hillsbro

A bird-watcher told me that the 'awks get the auks in Orkney...

Another ghostly motorcycle story dates back to the 1920s. A policeman lived up the valley, and used to travel regularly by motorcycle to the station at Hillsborough to begin a night shift. My father (born 1917) living on Low Road would hear the motorbike as he lay in bed. One winter's night the sound of the bike suddenly stopped - the policeman had collided with a tree that jutted out into the road near the bottom of Hagg Lane, and was killed. The tree (which apparently had been there before the road was built in 1907) was removed to make the road safer, and the policeman's ghost is supposed to haunt the area.

My dad used to say that someone able to make quick money - legally or otherwise - was "as wide as the Wicker arches". Such a person certainly "wasn't behind t' doer". If someone was standing still doing nothing or looking lost, mum would say that he/she was "stood there like souse". Grandad didn't say that someone was left-handed; he would say "dolly-posh". But he was from Barnsley - do Sheffield folk say dolly-posh for left-handed? By the way, if anyone goes to America and needs to call on someone early in the day, don't say "we'll knock you up" (especially to a lady). Don't ask…

Hillsborough - of course. I just wish they'd bring the paddle-boats back. I'd have a whale of a time in my second childhood. Come to think of it, I'm still in my first...

When I worked in London, what amused my Cockney colleagues was when I referred to someone who was ill as being "badly" or even "off o' t' hooks".

Where's the quickest by train/bus?

Cleethorpes is about 1¾ hours by train from Sheffield, and there's a train every hour for most of the day. For example 0811 from Sheffield, arrive Cleethorpes 0958, return at 1628 from Cleethorpes, arrive Sheffield 1807 - these times are for Mon-Sat. The station is right next to the beach. The standard day return fare is £15.80, but it's less if you have a railcard. Have a nice day!

I don’t know of a shop in Sheffield that sells coin albums, but they are easily available by mail/online order from firms such as Coincraft - http://www.coincraft.co.uk/ and Vera Trinder - http://www.veratrinder.co.uk/

Supwidee? gerritetten...

I) STOP COMPLAINING, the majority (i.e. public transport users') lives are improved by the tram gates, so just shut up, the planners have done a good job, and finally their plan is being enforced. If you want better facilities for cars, pay the x-million it will cost.

Absolutely right. The basic problem is too much traffic - most of it being private cars. The only solution to make all the traffic flow freely would be to widen the main roads and demolish countless perfectly good buildings, which would cost millions. Most of Hillsborough was planned and built 100+ years ago and so the plans didn't allow for people having cars.

The sequence of traffic lights at Hillsborough Corner strongly favours Bradfield Road-Holme Lane (correctly, as there should be much more traffic there than on the tram route). And this is what happened until the tram gates were enforced: at busy times there would be five or six cars waiting at the lights to go, illegally, from Langsett Road to Middlewood Road or vice-versa. One or more buses with perhaps 50+ people each would be waiting behind them. The lights changed to green - briefly. The cars (only) went through the lights, they changed back to red, and busloads of people waited longer. Pure selfishness on the part of car drivers who broke the law and got away with it.

I remember watching hump shunting at Tinsley in 1966-67 - it was fascinating. The unique (?) feature of hump shunting at Tinsley was the coupled "master and slave" shunting units, each of which was made up at Darlington Works from two 0-6-0 shunters, specially weighted, with only one cab, in the "master". There was an article in "Modern Railways" about them; they had a very accurate speedometer, so that the driver could push the train of wagons up the hump at just the right speed. But then, as groups of wagons went down the slope you could hear the "bang-bang-bang" of the retarders, slowing them to the right speed for whichever siding they were destined for. The three "master and slave" units were numbered:

D4500 - made up from from D4188 + D3698

D4501 - made up from from D4190 + D4189

D4502 - made up from from D4187 + D3697

In each case the first number was the "master". Here is a photo:

http://www.therailwaycentre.com/Pages%20Loco/Recognition%20loco/Illus_13.html

Every body used to call my mate ..a "Tear arse" can someone explain what they mean't ?.

It's a "label" given to someone who has farted loudly. Unfortunately I am often referred to thus....

I don't have a problem with the tram gates. I've never driven a car in my life. But it's much easier and safer to go shopping in Hillsborough now that there is less traffic on Middlewood Road. It's possible to avoid the tram gates and use a different route. Yes - the traffic can be heavy elsewhere, but the basic problem is too much traffic on a century-old street pattern that wasn't designed for it, and this isn't going to change. As for signage, anyone new to the area might miss the signs but, as has often been written on this thread, the vast majority of local drivers know the rules. If they break them, it's their own lookout.

Ginnel, gennel, snicket????

Its alley or cut to me lol.

Well, in Sheffield it's usually a jennel, a bit further north it's a ginnel. In the Midlands it's a snicket, and in Sussex a twitten. In Lincolnshire it's a tenfoot (except in Grimsby where I heard someone say eightfoot - jennels nust be narrower there....) And buns are definitely not bread - at least, not in Sheffield...

I have seen the photographs of the Town Hall, all black and filthy-looking, but I don't remember it being cleaned. does anyone know what year the TH was cleaned?

It was cleaned in 1957, to commemorate its 60th anniversary. The cleaning disappointed my grandad (an ex-miner). He said "I allus thought it were made o' coil"...

My favourites are:

"supwidee?" and "gerritetten"

Didn't some parts of the country have stand pipes in the street?

Yes - they were in use in Devon, and I think in position elsewhere but not used as far as I recall. The problem in Devon was that the shortage of water concided with the increase in demand due to the arrival of large number of tourists. In Sheffield we were told firmly to use less water but there was no immediate threat of standpipes. We came nearer to this in 1959, but sufficient rain arrived just in time.

I have very extensive memories of the “Summer of ’76”, as it came at a very important juncture in my life......

What a remarkable story - you clearly made the right decision to get off the bus. It somehow reminds me of Chay Blyth (born 1940) who started on a rather mundane job in a Scottish textile mill, accidentally wrecked a machine (twice), got the sack and went off to become a paratrooper. Then he rowed a boat across the Atlantic, sailed all over the world etc. etc. and picked up a B.E.M. and knighthood along the way. It makes working in a bank seem boring and mundane. OK - I was given a decent package and pension at 54, but it would have been nice to look back on a bit more excitement. All the same I'm not doing bad in retirement, travelling the world - Siberia (with a return ticket) last year, America last month, South Africa in October. Long may you enjoy life, your family and (I'm sure) lots of activities.

Paternal grandfather - Walkley (Duncombe Street), paternal grandmother - Woodland View (Carlby Road). Maternal grandfather - Wadsley (they moved around but were always within staggering distance of the Star Inn - now the Wadsley Jack), maternal grandma - Woodland View (Low Road). So all my forebears were northwest Sheffielders. Well, not quite... My mum's maternal grandad Charles Betts (1873-1953) came from Market Rasen - he moved to Sheffield in the 1890s in search of higher wages. The only "foreign" blood in the family....

Chip shop prices, 1957 - fish 8d., chips 3d, fish cake 3d. (8d ≈ 3½p, 3d = 1¼p) A small bar of Cadbury's "Dairy Milk" chocolate was 6d (2½p), and a "Milky Way" or "Wagon Wheel" 3d. In 1952 my dad bought a 3-bedroom terraced house in Dykes Hall Road for £600. It was sold to the council in 1981 for £5000, and then demolished.

King Edward's in the 1960s had eight:

Arundel

Chatsworth

Clumber

Haddon

Lynwood

Sherwood

Welbeck

Wentworth

Glad to hear that you enjoyed your stay, despite the weather. Having travelled New Zealand from Cape Reinga to Bluff (to say nothing of Stewart Island) I wouldn't blame any Kiwi for staying in Aotearoa at present, though the weather seems to be improving now that you're home! But it's nice to see family and friends, as I do about every two weeks when I return to Sheffield from rural Lincolnshire. I never did get to Milford Sound; must go back...

I also cant find much on Rose's parents, Zackariah Antcliffe of Sheffield ...Gen

The Mormon website (http://www.familysearch.org) has a Zacariah Antcliffe born c. 1833 in Sheffield, died 1898. His parents were John and Mary Antcliffe.

Well, I suppose I'm a kindly old soul and just thought I'd try to help you out. I've traced most of my own roots back a couple of hundred years (and found a few skeletons in the cupboard...) and I quite enjoy the "thrill of the hunt" - especially when it brings results. I recently discovered that my Sheffield-born great-grandmother (who was illegitimate until her parents wed) was descended from Huguenots who came to North Lincolnshire in the 1620s to drain the fens. Her maiden name was Egarr (that is, after her dad William Egarr married her mother Sarah North). William was born at Keadby, and so after arriving from Flanders my Egarr forebears had lived and died a stone's throw from where I now live. Fascinating...

... some geezer was made "minister for rain"... and almost as soon as he was appointed, the rain ceased, and the drought came. so they made him minister for drought.

That was Dennis Howell, erstwhile Minister for Sport. I also seem to recall that some people clubbed up to pay the expenses of a rain-maker to come from Pakistan and pray for rain - his prayers were always supposed to do the trick. 1974 was also indeed hot, and in 1965 we had a hot, dry summer in March...

I also drew a blank with the marriage, checking indexes from 1891 to 1901 for William Henry Wall and Rose Antcliffe/Antcliff/Antliff. William Henry junior's birth entry is there (Jan-Mar 1894, Vol. 9c Page 500) as is his father's (Jan-Mar 1860, Vol. 9c Page 401). I agree it would be worth obtaining the 1894 birth certificate (cost £7 Via http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificate/index.asp#0) to see if the parents were definitely married.

By the way, in regard to "losing" a few years for the second marriage, I recently got married (for the first time) at 59. I reckon I could do with "losing" a few years....