Wadsleyite

I seem to remeber it being call Malt & Codliver Oil. I didn't mind that too much, it was the codliver oil on it's own that made me throw up. I still remember having to queue up every day for a teas spoon of CLO (during the war) and only one of the carers felt sorry for me and gave me Malt and CLO. Thankfully Cod Liver Oil capsules came out and my mother made us take one every morning. The trouble was they seemed to always burst when we had morning third of a pint of milk at school and that horrible taste came from the stomach.

They used to give us the cod liver oil separately, as well - it was awful, but they gave us a spoonful of concentrated orange juice first to make it taste better. But you can still get the Malt & Cod Liver Oil concoction - see http://althealth.co.uk/products/details.php?id=4408 Shall we all meet up and have a Malt & Cod Liver Oil party?

For some reason I always liked the chips at King Ted's. The dinner ladies used to look after me after I told them that my Mum was a dinner lady too.

 

I was there 62 - 67, and didn't like Vernon ( cos he gave me the cane), didn't like Baker, or Dep Head Jackson. Bert Towers was OK though.

Bert (Robert Nigel) Towers was a great teacher. He took me for history in the first year – it wasn’t widely known that he had a history degree as well as geography. I can hardly remember a lesson when he didn’t find an excuse to switch on his beloved epidiascope. He died ten years ago, aged 83. See http://nlc.oldedwardians.org.uk/staff/RNTowers.html. I saw Baker in c. 1972 when he came into the bank where I worked; it must have been shortly after this that he got a new job at a school in West Yorkshire. I heard that he later ended up in prison after being convicted of embezzling school funds. Jackson wasn't all that bad, but a bit strict. I think he's still going strong and lives near Endcliffe Park.

We must have had all the best dinner ladies at Malin Bridge and King Ted's...

You must have started at King Teds round about the time I left which was at Xmas 1959. I think Billy Effron was still teaching then, and of course big Nat occupied the Head's study. Was glad to get out - into the real world.

Indeed, I started at King Teds in 1959. I've heard tell of Billy Effron but I think he had left (he retired in 1956 according to http://nlc.oldedwardians.org.uk). Fat Nat (Nathaniel Langford Clapton, 1903-67) ruled the school with a rod of iron. I was also glad to leave but I liked some of the masters, notably Edgar Vernon (Chemistry) and Walter Birkinshaw (Maths). Good school...

What happened was that I overheard one of the dinner ladies saying that it was Ada's birthday. I wished her Many Happy Returns and she was delighted. From then on I couldn't do anything wrong and she always fed me well. I wasn't daft. Abbeydale is still a good school, to judge from the smart, generally well-behaved kids I see when partaking of my usual pub lunch at the Millhouses (outside in summer). The food's good there, as well...

Well, if you went to Abbeydale I reckon it was YOU who was posh! There was I at a back-street Junior (Malin Bridge). But I did go on to King Edward's, though I felt like a fish out of water. And the food was worse, though my dinner-lady friend Ada always gave me a bit more rice pudding...

I thought the cheese pie was OK, but I didn't like tomatoes, so I gave my pal my slice of tomato and he gave me his cheese pie. I reckon I got the better half of the bargain. He didn't like mushrooms or rice pudding, either, so no wonder I put weight on, what with the egg (and even ham) sandwiches, with thick sliced bread from the Don bakery.

can anyone remember what that horrible tasting malt stuff was called, my mum made me have a spoonful everyday, I think it came from the welfare clinic.

Bloomin' heck - I'd almost forgotten the stuff. It was malt extract, and apparently it was full of healthy carbohydrates and other nutrients, but it tasted awful. They gave it to my mum at the welfare clinic in Hillsborough Park (the library building). They also provided orange juice to make the malt extract (and the even worse, though vitamin-rich cod liver oil) more palatable.

We had egg sandwiches as well, so we must have been posh. On special occasions we even had HAM sandwiches. My mum (God bless her, she died last September at 87) had her priorities right. We were well fed and clothed, and on all the old photos we look well-scrubbed.

Walter took advantage of the sunny weather today to visit Wadsley as usual - and here's a photo! http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u219/twigmore/Walter2June2007.jpg

It's so good to know that Walter is happy in his "new" home. It must be easier for him to toddle along to Hillsborough, but he still gets up the hill once or twice a week and I hope that we'll be seeing him in Wadsley for many years to come. Now I know that he's a regular in the Freemasons Arms I'll be able to find him when I get back from South Africa in July with a supply of Hamlet cigars!

Yes - Walter lives on Limbrick Road nowadays (handy for the Freemason's Arms...) and he's still going strong at 82, bless him. We still see him regularly in Wadsley despite his move down the hill, and he always has a birthday party in a local pub - this year it was the Wadsley Jack. His birthday is 22 April (but as soon as Christmas is over he'll tell you that it will soon be his birthday...) Everyone knows Walter and local folk are kind to him. He comes for his tea on Sundays at a house near me, and as I do a lot of travelling I keep him supplied with duty-free cigars (he likes Hamlet). I remember him from 1950s football matches when he and his pal would stand in Leppings Lane selling little home-made dolls in blue and white strip.

Yes - KLM's Amsterdam service was the first, in February 1998. Three flights a day were operated, and these provided an excellent link with a major international hub. Sadly, the service only operated for about 18 months.

Yes I flew to Amsterdam & then on to Kiev.I must say it was much better than all the messing about you get at the big airports. This was just after it first opened.

I quite agree - Sheffield Airport was a Godsend (albeit a short-lived one) to business travellers or anyone else who wanted to go to Amsterdam/Brussels or who could connect there. Apart from being local, you could get off a bus or taxi and be 50 yards from the plane, instead of struggling through the scrum at Manchester, Heathrow etc. See post #316 above.

The above link shows a "Fry's Five Boys" label from the early 1900s which was before my time (honest it was..). I'm sure the one I remember from the 1950s was red and white, but with the same theme.

Puzzler, I am so pleased that someone else remembers fiveboys chocolate. When I put this question on a thread a while ago no-one knew what it was. Do you rememember what the titles under the boys faces were? I can only rememeber desperation and realisation.

Desperation, pacification expectation, acclamation, realization - it's Fry's! See http://www.sterlingtimes.org/september00.htm

The stem of liquorice was a narrow tube through which you sucked up the kaili. I recall the product, bought at corner shops near schools, was made by Barrett's, and was in a yellow wrapped cylinder, rather like a firework,

You can still get "Barratt's Sherbert Fountains" - see http://www.sugarboy.co.uk/acatalog/Sherbet_Fountain.html

if it's the same guy, his nick-name was sub-way cyril,

he ended up dying alone in the doorway of one of the big dept stores on hay-market,.

 

i recall reading an article in the "star" after his death, turns out his son had been looking for him for 20+ yrs, after "cyril" had gone awol following the premature death of his wife and that his death was even more tragic as he had been a fighter piolet in ww2 and had been awarded the "DFC".

not relly a fitting way for a war hero to pass away.

His name was Cyril Griffin, and he had been an electrician at Firth Brown's - he used to work with my father there. Apparently he suffered some sort of breakdown when he lost his wife and his parents died. I didn't realise that he had any children. I used to see him a lot in the early 1970s when I worked at the Midland Bank overlooking Castle Square (now the "Banker's Draft"). He was a gentle soul and although the rougher element would taunt him, bus drivers etc. were kind to him; I would buy him the odd cup of tea from Leeson's machine. It was in December 1976 that Cyril was found dead, apparently from exposure, in the B.H.S. doorway in Haymarket - he was 52.

My grandfather died in 1917, then my grandmother in 1919 his name was Joseph Canetti they used to sell ice cream from a cart outside the old picture house in Fitzallan Square.When they died my father and his 3 sisters were orphaned. I understand from my father also Joseph that the Manfredi ice cream family wanted to adopt him but great grama Clulow who was bringing them up would not allow it

The BMD records confirm that Clara Canetti died aged 30 in the first quarter of 1919. I couldn't find Joseph back to 1916, though there were different spellings. Looking at the 1901 census at Cross Smithfield I found only a Joseph Connetti (spelt thus) and his wife Catherine, then aged 54 and 48 respectively and born in Italy, living at No 28. They had six children, among whom was "Joe" then aged 16 and born in Sheffield. William and Annie Clulow lived at No 4 Cross Smithfield. The "Connettis" evidently arrived in England in the decade prior to 1901, as they are not mentioned in the 1891 census. Interestingly, the 1891 census includes 6 Canettis, mostly living in Cornwall and born there.

Hello, my grandparents came from that area of Sheffield, Gibralter St. and Scotland St? Paul Perrozzi and his wife Rhoda Morrell, i think she originally came from Maltravers rd or crescent, memory of the names escapes me.

The Perrozzis must have been relatively late immigrants, as there are none in the 1901 census return for the whole country. The earliest mention in the B.M.D. records is the birth of Thomas Perrozzi in Sheffield in 1903. The records confirm that Paul Perrozzi was born (with the name Paolino Perrozzi) in Sheffield on 1 July 1909 and died in February 1987. Rhoda Perrozzi was born as Rhoda Morrell on 1 July 1914 (so they shared the same birthday) and died in January 1995. With very few exceptions, the Perrozzi records are all Sheffield people, so perhaps it was Paul’s parents who came to Sheffield between 1901 and 1903, and whose descendants comprise the present-day Perrozzis.

The 1925 Sheffield directory, curiously, makes no mention of any Perrozzis in the alphabetical section, and a search of the PDF file for the name also brought no results. There were a number of Italians still in the Gibraltar Street/Copper Street area. In Copper Street Vincenzo Pizzuti, “shopkeeper”, lived at No 46 while next door at 48 was Louis Cuneo, confectioner. Nearby on Furnace Hill lived the Buffalaro brothers, ice cream makers, and Achille Claira, shopkeeper. Gibraltar Street also had shops owned by Louis Cuneo and Vincenzo Pizzuti, and Anthony Fantozzi was on Meadow Street, but it seems that most of the 100 or so Italians who were resident in the area in 1901 had moved away, perhaps due to the demolition of the houses and their replacement with mostly commercial property. There was, however, an “Italian Club” at No 52 Scotland Street.

Pizzuti was my maiden name. The shop on Shalesmoor belonged to my grandparents, who came to Sheffield from Italy in 1900, and my dad made the ice cream. My aunty also made fantastic home made pasta and tomato sauce. My sister and I never had to pay for our sweets and ice cream, MAGIC.

Does anyone remember the shop?

I well remember the shop; I used to buy sweets there in the 1950s. I think (?) it was actually in Gibraltar Street, on the corner of Cupola, and it was still there, though boarded up, until maybe 20 years ago; I used to go past it on the bus and I remember the green-and-white sign "PIZZUTI - BRITISH AND CONTINENTAL GROCER". When your grandparents came to Sheffield, the area of Gibraltar Street, Shalesmoor, Furnace Hill, Copper Street etc. was known as "Little Italy" and the 1901 census return shows about 100 Italian-born residents in the area, most of whom were in the ice cream trade or were "street pianists". A Mr Pizzuti was a patient at Whiteley Wood Clinic when I was there in 1968. The census and other records show a Vincenzo and Teresa Pizzuti, Italian-born ice cream dealers, living in Copper Street in 1901. Umberto and Joseph Pizzuti were, I imagine, their sons, and BMD records show that they died in 1978 and 1989, aged 74 and 87 respectively.

John M. Botros was born in Sheffield in July/August 1948 to an English mother and Egyptian father, Dr Labib Botros. He was at King Edward's with me from 1959 until 1966, and then went to Trinity College, Oxford. A lawyer and entrepreneur, it's quite true (as originally posted by vipguy - see link from post #2 above) that he was with the boxing promoter Frank Warren when he was shot and almost killed in 1989.

That is really interesting Wadsleyite, I remember John Sanella telling me that the area around Copper Street, Furnace Hill, and where they lived on Russell Street was called Little Italy. They must all have moved to the same area when they first moved over here.

I had another look at the 1901 census return and sure enough, next door to the Fantozzi’s in Copper Street lived the Cuneos. Louis Cuneo, age 60 and born in Italy, was an "organ grinder and piano repairer" and his Sheffield born son Nicholas, 33, an "ice cream vendor" – so this may be the origin of Cuneo’s ice cream. In the adjacent two houses (Nos 40 and 38 Copper Street) lived 17 Italians with names such as Di Carlo, Nocci, Buccieri and Denardo, all of whom were ice cream vendors or "street pianists". Italians made the best street pianos in the 19th century, so these may have been the instruments that the original Fantozzi and Cuneo sold and repaired. Further down Copper Street in "court houses" lived another 40+ Italians, all of them organ grinders or ice cream vendors apart from one tailor and a biscuit maker. So this area certainly was an Italian "colony" in turn-of-the-century Sheffield. One of the Copper Street ice cream sellers was Vincenzo Pizzuti, who later had a grocer's shop on Gibraltar Street (corner of Cupola). It must have closed in the 1960s but the empty shop with the green-and-white sign "PIZZUTI: BRITISH AND CONTINENTAL GROCER: was still there until the property was demolished maybe 15-20 years ago.

In the 20/30's there was a dairyman called Fantozzi who came round selling milk by the measure. He came round on a motorbike and sidecar,and ,I think,came from Heeley. Don't know if the family made icecream also.

I remember Fantozzi’s ice cream in the 1960s; I hadn’t realised that the firm started as dairymen. The 1925 Sheffield directory mentions “Anthony Fantozzi, confectioner” with three branches in Sheffield. The Fantozzis and Monfredis must have been among the first Italians to settle in Sheffield, as the 1901 census return lists Anthony Fantozzi, “Piano & Ice Cream Dealer” at 46 Copper Street (near Shalesmoor). He was born in Italy in 1867, his wife Louisa being Sheffield born. The Monfredis evidently had a bigger operation in 1901 – in Meadow Street lived Angelo Monfredi, born in Italy in 1855, and his Italian born wife Paola. They had five young children, all born in England, and at the same address lived 9 employees, all born in Italy, among whom were three more Monfredis and “Maggie Molinari”, aged 56, who may have been related to the Molinaris who later made and sold ice cream in Sheffield.

The 1925 directory mentions some other ice cream makers who have been mentioned in this thread, namelr Buffalaro, Carolis and Granelli – here is a list:

Arthur BOWER, 180 Holme Lane

BUFFALARO & Brothers, 32 Furnace Hill

Jesse CAROLIS, 33 Woodland Street

Anthony FANTOZZI, Meadow Street, Shalesmoor and St Philip’s Road

Alice GOODYEAR, 61 Taplin Road

GRANELLI Brothers, 66 Broad Street

Robert HOUGHTON, 48 Tusmore Street

Lydia HOWE, 36 Aizlewood Road

Matthew MONFREDI, 533 Penistone Road

Thomas NUTTALL, 32 Dearne Street

Gertrude WALL, 142 Attercliffe Common.

Indeed, I well remember Howard's Dairy (see my earlier post, No 27 above). In the mid-1950s their ice cream was the best in the area, especially the strawberry flavour. My mouth is watering as I type this... Howard's Dairy occupied a double-fronted shop at (I think) Nos 92 and 94 Middlewood Road. Later it became a DIY shop.

Yes - a bowlful of lovely soft ice cream and crisp wafers was a regular Sunday treat. In fact, John Ronksley will still dish up ice cream in the same way if you are lucky enough to be on his round.

Quite right - Carolis's ice cream was delicious. Every summer they had a van parked near the bottom of Dykes Hall Road (corner of Brier Street) from which a genial, elderly man (flat cap, white moustache) sold threepenny cornets and sandwiches. Those were the days...