Dunlop St

I lived in Carbrook during the 40s and 50s and I cannot for the life of me remember a gunsmiths. It wasn't the most law-abiding place in those days and as an ex PC I don't think a gunsmith would have been allowed premises there. The one I knew was by the bus station towards West Bar near the motorbike shop. I think the suggestion that a Birmingham maker allowed someone's name to be engraved is a likely answer.

I had a squint corrected by Mr Knutt at the Royal Infirmary when I was 10 in 1950. Didn't wear glasses for years until I was in my 40s.

For info on Attercliffe and its environs see "Anyone here from Attercliffe" on this website. Re the Carbrook Hall pub. I was born on Dunlop St in 1940 and I never heard of a haunting at the pub. As usual it is probably all just modern spin to increase trade.

In '54 when I was 13 my dad had a 1000cc V twin BSA with a chair. As his garage was several hundred yards from the house I used to "borrow" it when he was at work! I did I have some fun whilst wearing his big ex Army greatcoat, goggles and a flat cap. I drove it all around Derbyshire and beyond. Luckily I had a small job in a grocer's shop to help put petrol in, at (I think) 5/- a gallon, but my dad did grumble about the mpg! Looking back I was lucky to get away with it but there was so little traffic in those days. At 16 I bought an Enfield 50cc Flying Flea with a hand change on the tank but quickly went on to a BSA B31 and then an Enfield 500cc Bullet I bought from Charlie Freeman's in Eckington. I always coveted a Velocette Venom or Norton 99 but never had the money. Even in the 90's I had a little Honda 50 and then a Suzuki 125. Now I just have a Chelsea Tractor, wife and Labrador! They are all I can afford.

Bikes were in during that era. Most of us had something but preferably Nortons Dominators, various Triumphs or Velocette Vipers or Venoms. Derbyshire was deadly at weekends!! Great times for bikes and rock bands.

What a buzz I got seeing all the old names from the late 50s and early 60s. Sheffield had probably the finest talents in the whole of the country during that period and the whole area was rocking like there was no tomorrow. So many good groups around the place and Jmmy Crawford, Dave Berry and many others were at the top. They were great years. Most days the groups seemed to congregate at a coffee bar on Chapel Walk. Jimmy used to walk in often still wearing his stage makeup, thick black hair, with a quiff and collar turned up. Dve B seemed alway to wear his white shoes, very large! So much talent.

What about King Edwards Grammar and also my old school, the City Grammar School off Leopold Street. That was, I believe, the first mixed grammar school. The web site is Omnes Amici.

Are you talking about the Ken Ford who went to the City Grammar 51-56(ish), small chap, good footballer?

I have only just seen this thread. My father, Reg Bailey, living on Dunlop St, Carbrook, was released from the Army about '44 to look after me when my mother became vbery ill with TB. I believe he got a job at Pickfords.

Thanks for the memory as the song goes. I have read all the pages and enjoyed every one of them. I was born at 272 Dunlop St, Carbrook, in '40 and went to Tinsley School, despite the school opposite our house. My Dad, Reg Bailey was born on Carbrook St and my mother Rene (Coates) was from Lynn Place, off Simper St(?). Although I have no love for the tiny, damp and dismal house we lived in I enjoyed the people and the area. They all seemed friendly perhaps because we all had nothing! Mum used the old Wash House across from Banners and took me to the pictures sometimes twice a week walking along the 'Cliffe. Sometimes she bought me a sasparilla from the herbalist just along from the "garden" down from the Globe and nearly opposite the Pav. A story. In 1971 I was in Singapore, Bedok Corner to be exact when I fell talking to a Quantas Airline guy who introduced me to his wife. She was from Dunlop St too, cannot remember the proper name but her dad had a shop we called Alberts and she was his daughter.People from the Cliffe certainly get around and deservedly so From Carbrook we went to the New Parson Cross and then the Birley. I later joined the RAF and have only been back to Sheffield to see relatives. Sadly both my parents are now gone so visits are very few and far between. .

In 1951 we were so happy to get an exchange (after a borrowed £50 or so changed hands) from Dunlop St in Carbrook to Milnrow Rd on New Parson Cross. We found a house that overlooked a field with an indoor toilet, a bathroom with a proper bath - not made of zinc- and a proper garden with flowers. I suddenly didn't have to play on bomb sites and by the canal but in grass with a bit of dog **** mind! I felt that for the first time in my life genuine happiness was that place. Fantastic neighbours with the Shutts, Colletty and Platts and we lived there very happily until we again managed a move, this time to the Birley. Since then I have lived in germany, Cyprus, Singapore, the Maldives etc etc and still remember the Cross. But most of all I still remember the flowers in that garden .

re "I walked along the moor today after watching the diving in the Peace Gardens." Have they built a deep pond in the middle of Town now! Isn't Millhouses Park good enough?

Do a search for the various cemeteries. It may also be that there is a coroner's website for other information. The local Parish Church may also have births and deaths registers but the Registrar of Births certainly will.

In the late 50s I was a copper and one night I had cause to enter the Rickshaw - the front door was open! The upper floor was used as accommodation by several of the waiters who became quite worried when I walked inti their room, after knocking mind. I used the place regularly after that.

The late 50s and early 60s were a great time for Sheffield groups. There were so many but I remember best the Ravens, (was it with Jimmy Crawford?), Tony Gale & his Stormers and of course Dave Berry's group. They all seemed to hang out at a small cafe down a lane off the High St. Cannot remember the name but it was also populated by macho (!) male Italian hairdressers from the nearby shop!