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.

You were there at the same time as me, but I don't recall your name. Who was your teacher in the fourth form?

Thats interesting. I've just remembered that I spent most of my second year at Carterknowle in Mrs Bartletts class. She was a geography specialist and filled me with lots of stories about Canada. I later went to live and work there, for 22 years, and I always remembered that she was the one that lit that fuse. I always enjoyed my time at Cartknowle, apart from anything else it was fairly close to Needhams field where my sister and I used to go, often.

I hope you youngsters had a good start in life from Abbeydale. I used to enjoy my weekly trips the Carterknowle. I think we spent every Tuesday afternoon there to do woodwork.

I haven't managed to find the other post, but I'm new on here and have yet to master the intricacies of the system. Interesting that you girls had to climb ropes for your netball training. Maybe he was a bit of a perv? Or maybe not. He seemed fairly straight laced to me but a bit of a bully

Spooky! In truth, we didn't have any spooky experiences but just called it that because it made it more exciting. I have never been back since its rebirth but would love to do so. When was it that you last visited there?

I left in 1961. I think that I may have like him in other circumstances, but, because I was completely rubbish at PT, he tended to pick on me, and use me as an example to the others etc. I was good at swimming though but that didn't help. The 'slipper' was more painful on wet trunks.

Does anyone remember the old Lantern Theatre on Kenwood Park Rd, when it was a derelict? My sister and I and one or two other childhood friends found our way in through a basement window, and claimed it as our den. This would have been about 1957. We didn't know it was a theatre and called it our Haunted Picture Palace. We loved going there. Pam, my sister, would take a broom and a mop and clean up one of the rooms at the back. She also brought some old curtains over to make it homey. One day though, we found a note on the table in 'our' room saying that the old theatre was going to be renovated and, although we were invited to help with this, we never went there again (believing that we'd probably get into trouble for breaking in). My sister and I had a brilliant childhood together.

Yes I used to love the herbal shop and would always go for a pint of sasperilla on my way home from the Heeley baths. Or sometimes I would have Horlicks. The great thing about that shop was also their herbal tobacco. God knows what was in it but I smoked it often, rolling herbal fags with my little fag rolling machine. Its a wonder that I'm still alive.

I lived practically next for to the Abbeydale cinema. We used to get into there on most evening for nothing also. It was more about getting in than the movie. But the abbeydale was the best of the ocsl flea pits.

Did anyone go to Abbeydale Sec Mod. I was there from 1957- 61 and loved and hated it. My main Nemesis was Mr Wilson the PT teacher (who was also my class teacher in the 3rd year). He loved to whack me with his 'slipper' (gymshoe), and used to say that it was punishment for something that I was likely to do later (but that he wouldn't see). Then there was Mr Skinner, the maths teacher and Deputy head. I was terrified of him for all of my first 3 years and was often sent to him for caning by some other teacher, and he was brutal. However, in the fourth year, he was my class teacher, and I thought he was great, a bit like Herr Flick but firm and fair. I believe he later became the Head, after my time though.