Firth park pond

I found an old photo of my dad with a model speedboat on what used to be the boating pond at Firth Park, it,s now a volley ball site I think.

I have fond memories of this, does anyone else remember sailing boats there?

There used to be an annual boat regatta with guys with radio controlled boats attemping to burst floating balloons, a suitable pin being stuck on the prow of the boat.

One of my first boats as a kid wae a little tin one that worked with meths, it used to chug along with a "put put " sound, I progressed from that to an electric tug boat made by dad from wood on the "bread and butter " principal, it developed a leak, me and my mate still tried to sail it but it got stuck on some ice, (middle of winter) as it was slowly sinking we chucked stones in to break up the ice, the inevitable result was a direct hit on the boat which promptly sank.

We only recovered the hatch with the funnel attached, this was removable to gain access to the batteries.

Many happy days spent there in my youth, if we got thirsty there was the stainless steel drinking fountain.

I use to sail my model yacht on the boating pond every saturday afternoon when i was about 9 many many moons ago, thats before computers and gaming machines where invented oh happy times

This brings back memories! In the 50's my uncle built a yacht, with the mast in it was about 3 feet tall. I was only little so it seemed massive to me! We used to go with him to sail it at Firth Park. I remember about the same time seeing a man with a radio controlled ship there. It attracted quite a crowd, and I particularly remember the controls, they were built into a desk that he sat at! Unbelievable now, but in the days of valves etc. ?

In the early 60's me and my mates used to sail an R/C boat , and like you say malc, we stuck pins to the prow and tried to burst balloons we'd tied to stones as anchors and chucked as far in as we could. I remember the water was always murky, and I was surprised the first time I saw it empty to see how shallow it was.

Like you say Jon, happy times!

Eh up Malc. Yeah I remember Firth Park boating lake. Last time I went there as a kid, I was happily sailing my boat when some bigger kids ( bullies) came along and sank it. Not been since. Also remember the pond being iced over and have seen youngsters sliding on the ice. Like you say, 'Happy Days'

I agree about the water always being murky, if we had known at the time how shallow it was we would have waded in and got our boat back!

Dad had a very early radio control boat called "the sea commander", I think it was built from a kit, it had a wind up clockwork acuator and was simply right rudder, centre, and left rudder. He used to curse like mad when a tram went past if the trolley sparked, as this caused the boat to alter course on its own, it sounds like something from an all our yesterdays sketch when I think of it now!

It was amazing just how many enthusiasts there were though, and nearly, if not all boats were built by them, I think it was probably impossible to buy one ready made in those days.

My Dad built a model of the "Yorkshire man"....a Retired tug boat...used to run pleasure trips out of Bridlington....

...the bid reason was ...it had been a rescue boat at Dunkirk.....so he liked to take us out on it...

....the model was about 2 feet long ...electric...no radio control.......had to wait for the wind to blow it in many times..

....a few memories there.

Originally posted by little malc

I found an old photo of my dad with a model speedboat on what used to be the boating pond at Firth Park, it,s now a volley ball site I think.

I have fond memories of this, does anyone else remember sailing boats there?

There used to be an annual boat regatta with guys with radio controlled boats attemping to burst floating balloons, a suitable pin being stuck on the prow of the boat.

One of my first boats as a kid wae a little tin one that worked with meths, it used to chug along with a "put put " sound, I progressed from that to an electric tug boat made by dad from wood on the "bread and butter " principal, it developed a leak, me and my mate still tried to sail it but it got stuck on some ice, (middle of winter) as it was slowly sinking we chucked stones in to break up the ice, the inevitable result was a direct hit on the boat which promptly sank.

We only recovered the hatch with the funnel attached, this was removable to gain access to the batteries.

Many happy days spent there in my youth, if we got thirsty there was the stainless steel drinking fountain.

it was a duck pondwhen i was a lad used fish in it till the park keeper came and chased us away he had a big black tash we used to call him tinwhiskers

I used to go fishing in Firth Park pond when i was about 9 years old in 1949 (complete with garden cane and bent pin)... and I once caught a small "Roach" instead of the usual "Stickleback"...I remember an island for the ducks to nest...later on the pond was drained and reconstructed with a "red brick wall" to replace the existing mud banks of the pond...the duck island was removed and all the pond was usefull for after that was sailing model boats...the "Star"once featured a photograph of several youngsters at the time caught fishing at the pond...the picture showed a lot of youngsters at the library end of the pond with a cobbled stone bank and iron railings...

This was in the 1940,s or 50's..can anyone come up with this photo ???.

Use to travel over from Upperthorpe to sail my yacht.

Originally posted by little malc

I found an old photo of my dad with a model speedboat on what used to be the boating pond at Firth Park, it,s now a volley ball site I think.

I have fond memories of this, does anyone else remember sailing boats there?

There used to be an annual boat regatta with guys with radio controlled boats attemping to burst floating balloons, a suitable pin being stuck on the prow of the boat.

One of my first boats as a kid wae a little tin one that worked with meths, it used to chug along with a "put put " sound, I progressed from that to an electric tug boat made by dad from wood on the "bread and butter " principal, it developed a leak, me and my mate still tried to sail it but it got stuck on some ice, (middle of winter) as it was slowly sinking we chucked stones in to break up the ice, the inevitable result was a direct hit on the boat which promptly sank.

We only recovered the hatch with the funnel attached, this was removable to gain access to the batteries.

Many happy days spent there in my youth, if we got thirsty there was the stainless steel drinking fountain.

Yes i remember the boating lake at Firth Park and the one at High Hazels Park in Darnall. Do you also remember the coloured lanterns that were around the traffic island at Firth Park. As a child i thought they were candles. Very pretty, they wouldn't last five minutes if they were there today.

I found an old photo of my dad with a model speedboat on what used to be the boating pond at Firth Park, it,s now a volley ball site I think.

I have fond memories of this, does anyone else remember sailing boats there?

There used to be an annual boat regatta with guys with radio controlled boats attemping to burst floating balloons, a suitable pin being stuck on the prow of the boat.

One of my first boats as a kid wae a little tin one that worked with meths, it used to chug along with a "put put " sound, I progressed from that to an electric tug boat made by dad from wood on the "bread and butter " principal, it developed a leak, me and my mate still tried to sail it but it got stuck on some ice, (middle of winter) as it was slowly sinking we chucked stones in to break up the ice, the inevitable result was a direct hit on the boat which promptly sank.

We only recovered the hatch with the funnel attached, this was removable to gain access to the batteries.

Many happy days spent there in my youth, if we got thirsty there was the stainless steel drinking fountain.

when i was a lad it was a duck pond

I found an old photo of my dad with a model speedboat on what used to be the boating pond at Firth Park, it,s now a volley ball site I think.

I have fond memories of this, does anyone else remember sailing boats there?

There used to be an annual boat regatta with guys with radio controlled boats attemping to burst floating balloons, a suitable pin being stuck on the prow of the boat.

One of my first boats as a kid wae a little tin one that worked with meths, it used to chug along with a "put put " sound, I progressed from that to an electric tug boat made by dad from wood on the "bread and butter " principal, it developed a leak, me and my mate still tried to sail it but it got stuck on some ice, (middle of winter) as it was slowly sinking we chucked stones in to break up the ice, the inevitable result was a direct hit on the boat which promptly sank.

We only recovered the hatch with the funnel attached, this was removable to gain access to the batteries.

Many happy days spent there in my youth, if we got thirsty there was the stainless steel drinking fountain.

would it be too much to ask you to post the pic up? a bit of local interest, like?!