Hawksley Avenue, Hillsborough. 1960's

[bullerboY 10]

As bullerboY wrote that was Howard's Dairy - a double-width shop that was noted for high-quality foods and delicious ice cream. They used to have a hatch through which ice cream was sold to people walking past on their way to and from the park etc. Dairies went out of fashion and for a time it was a car showroom "Europa Cars Ltd".The alleyway was actually called "Bradfield Place" (though it never had a nameplate) and the part of it nearer to Middlewood Road is still there, complete with cobbles! The Don Bakery (at the end of Proctor Place) backed on to the alleyway; there was a hoist for loading flour and milk churns etc.

Srry Hillsboro but Howards dairy became Handymans Supplies run by Ted Hoole and his wife Nora it was the co-op that was converted to Europa Cars.

[bullerboY 10]

Howards-that was the name of the shop and i remember the ice sales hatch, i think the whole shop front was a yellow colour and i think my Mum used to rave about their lemon curd. I remember the generating station on the Bradfield Rd corner, there used to be a night watchman there with a coke brazier lit at night. I also recall the slipper baths at the Hilsborough Baths ,we would pay 3d for a bath as we only had a tin bath. I was last in with my two sisters using the water first! A woman in a white coat had a key fastened to her belt to turn the hot water on.

At the corner also was the generating station for the old tramcars which produced D.C.current after that it became the telephone exchange now converted to Llyods tsb bank.I remember the times at the old baths I did all my swimming certs there with mr Sivior.Hillsboro is vastly changed and in my oppinion not for the better.

[hillsbro 33]

Srry Hillsboro but Howards dairy became Handymans Supplies run by Ted Hoole and his wife Nora it was the co-op that was converted to Europa Cars.

Yep - dead right (well, almost - it was Homeworkers Supplies). I think the Hooles still live in Rivelin - nice people. It seems that when such as B & Q opened they couldn't compete; the same applied to Lingards, but one or two small hardware etc. shops survive (there's one at Crookes I think).

[bullerboY 10]

Yep - dead right (well, almost - it was Homeworkers Supplies). I think the Hooles still live in Rivelin - nice people. It seems that when such as B & Q opened they couldn't compete; the same applied to Lingards, but one or two small hardware etc. shops survive (there's one at Crookes I think).

yeh,near enough,I used to service ted and noras cars when I had my garage in hillsboro,do you remember th emobile organ he took round to shows?

[hillsbro 33]

yeh,near enough,I used to service ted and noras cars when I had my garage in hillsboro,do you remember the mobile organ he took round to shows?

I don't actually remember this, but my dad (another Ted) was a member of the Fair Organ Preservation Society and I do remember they often had long conversations, so maybe that was the reason!

 

I have a faint memory that some houses in Hawksley Avenue were destroyed in the Blitz - can anyone confirm this? Maybe near the bottom, where some of the houses look more modern than the others.

[bullerboY 10]

I don't actually remember this, but my dad (another Ted) was a member of the Fair Organ Preservation Society and I do remember they often had long conversations, so maybe that was the reason!

 

I have a faint memory that some houses in Hawksley Avenue were destroyed in the Blitz - can anyone confirm this? Maybe near the bottom, where some of the houses look more modern than the others.

I confirm that some houses were bombed and so was the school which was there before woolies,theres a new book out called Sheffields date with Hitler and there are some photos of the bombed houses.

[PaymePal 10]

I confirm that some houses were bombed and so was the school which was there before woolies,theres a new book out called Sheffields date with Hitler and there are some photos of the bombed houses.

 

My Dad told me when i was a lad that a German Parachute land mine the size of a dustbin landed at the top near Middlewood Rd and rolled right down the Avenue exploding about half way down indeed where the more modern houses are situated. My Mum was a nurse at Middlewood Hospital and on a different shift otherwise she would have been in the house. The roof was blown off and her pet killed thats all. Dad was a crane driver at English Steel in the forge and ran home all the way fearing the worst.Italian POW's were kept at Middlewood Hospital and the grounds planted as a market garden. The local lads allegedly used to get up early and stand at Burtons corner to jeer the new influx as they were bussed in

[hillsbro 33]

...theres a new book out called Sheffields date with Hitler and there are some photos of the bombed houses.

Thanks - I just ordered it from Amazon!

[bullerboY 10]

My Dad told me when i was a lad that a German Parachute land mine the size of a dustbin landed at the top near Middlewood Rd and rolled right down the Avenue exploding about half way down indeed where the more modern houses are situated. My Mum was a nurse at Middlewood Hospital and on a different shift otherwise she would have been in the house. The roof was blown off and her pet killed thats all. Dad was a crane driver at English Steel in the forge and ran home all the way fearing the worst.Italian POW's were kept at Middlewood Hospital and the grounds planted as a market garden. The local lads allegedly used to get up early and stand at Burtons corner to jeer the new influx as they were bussed in

There was an old guy in the seventies who lived in the house at the side of Warings yard who worked in the generator house.The little Imp swimwear factory was at the top of Hawksley ave.

[Banker 10]

I confirm that some houses were bombed and so was the school which was there before woolies...

I always understood that Hillsborough National School was demolished in the 1930s, and a quick web search brought up this page: http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1076617 which gives a date of 1939. It was a crime to demolish the school as it was a lovely old building with Dutch gables - see http://www.picturesheffield.com/cgi-bin/zoom.pl?picture=http://www.picturesheffield.com/jpgh/t01578.jpg

 

Interesting thread - I lived in Middlewood Road in the early 1960s and remember Howard's Dairy etc.

[bullerboY 10]

I always understood that Hillsborough National School was demolished in the 1930s, and a quick web search brought up this page: http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1076617 which gives a date of 1939. It was a crime to demolish the school as it was a lovely old building with Dutch gables - see http://www.picturesheffield.com/cgi-bin/zoom.pl?picture=http://www.picturesheffield.com/jpgh/t01578.jpg

 

Interesting thread - I lived in Middlewood Road in the early 1960s and remember Howard's Dairy etc.

you may be right but i feel sure it sufferd bomb damage.Iwas around Hillsboro from early fifties but lived on shirecliffe and always prefered Hillsboro and the many friends I had there.

[beechnut 10]

It's quite right that the National School was demolished before the war, though there might have been bomb damage around the site. My aunt was a pupil there and was sorry that she had to transfer to Malin Bridge as she liked the headteacher and his assistant. I suppose it was too small, with no room to expand and uneconomical to run. I didn't realise it was such a nice building, though - it was a pity it was demolished as Banker wrote. I suppose nowadays it would be listed and protected.

 

I remember the "Eagle Garage" near the bottom of Hawksley Avenue (it's now the Nationwide Autocentre). At one time it was owned by a friend of my dad's, Arthur Hinchcliff. I didn't realise that it was - as I imagine - named after Eagle House nearby. There used to be a figure of an eagle on the roof - you can still see the steel pin that held it there.