Pugwash

My first wage in 1960 was from Howell & co. As an apprentice fitter I earned £2/13/6 per week. They knew how to spoil a lad in those days👍

Dennis`s favourite Al Jolson song was "Mammy". All the audience used to get him singing it by chanting do Al Walkers song! He would strut up and down occasionally singing YES while the band played the tune, very often pulling the wire out of the mic. Finally he would cut in right at the end with "Al Walker million miles for one of your smiles My Mammy," at which people would be doubled up with laughter. Happy Sunday nights in the Penguin.

The North Pole. I used to work at Tempered Tools, just round the corner from the North Pole. One of my work mates spent so much time in the pub he got the nick name "Nanook"

Hello Craven man, you must have been at Howells around about the same time as me, i`m Peter Smith and was an apprentice fitter. I remember all those names that you mention, I worked under George Bowers. Horace Smith was the Machine Shop boss - used to run a tight ship as I recall. Mr. Hatton personel manager set me on and I worked under Mr. Pheasey when I did my 6 month stint in the drawing office. Frank Kings men used to look after the draw benches like you say. Barry Wilkes was an apprentice welder, he used to live in Blackburn, his local was The Railway. It was Peter Chapman (apprentice turner) who`s parents owned the leather shop on Barrow road, his mother, Lizzy Chapman was a Cleaner at Howells. I am in regular contact with Pete Chapman even though I have lived in Norfolk for over 30 years, every year I have a couple of days in Sheffield with Pete, the beer is cheaper up there!

Did`nt they made a film about one of those "The man who shot Liberty Bodice" starring Jimmy Stewart?

I used to attend All Saints Junior School, Pitsmoor, up to the age of 11. After moving house to Shiregreen in 1954 at the age of 9, the homeward journey from school involved a 15 minute walk/run to the Vestry Hall (top of Gower Street), catch a tram to Firth Park, then a bus, number 150 to Nethershire Lane and finally a 5 minute walk home. 45 minutes to 1 hour in total. Would a 9 year old be allowed to make this journey alone these days? 4 x 4 door to door I think.

I remember Goulds shop very well. We moved on to Woolley Wood Road in 1955 when I was ten years old and the shop was a thirving business back then. If we needed anything after 5pm, when the other shops were shut, I would be sent up to Goulds and I can`t remember ever coming back without what I had been sent for. It did not matter what it was, groceries, paint or a gallon of paraffin, you name it they had it. The shop was staffed by old Mrs. Gould (Joes mum) and Joe, Joes sister Grace used to help out when she was not working on the buses as a conductress. Joe opened a DIY shop about six doors away at the other end of the block. He stocked everything that the do it yourselfer of the day needed. It was considered fashionable in those days to have flush internal doors, panelled doors were out! Joe would supply hardboard panels which he would cut to size by hand, the nails and the glue he also supplied. Customers would nail the hardboard onto their interior doors - very posh. The front window of the shop had a display of Valspar paints which Joe reckoned was the best paint ever invented. Joe served in the RAF as an aircraft mechanic in WW2 and was stationed in the dessert, repairing and maintaining Marauder aircraft. On occasion he would tell me about the things that they had to do to keep the aircraft flying. They were clever resourceful men. Joes passion was buying and selling, he was not greedy, if he only made a shilling he was happy, as long as he made a profit. At the end of the war before de-mob he finished up in Berlin, here he bought a quantity of tea and started selling mugs of tea to the troops, he said they preffered it to NAFFI tea. He always had an eye for a deal. I left Sheffield in 1979 so I don`t know when the shop closed. I will always have fond memories of the Goulds - nice people.

Been married for 48 years and the wife and I have never had a row, I don`t like to interrupt.

B & C on Nethershire Lane, Shiregreen to buy milk checks. 63872

I was at Hatfield House Lane from 56 (1956 that is) until 1960 and I used to go "chipping it" some lunch times. A cob cut in half, hollowed out and filled with chips - lovely. The chip shop opposite the Shoe was Hoskins, the only chippy in the area to do crinkle cut chips as I remember. Happy Days.

I moved from Sheffield to Norfolk in 1979, nice place but they can`t make decent tomato sausage down here. Fredericks in The Wicker and Firth Park used to make tomato sausage to die for but I know their shops closed a long time ago. I am planning a 2 day visit to Sheffield at the end of August and would like to buy half a ton to take back with me, can anybody recommend a good supplier? I would also like to buy some Potted Beef to take back, they can`t make it down here. Hendersons relish I buy direct from the factory and they send it through the post. Cunninghams Piccalilli is stocked by the local Morrisons, so I just need Sheffield tomato sausage and potted beef to make the place feel like home.

Hello John, I am Peter Smith who used to live at 132. Its good to hear from you, I will send you a PM.

Hi stevenorfolk. We lived at 132 Woolley Wood Road, we exchanged houses with your Grandparents and I can vaguely remember them, I would have been 9 years old at the time. The Armitages lived at number 134 and Thompsons at 130. I`m Peter Smith.

I lived on Maple Croft Crescent and used to go in the Ridge on a regular basis until 1979 when I moved away from Sheffield. It was such a busy pub back then, the beer was delivered by tanker so it must have had a good turnover. I was amazed to learn it had closed and had been demolished. When I was a regular it was run by a young couple, Jack and Lynda.

What about the dyslexic Pirate, walking about with a carrot on his shoulder.

It was called the Magic Robot, I had one.

Good to hear from another club member. I don`t know how many badges are still in existence but I don`t think they would be valued at thousands of pounds on the Antiques Roadshow.

When I was six or seven in the early fifties (1950`s that is) I used to live on the Parson Cross estate close to the White Horse pub at Wadsley Bridge. From the off sales at the pub you could buy ice lollies in the shape of Disney characters (Mickey, Minnie etc). Collect a number of wrappers and send them off and you would become a member of the Mickeypops Club and recieve a badge. Allthough its a bit rusty I still have my old badge. I would be interested to hear if there any other old Mickeypoppers out there.

My mum Ethel Smith (nee Scott) worked at Pickerigs in the 1930s/40s, she also lost the end of a finger working on some machine there. She would have been 93 years old this year.

Chuffin young uns don`t know what work is, in my day the shifts were that long we had to get up an hour before we went to bed! They are over fed, when I were a lad we were that skint there were many a time my mother had to take a bone out of her corsets to make a stew. At Christmas we used to have a sheeps head between 24 of us and the butcher used to leave the eyes in to see us through to the new year. In them days when we went into the chip hole we would ask for a penny worth of whale meat with the head left on for the cat. One to a bed! In my day it was 48, and me dad would not let us have a p**s pot under the bed as he reckoned the steam would rust the springs. Bring back the good old days.

I used to go in the Pheasant on a regular basis when I was an apprentice fitter at Howell & Co. across the road, a lovely pint of Smiths as I recall. I was also a regular at The Fox and Grapes about 50 yards from the Pheasant, Tennants house I think - Harvey was the landlord, Marrian the Landlady.

Fish chitterlings are male cod roe, female cod rod is much firmer and a full female roe resembles the shape of a pair of trousers, hence a full roe is often called a pair of breeches in Norfolk. Both male and female cod roe can be bought fresh when in season or in tins - John West do both. an ex fisherman

£2-13-6d in 1960 as an apprentice fitter at Howell & Co. Alsing Road, Wincobank.

Hi Ian, i`m Pete - I also went to All Saints school, infants and juniors until age 11. I remember David Godson who l think lived next door or 2 doors away from my aunts. Peter Brearly was a mate, did`nt he live at the corner of Edgar St. and Lyons St.? I think his dad was a radio ham and I remember a radio antenna on the top of a pole in thier back yard. If you attended All Saints you were probably taught to swim, as I was, by the dreaded Mr. Scot at Sutherland Road baths, he was strict but he must have been good, I could swim half a mile by the time I was 10. I used to enjoy playing on the Wembly opposite the baths, happy days

Hi andysell, I lived on Edgar St. when first born, from 1945 to approximately 1948, we then moved to Atlas St. I had a great aunt and uncle who lived at number 61 - Walter and Doris Timperly. My uncle died in 1953, my aunt continued to live there until about 55/56. I remember Florrie Collies shop across the road.