. She only submitted one post ...the being to my inquiry back in 2012.

Hi. It's been several years since I put out feelers for a couple of old friends from the 1950's. I had no success then but perhaps I will now. The first is Ernest Hill who was my house-brother in Cottage #9 in Fulwood Cottage Homes during the early 1950's. Then there is Clive Richards who I pall'd around with post-FCH (circa 1957) in and around the Conduit Road area of Crookes. A few years ago it would appear that the daughter of Clive responded to my initial post on this forum. Unfortunately, I was not made aware of this post until some time later and by that time I had missed the opportunity for a further response from her. Drat! Anyway, should anyone be able to supply me with any information regarding these two names, please respond to this post. Thanks!

Hello World My goodness, it's been 14 years since I initiated this thread. I'm the boy who stole the Platters shoe and I'm still around to talk about it. I never did find the newspaper item of this incident ...not that I've really gone out of my way to do so. I guess I've mainly bumped up this thread to let others know that I'm still around and did, in fact, recently team up with 4 other musicians to form a band. Someone once said, "You never grow old with Rock and Roll" and perhaps there is some merit in that quote. I also organize a music group (the Millennium Singers) each year to perform public Christmas events in my adopted home city, Townsville, QLD, Australia, where I've resided since late 1989. The members of the group are not necessarily professional (some are 'semi') but they simply have a desire to sing. I've organized this group (in one form or another) for the past 18 years. Actually, here's a video montage of the group in action from Christmas 2018 at the Gregory Street Amphitheater: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrRwxC_GNVM The guy on the far right is the kid who stole the Platters shoe and is also a former pupil of Crookes Endowed School.. Anyway, should anyone care to reminisce about the old City Hall days and the visiting celebrities to that venue - or even to offer any updates on this thread title if that's possible - please feel free to do so. Cheers. Rod

Hi. I'm wondering if my contributing to this thread will bump it up to the top of the pile. If so, is anyone that I've associated with in the past 10 years or so still around and willing to share their FCH memories?

While I'm aware that several threads on this particular topic have previously been initiated, I've been gone from the forum for pretty close to a decade (besides a brief visit back in 2017) and am wondering if anyone from 'the homes' is still around to share their FCH experiences? I spent several years in Cottage #9 with Miss Bower as the House Mother. Kids that I recall as 'house brothers' were Graham Hanson, Ernest Hill, Roger Bradbury, Tony and David Wales, Norman Meltzer, George Archer and Kenneth Bolton. Hearing from - or even about - any of these 'kids' would be great. That should do it for now. Meanwhile, does anyone have anything to share about their tenure in Fulwood Cottage Homes?

Hi. Just thought that I'd bump up this old thread just for the heck of it. Actually, it was mainly to let others who may know me on this forum from a decade or more ago that I'm still very much alive. By the way, I'm the boy who stole the shoe of one of the Platters, a popular American singing group of the 1950's. While I'm still very much into music, I've sorta gotten out of the 'souveniring shoes from celebrities' business and much prefer stealing hub caps from parked cars. Anyway, if anyone has anything to add to this old thread and thread topic ...let's be hearing from you!

Oh Mish, I'm so sorry ...I only just now came across this very important post. I do SO hope that you're still around or/and can be contacted. I also DO appear to be the friend of Clive's you mentioned from the late 1950s. My name is not Jim(my) but Rod(ney). PLEASE get in touch if you're still around.

I can't sing or play the guitar at the moment, Skip ...I've got a broken ankle. Seriously, I wouldn't have a clue where to begin with the video and the YouTube stuff. If my brother is around these parts he could likely put me out of my misery right away. After all, it was HE who would sing it to me. I would envisage a grotesque, bony old man who would lurk around the neighborhood at night scaring kids by tapping and scratching on their window but never getting caught. If you, Skip, or anyone else has seen the part in the original 1970's TV movie, Salem's Lot, where the dead kid floats into the scene surrounded by mist and begins scratching at his brother's window ...it was a similar mind-picture to that. I was severely and mentally scarred by this. To tell the truth, it's not of any majorly importance that I find out about this stupid song but every now and again I DO wonder if it was an actual song of the day, some ditty made up by my brother ...or a figment of my wild imagination.

Thanks. I already tried that YouTube link as well as others but I can't find the piece in question. The song I'm referring to has a different tune and melody line. I can't imagine that my brother and sister would have completely made up the song (the "old man Peters" part, perhaps) and I would more believe that the song would have been already in existence at the time. But again, thanks anyway. ---------- Post added 31-01-2017 at 04:21 ---------- Hello Skip. Yes, besides the self-inflicted broken ankle I'm doing fine. I have an appointment at the local hospital tomorrow and, all being well, the cast will be removed having been six weeks since the event. I am feeling somewhat lonely, however, after the big lead up to Christmas having rehearsed musically with my 9-piece group for several months prior for a half-dozen or so public gigs here in Townsville. It's the same feeling that I get every year at this time but it won't be too many months (and my, HOW they fly!) before my sights will be on preparing for Christmas 2017. There's a lot of groundwork involved and this requires a relatively early start. About the song. No, 'fraid not ..."Let 'Em In" was way after the song that I'm talking about ...not to mention that it's nothing like the song in question. That's the song where Paul laments the names 'Phil and Don' (the Everly Brothers) who had broken up several years prior to McCartney having written the song. Actually, I can't hear the song "Let 'Em In" and the other McCartney song, "Silly Love Songs" without being reminded of the time when the wife, son and I were visiting this huge lake near Chanute, Kansas. We had several of the neighbor kids in tow and we found ourselves atop this high wooden diving platform that looked SO MUCH higher from the top than it did when I looked up. My legs turned to jelly and, while I tried to hide my fear, there was no way that I was going to jump into the lake below. I've never been a real fan of deep water anyway. I think there's a clinical term for this condition ...drowning. Anyway, the kids were a tad nervous also and it was suggested that we all hold hands and jump together on the count of three. There was no getting out of it. And so, that's what we did. While still a tad queazy, after that initial jump I was pretty well okay jumping alone from then on. ANYWAY, the two songs I mentioned plus many more popular tracks from that year (1976) were being blasted out from the loud-speakers of the pavilion. So, no ..."Let 'Em In" is most definitely not the song that I'm looking for.

Yes, I am keeping well ...thanks for asking. I am suffering a broken ankle at the moment, however, and am sporting a cast and require crutches. I jumped off the stage at one of our Christmas gigs at the Riverway Amphitheater last month and landed badly. While the pain was excruciating it was mainly my pride that got super hurt, i.e. I felt stupid. I completed the two hour gig (what a trouper!) but was taken to the hospital by ambulance after the gig. Back to the topic, it was more likely Rex who instigated this scare tactic on me, although Glenda might have been a willing participant. This was pre-Fulwood Cottage Homes so I would have been 5 or 6. Y'know, in my teens I once defiantly stood up to Rex after he really annoyed me and told him in my most manly voice to "Watch it!" And did he? No, he knocked me down! Anyway, these things occurred a long time ago. The years have simply flown. I mean, I know it's hard to believe, but I'm going on 45 now! Anyway, bumping up the thread enabled me to run into you again ...any chance you could email me or give me a call? ---------- Post added 29-01-2017 at 06:14 ---------- Has anyone else had similar encounters with celebrities over the years? Any stories that might be of interest?

I'm about to bump up this thread again ...just because I can! Seriously, can anyone contribute anything to this thread or are the majority of people who were alive circa 1957 when the thread incident occurred now deceased? Unfortunately, my sister, Glen, who did contribute several posts to this thread passed away almost three years ago ...cancer. RIP, Glen ...it seems strange reading your posts when you were very much alive knowing that now you're no longer with us. Totally unrelated to the topic but I don't want to start a new thread for something so trivial ...I'm wondering if anyone is familiar with a song that Glen and my brother, Rex, used to sing when I was a toddler just to scare me. I've checked the Internet and YouTube but can't find the song in question. It went something like ..."Who's that tapping at my window/Who's that knocking at my door/Oh, it's old man Peters, old man Peters, etc." I don't know if they made up this song based on an old creepy man they knew by the name of Peters or what. Anyone?

Someone talked me into signing up to Facebook several years ago. I unsubscribed shortly afterwards when I discovered that most, if not all, of my 'friends' were morons! Facebook, the place where one discovers how the boring lives of others are so well received by others whose lives are equally boring.

No. I'm pretty sure it was 'Thompson'. Besides, I couldn't find any reference to a Paul Timpson. ---------- Post added 28-04-2016 at 03:19 ---------- Did he beat up kids? The name has to be synonymous with one about to get a beating.

I remember a riddle of sorts that someone posted on the wall at Crookes Endowed School circa 1956. It went: What goes up with a swish and comes down with a whack? Mr. Glossop's cane. I received the cane on several occasions. I was both mentally and physically scarred. Is it too late to sue the school? I'm a little strapped for cash . . .

Hi. Haven't been on the forum for years. Something has been bugging me for decades ...not constantly, obviously, but I really, REALLY need to know something once and for all! I was a former resident of Fulwood Cottage Homes ...Cottage #9. We had a rather cruel (understatement!) 'relief' house mother whose hobby was beating up kids. She would often use the expression, "I'm gonna give you some Paul Thompson" just before she went in for the attack. Question: Who WAS Paul Thompson ...a boxer? I can't find out anything at all on the Internet.