Texas

I remember that clog shop, it was right at the end of Nursery St. One of my schoolmates always got his clogs bought from there. He was the eldest of four kids, they all wore clogs, it was a poor family, his father being on the idle side but he sure could knock kids out. The clogs were brilliant bits of kit for sliding in winter. I remember one time though, him coming to school in bare feet. There was a few kids at Pye Bank like that, had to get footwear and clothing from, was it Fairthorne or something? Good old days they were.

Some great memories of the old cinemas. I'd completely forgotten about the Oxford, I think I went there once. And the Weston. I suppose everybody remembers that. In the 'Star', inside the front page, bottom left, there was a list of all the cinemas and what they were showing. You never saw the Weston in there. We used to go up Weston Park to the museum sometimes on a Sunday, and one time we walked back to Woodside thro' St Philips, down some street or other and there was the Weston cinema. One or two of us lads were surprised, we didn't know a cinema existed there. Somebody referred to it as a 'Bug Hut'. I don't remember it being on a corner though.

Yeah, I've found them. They are now called 'false turtle neck sweaters'. Or I'd call them 'Mock Turtles.

I had a rather neat invention in wool. Don't know what they called it but oddly enough I'm sure I've seen them advertised somewhere lately. It looked like a roll necked sweater but after the neck part it only had about 10'' of front and was about 6'' wide. So under a coat it looked as if you were wearing the whole sweater, but you only had only the neck. No body parts, arms or anything else.

I remember balaclava helmets seem to have come on the scene perhaps in the early 1940's. But your mama would have had to knit you one. The article of clothing that I remember, pre last war, was what is now known as the 'Bomber Jacket'. Then they were known as 'Lumber Jackets' and usually in corduroy. There was a kid had one in our yard on Fox St and it was my first sense of being envious. You could stand on the top of Schoolboard Hill, unbutton the thing and just lean into the wind. But Alan, you didn't wear a balaclava in 'Shane' did you.

Steeped as far as believing is concerned. My take on it as a colloquialism is that it means just 'belonging to us ' or 'we'. We say 'Our Father' in the Lord's prayer. He belongs to us, we belong to Him. Simples. Quakers were/or are like that.

Just had another flash to the brain. Alan Brookfield and me were in the 'Minerva' one time. Slobbering over our beer. We were discussing a film we had both seen, one featuring that great singer Rosemary Clooney. I was saying how good looking she was, what a great singer, and so on, Alan agreed on all counts, fully in agreement. After a slight pause, he said 'Got rotten legs though'. I've never heard Rosemary Clooney since without thinking about her legs.

I found an old map circa1850 showing the stream that used to flow parallel with Cookswood Rd. It was on, appropriately enough, the 'Old Maps' website. It shows as in the report, via Phanerothyme, opening out into a broad sheet of water at what would be the bottom of Minna Road off Pitsmoor Road. And fancy the name Parkwood being known as the Rutland Hills back in the early 1800's. I like that better than Parkwood.

I've recounted this tale before, but one of my dad's favourite stories was that he was making his way to Woodside Lane from the old steel firm of Jessop's, at the bottom of Brightside Lane. They'd shut down early because of the raid and after calling in at Fox St to see how the rest of the family was doing, had got as far as Grey St near Pye Bank School. There, in the middle of the road was an unexploded land mine. He always said he'd never moved as quick before or since. So it was up Gray St and over the rec'. The following morning, in daylight he retraced his steps. Houses were burnt out at the top of the hill with one wrecked from a bomb which had landed behind on the old gardens, and a lot of incendiary damage with fires all over the area. The big mine was still there, sitting. It was a garden roller.

What I would really like to see is a acappella group of eighteen or so voices. You know, like a big band such as Count Basie. Now that would be really something, and it could be done, because the singers are out there. They could do some of the old Kenton stuff after a bit of practice.

Anybody watching that TV show 'The Intruders'? Load of old tosh really but there is a faint jazz connection, very faint. Without going into detail some organisation or other have found a way to prolong human life by bringing back the dead and using their souls in other people.( Bare with me in this because it's difficult to explain). So far, same old, same old, right. But the jazz connection is that the main chick in the show was in love with no other than Bix Beiderbecke. So she is trying her darndest to get him back into action, dig. Now, believe it or not, ol' Bix has made it back as a Chinese waiter. He can still knock the booze back and I'm just waiting for him to do a solo.

I was 7years old on that night and spent it in an Anderson in my granddad's back garden. The two things I remember mostly when I could manage a peek outside were the night sky burning red, and the sparks floating around from the fires all around. I also remember the condensation on the inside of the shelter, and the smell of candles used for light. If I smell a candle burning, even today, it takes me back to that night. When you made your way across a bombed building, years later, you could smell the smashed brick and plaster. We had no water the day after, and the powers that be sent water tankers around and everyone got in line with buckets and washbowls to get as much water as they could. My mom and dad lived on Woodside Lane, they had a shop and got washed in Tizer and Lemonade because they didn't send any tankers down there. My dad had a couple of Bull terriers, and at the height of the blitz one of them managed to get outside and disappear. The morning after my dad went looking for her and he found her sat on the pavement looking at the fires burning at the top of Rugby Street.

Great Sheffield saying, this one. HOW MUCH????

Ah wouldn't pay him out in weshers!

Thanks for putting that on, altus, I enjoyed it with a touch of sadness. Much nostalgia there for me and a lot of truth spoken by the railwaymen on the film.

Actually fidgety you've learned a valuable lesson. NEVER GO BACK!

I got a laugh out of that, Cartav, I could just hear him on about the Sten. At 2 TR Catterick, as linemen, we got a couple of days training with the Sten. We were showed how to disassemble and back again, keeping it clean etc; and then onto the range. The range consisted of man sized targets and a some mock buildings. We got two magazines, of 9mm, about 15 rounds in each. We were to fire on semi-automatic and full automatic. I think I got about 10 rounds on target out of 30, that in semi automatic mode. I suppose if you had one and had a lot of practice you could make a job of it, but one afternoon? The instructor emphasised that great care had to be taken in handling the weapon. But it must've been affective under battle conditions. I mentioned the bayonet really in passing because in all the drill we did I think the order 'Fix bayonets' only occurred a couple of times. The big hang up was getting the bayonet affixed on the rifle. On each occasion at least half a dozen in the squad wouldn't have got the thing on properly and on going back to attention, the bayonet just fell to the ground. I've always seen the funny side of things and for me it was just too much, I always got the bollockings even if I'd been lucky and got the bayonet to stay on.

I'm sorry I can't help you with your query on Christine's grandfather George, but I remember something about him being a bookmaker. He used to go in the 'Blue Ball', was it, near Regent Court? You've got me trying to remember the last time I saw Christine and I think it was at a party in the late 50's, she was reading people's fortunes with a pack of cards. I remember it was just before I left Sheffield. She was also a good singer, not a powerful voice you understand, but she had a very good ear for music. I hope all this has been some help.

Yeah, all the information on your post is correct. I think she was married in the early 60's but it ended in divorce after a short while. I knew her from going to the City Hall dances in the 50's. It's over fifty years ago now and everything is a bit foggy but I know she could tap dance and all the rest of it. I remember her as a nice girl because I took her to the pictures a couple of times. Somehow I seem to remember after her divorce she went to live down south.

After reading thro' all the info' on the SMLE I guess the model I was familiar with would be the No4. I remember it had the spike bayonet and a bloody nuisance that was especially in the 'fix bayonets' drill movement. The record for speed shooting was interesting, 37 rounds per minute. Aimed or not you wouldn't want to be in the vicinity of that lot!

Cartav, I think you are right about the rate of fire I mentioned in my original post. I did go a little over the top. A round a second is wild, but the point I was really trying to make was about the technique of shooting. I've watched the said video again and it's still impressive, the shooter getting off rounds quicker than I've ever seen and he's got the big sight up not the battle sight. Regarding the main sight, It did go to 3000 yds. Have a look at the video, there's one or two featuring the .303 on YouTube. Note how the shooter keeps his thumb over the bolt. The rifle in question was one of the finest ever devised, in my own opinion.

Thanks for the interesting feedback, cartav. What I had in mind though was technique with the .303 Lee Enfield. At Catterick, in the Signals, It was strictly basic, first on the 30 yard range then extended up to a 1000 I think it was, although I know that the Lee Enfield was effective up to 3000 yards. To shoot we just gripped the bolt with thumb and forefinger, and put a round into the breech, then dropped the hand to the trigger and applied the forefinger once again to the trigger to fire. Simple. I watched a video a while back whereby the shooter gripped the bolt in the above manner but used the second and third fingers to pull the trigger, hardly moving his hand at all. In this way he fired off ten rounds in just as many seconds. I was well impressed. The shooter stated that he thought this technique had been taught and used by generations of British army personnel.

I've got a question. There must be a number of ex Infantry bods have read this thread and I would like to know if any of them, possibly if they were good shots, had had advanced rifle training. This would be with the .303 Mk4 Lee Enfield. In the Signals we didn't really do a lot of shooting and I didn't hear of anyone who was an exceptional shot and had gone on for any special training. I'm sure there was something of the sort went on though.

First of all, the 'white house chip shop' was on Andover St. And that was over the other side of the hill to Hayward Road. The nearest chip shop to the Fowler Hotel was Broomhead's, and that was located at the top of Hayward Road with Pitsmoor Road. As far as I remember myself, opposite the Fowler Hotel on the corner of little Hayward Road and Fowler Street, was a shop run by a large lady by the name of Mrs Tesh. She left there sometime in the early 40's and had a shop at the top of Hayward Road for a while but I don't remember what happened to her after that.

Every year about this time conversation turns to cycling, road racing, track, my own pathetic attempts to ride up Winnats Pass on a fix wheel, size 11 cog, and how Fausto Coppi was the greatest etc, etc. It's Tour de France time you see. So, there we were, in the pub rapping on about all this stuff and somebody mentioned Rotrax bikes, and I must admit, although I knew they were manufactured here in Southampton, I didn't realize the firm was still in business. Or so I was told. Owning a Rotrax was the ultimate dream when I was about 14 years old and I can swear there was a bike shop, just below where the old Roscoe cinema was, that sold them. Anybody still alive remember that? Also anybody remember Phillips Cycles?