sadbrewer

I'm never upset to be put right if I've got it wrong...as I sometimes do...but the evidence I have in front of me contradicts you....Arcadia opened on Whit Saturday (May 26th) 1928, the structures were built by John Estelby & Son of Spring Street, the plumbing was by W Dawes of Holme Lane, the Sound equipment was supplied by J Brown & Co, Fulwood Road, refreshments were supplied by The Sheffield Refreshment House Ltd. The company behind Arcadia was Sylvan Recreations, the Directors were L. Shaw of the Union Street Picture Palace, W. Bryan of the Attercliffe Theatre Royal and WO Brown, owner of a Derbyshire cinema chain. The land was leased following the expiry of the previous lease held by The Wycliffe Tennis Club. The opening attractions were Jimmie Bullin from the Central Pier, Blackpool and the Smilestones Concert Party. Bearing in mind the first moving picture show in Sheffield was at least 1905, possibly earlier, I wonder if perhaps you could pop down to Hillsborough Library reference section and find the "correct" information ...I would be interested to see it.

It didn't start until 1927...at that time there would have been quite a number of cinemas in the city....it may have been the first to show one outdoors though.

It sounds like it could be this...Thomas Oxley's English Fruit Preserving Co ( Hillsborough and Stocksbridge) , Bradfield Road. Mr Oxley was extremely successful, he left over £32,000 when he died in Blackpool in 1926. His son carried the business on. Edit....looks as though Thomas retired during WW1 and the business was acquired by John France Crookall, Walter Shaw and Henry Wheedall. Their partnership split in 1922 leaving the business in Crookall's hands. Crookall went into bankruptcy in 1925....everything came up for sale, but I can't find who bought it or whether they carried on the business.

It was an open air cinema in the 1920's. It hosted boxing matches and was described as a mini amusement park...it may have been known as Arcadia Grounds. https://www.flickr.com/photos/163026710@N02/? Having read a little more it was run by Sylvan Recreations ( Hillsborough) Ltd. They took a five year lease in early 1927 but by September of 1928 all the equipment including the cinema was put up for sale. The boxing carried on for a year but the promoter Gus Platts relocated to another venue in Attercliffe...strangely enough the first fight at the new venue was Mexborough's Billy Yates, who was my friends Grandfather!! Edit...apparently Arcadia was located on an island in Hillsborough bounded on one side by the river Loxley and a large dam on the other...prior to the Arcadia the land housed tennis courts.

A 18793 G Pridmore Koyli, later RE, recently went through an auction. Just found this.

Hi Duffems I used to be of the same opinion, but as retep has pointed out the market in them means that at least there's a chance for them to become available for return to families...even if you have to buy them back. A friend of mine worked in a scrap yard and he told me they had thousand of medals and plaques go into the melting pot in the 70's and 80's...at least now they are worth more than scrap value. As to finding yours there is a magazine...Medal News...that has a tracker section, you have to pay, but it's not a fortune, there is also an online site, can't just remember the name offhand. The Great thing about WW1 medals is that they are inscribed with name,rank,regiment and number (unlike WW2) which really helps tracing things, unfortunately Memorial plaques just had the surname and often just the initial...they came with a scroll with more detail on. I've just had a quick look and there were only two Harold Norton's killed in Belgium, one in the Machine Gun Corps killed in 1918, and one in The London Regiment ( Royal Fusiliers) killed in 1917. It is possible though that these things are sat in the drawers of descendents or people who married into the family...sometimes they don't even recognise the names, particularly when widows remarried. I have my Grandad's medals, but his elder brother remarried late in life and his stepdaughter threw everything out...medals, photos letters, memorabilia....the lot. There is a chance that you could track down descendents who have them using genealogy....but they may not want to part with them. Is this your chap?

Hi AKAMD.....please discount the above...I posted too quickly and the info is wrong...apologies. John was born on the 9th October 1910. He did marry Marjorie Lewis but in the December quarter of 1936. The couple lived on Mawson Lane, Worrall. John was killed on Sheaf Street. Marjorie was expecting their child when John was killed....their daughter Sylvia M was born in the summer of 1941. Marjorie married George H Swift in 1951. It doesn't appear they had children, unless they moved away from Sheffield.

Hi trevjan...Ive just heard back from the young lady and she confirmed that the step side of the family had three medals but not the Star....she has some great information about Tommy, I'll send her the link to this thread and hopefully she'll be on-board soon. Great gesture by the way!!

He married Marjorie Lewis in 1935, they had one son, also John W Shaw the following year.

Thanks for that....I am now in touch with the lady who posted that information, she is a Burtoft descendant and seems the ideal candidate to be the custodian of Tommy's medal, so kindly offered by Trevjan. She tells me Tommy's widow married three times after his death and his medals and memorabilia were lost to the Burtoft family, to get one back is a godsend. I'm just waiting for a reply, she has more information that we will find interesting...I'll post it asap.

Thomas is the lad on the left of the photo.

The records are badly damaged but I think I can have a go at finding descendants....he should definitely have the 1915 Star amongst his medals. PS how did it come to you?

I'll see if I can trace anyone....he would have been issued three medals, possibly four....he should have had the British War Medal, The Victory Medal, his Military Medal and possibly a 1915 Star, but I'll have to check the records....I'm just wondering which one you've got....could you describe the medal...does it still have the ribbon. Edit...fortunately his service record has survived ( over 60% were lost in a fire in WW2) it comes from "the burnt records"...fire and water damaged but some of it is readable. Thomas James Burtoft enlisted in 1912, his civilian occupation was a metal moulder at Newton Chambers. He had a brother and a four sisters, so a good chance that there are descendants. He married Cynthia Burgin in late 1913, and the couple lived at 1 Jeffcock Place, Mortomley....having a son George Donald in 1915, It looks as though George may have died in 1916...poor Cynthia losing her husband and baby within a eighteen months of each other. She married a chap called Baker in Barnsley in 1921, but as yet I can find no children.

His regimental number is around the edge of the medal, ..can you give us that as a start plz. Edit...if it is Sgt Burtoft 240114 that retep highlighted above, he was awarded The Military Medal and was gassed soon after. He was invalided home but died with his wife and mother at his bedside. He was 25 years old. I have a photo of him....but no idea of how to post it on here.

To be fair in wasn't the fault of the staff....the brews were set by HQ in London, out of the big brewers Whitbreads offerings were particularly dismal, but I remember them reintroducing Tennants Queens Ale from Ladysbridge in the late 1970's early 80's and it was superb....it made me realise they could brew great beer, just that the range and recipes were set by head office.