John bycroft

This is great . Thank you very much for your input and help.

That's very interesting. John Hoult (my maternal grandfather did have a brother George, but I didn't know that he was also a police officer.

Hi Stephen. My dad used to love tripe and onions, not to mention black pudding, neither of which were my cup of tea. I just about lived on chips and scraps, orr sometimes fishcakes. I could stand school dinners (Abbeydale Sec Mod). They used to arrive daily a big tins and the smell when they were opened, particularly the potatoes or the semolina has been enough to put me off for life.

Thanks. I'm a bit slow at this. Where would I find the Indexers site? Do I just Google it?

Can any one help me to find any trace of my grandfather's police service. His name was John Hirst Hoult and he was a constable in the Sheffield force for most of his life, starting around 1900 retiring around 1938/39.

That certainly does sound strange. I don't think that it would be listed in any of Ian Allen's books though, so no use to the train spotter.

I was a rank amateur at it, but used to love the trains, the noise the rumble of their huge wheels and the smell of the coal burning. Sheer bliss for a young lad.

My mate, David Oldfield, were avid train spotters in the 50's and frequently visited the train sheds. We weren't allowed in of course, but it was easy to climb the wall and get around the barbed wire. Being close to the big old steam engines was exhilarating and, providing no one was looking, we used to board the engines, which to us train spotters was known as cabbing. The Totley cutting was a great place to patiently wait for passing trains. Life was good, especially in the summer.

We're was the Burngreave Liberal Club. I only ask because my dad was a member of the Nether Edge Liberal club, and went there often.

It was the highlight of my Childhood, being invited to the Christmas party at Richards. I was 10 in 1956 and had never seen such a spread or been with so many children, all enjoying the festive event. There was entertainment too, though I don't remember what. I only remember the treats, the crackers and the little gifts, and my utter delight at being there.

It's amazing, thinking back, how free we were in our schooldays (late 50's early 60's). My mum and dad both worked full time so my sister and I were free do whatever we wanted during the school holidays. So, we had to be inventive, which we were. We spent many days knocking on doors, asking people if they had any clothes or junk for a jumble sale, in aid of the PDSA. When we had collected enough, we sent up a table at the end of our cul de sac (Smeaton St, Sharrow) and dressed it up with old curtains, and started selling. Honest John's Jumble we called it. We continued over a few days and did, in fact, make a few pounds, which we then presented to the PDSA at their surgery in Heeley. We were given the status of 'Busy Bees'. We also collected and chopped up firewood, putting it into bundles which we sold for 2d each. We also raised money for the Star (the Gloops Fund), although I don't remember what that money was for. We were certainly free, but not quite ferrel but we had a lovely childhood.

Interesting in retrospect. Abbeydale Sec Mod was a inner city low grade school, with none of its own facilities, so we kids had to travel all over the place for the extras. Carterknowle for woodwork, Heeley baths for swimming, Abbeydale Grange Grammar for sports and cross country. We spent half our time commuting, usually on foot, but it was still enjoyable to get around.

You must have discovered the place at about the same time as my sister and me. Shame that we didn't run into each other although that could have resulted in gang warfare (I was about 11).

The infamous Mr Wilson, no doubt.

Thank you for forwarding the old thread. St Barnabus, Cecil Rd was indeed the church school, and was made of red brick. I knew that it had been demolished. Its a shame in as much as I would have liked to revisit and remember the various rooms. Understandable though. I would have gone to the reunion, had I known about it, but I was in the Far East at that time serving in the Navy.