Where did everything go - childhood memories of Norfolk Park

[soft ayperth 11]

rogG, Your post reminded me of my childhood in the early 1950s. My mum used to take me to the park and if I behaved I would get an ice cream and spend time on the swings and slide (yes it was very high). My mum told me that she had her wedding reception 1947 in the pavillion, it was a wooden building painted black and white, very flaky. No photos only memories.

 

Why it stands out in my memory I don't know. But, I remember once standing at the top of that slide, looking down and seeing a couple laid out on the grass snogging. He was in forces uniform. Just after the war when conscription was still in effect. I was just a nipper. I remember my mum telling me off for staring at them. "But what were they doing mum? Why?" The things that stick in your mind.

[isle hopper 10]

Hi rogG, you're showing your age the children these days would know what the couple were up to! You sound as though you are from the same era as me. Did you go to school near the park? I went to St Oswalds it was infant, junior and senior at that time. I remember Manor Lane School it was just opposite the park entrance on City Road, on the other corner St Aidens church. All the buildings in Sheffield were black with grime during the 50s, much better now they are cleaned.

[0742Sheff 10]

The closest school to the park was Bluestone. I'm not sure if that is the one you are talking about isle hopper. It closed down some years ago now and was pulled down. That area is just an open space now. I beleive work was due to start a few months ago on a residential home there but the project hit funding problems.

There isn't an entrance to the park on City Rd itself but there are a couple not far away. One on Granville Rd and one on Saint Aidens, leading to City rd and Manor lodge school (which is currently being converted into a restaurant).

St Oswalds was before my time. Was that school somewhere on Norfolk Park?

[isle hopper 10]

0742sheff Hi, I don't think I would recognize the old place now, I will just keep the memories sometimes that is the best way for old ladies like me! You ask where St Oswalds was sited it was on the Wybourn Estate, I believe that has changed from the 1950s too. I believe Pete Stringfellow had a club in St Aidens in the early 60s (Black Cat Club)? Anyway I digress thanks for the memories of the area.

[soft ayperth 11]

Hi rogG, you're showing your age the children these days would know what the couple were up to! You sound as though you are from the same era as me. Did you go to school near the park? I went to St Oswalds it was infant, junior and senior at that time. I remember Manor Lane School it was just opposite the park entrance on City Road, on the other corner St Aidens church. All the buildings in Sheffield were black with grime during the 50s, much better now they are cleaned.

 

I went to Manor Lane School, isle hopper. 48(?) to 51. Ms. Gertrude Horner was the headteacher. She had been headteacher there since the 1920s. When I first went to that school we were all in the old Victorian era building at the corner of City Rd and Manor Lane. Then, they built a new school at the back of it in 1950(?)

[eastbound 10]

i use to love throwing water bombs at cars from 15th floor but the best thing was waiting for someone to walk up the stairs n spitting a dirty greenie on them from the top then running like <removed> LOL the joy ov been 10 year old on a classic estate

Edited September 9, 2011 by sibon
swearing

[isle hopper 10]

Hi rogG, I can remember the old Manor Lane school I think our paths just missed as I started school (at St Oswalds RC) in 52, around that time I would be going to Norfolk Park. Do you recall the trams on City Rd? Crossing the road seemed difficult then but very few cars around at that time. Very different now.

[SM524 10]

If you look on The Sheffield History website there is a forum about living on Norfolk Park in the 1980's and 1990's, lots of memories and stories and photos of then and present day.

Regards Sue

Edited September 6, 2011 by SM524

[soft ayperth 11]

Hi rogG, I can remember the old Manor Lane school I think our paths just missed as I started school (at St Oswalds RC) in 52, around that time I would be going to Norfolk Park. Do you recall the trams on City Rd? Crossing the road seemed difficult then but very few cars around at that time. Very different now.

 

Yes. I used to cross City Rd to catch the tram to go home outside St Aidans. Lived on Talbot Place which runs off Duke St just above where the Norfolk Picture House used to be. Seems like there's two parallel discussions on here. The oldies like us who remember NP before the housing devpt and the less aged who lived in the flats and whatever else was built.

[isle hopper 10]

Sue, many thanks for the info on Norfolk Park I will have a look at the forum. Regards Jo. Hi rogG, I think you're right regarding parallel discussions, good to be an oldie gives you the option to be in tha past or the present. Hope you enjoyed the trip! Many thanks for your memories. Jo

[echo beach 589]

My memories of Norfolk Park precede the construction of the housing estate - when the park was pure and simple a park for recreation and pleasure. The old pavilion where mourners who attended my granddad's funeral gathered for a cold plate. The cricket pitch where men dressed in all white with no protective headgear. The playground with the swings, rocking horse and slide. Whitsuntide, when parades of marching boys and girls bearing banners of their Sunday schools gathered in the park for a service. And wasn't there a little pond somewhere at the back of the park where kids, myself among them, collected sticklebacks and tadpoles? What wonderful memories.

 

Those are also my recollections of the park rogG. My Grandma, who used to live on Heeley Bank Road, would take me there in the holidays; an alternative was Millhouses Park for the paddling pool/boating lake or Weston Park for the museum. The method of transport in those days was, of course, the tram.

In that vicinity I also recall a castle like building on East Bank Road which I believe was the entrance to the Queen's Tower. It always fascinated me and as a nipper I also played in what was called "horses field" to the left of East Bank Road going up the hill.

[0742Sheff 10]

Queens tower is still there echo. It has been converted into high end apartments now though.