Heeley Bottom In The 60'S And 70'S

[DUFFEMS 55]

I haven't seen Joan Fisher since our Carfield days, she went on to Newfield and I to Brincliffe Grammar School. Joan would be 66/67 now, I've just had my 67th. birthday.

Didn't the off-license at the bottom of Valley Road become Larders Chemists, I worked there from 1967-70.

 

Regards,

Duffems

[ptrA 10]

My cousin Ernie and I got chucked out of the Collie by Leo because Ernie shouted out the F word in astonishment when he saw Jane Russell in "Outlaw", so we ended up in the snooker hall at the top of Broadfield Road, under age of course.

Leo chucked us all out in our turn

[choogling 14]

Anyone recollect Thompsons bicycle shop at Heeley on Chesterfield Rd? The owner built cycle frames with a metal badge soldered to the headtube in the form of a letter T. He also owned the Pewit cyclists' cafe at Owler Bar. I first visited the shop in 1953,but left Sheffield in 1957. What happened to the businesses and owner?

 

I might be wrong but I think the bike shop was owned my mr simpson in the early sixties I went to school with a lad who must have been his son.

[RiffRaff 10]

Strange, the things you find out about after 30-odd years of marriage!

Watching some crappy TV programme at the weekend prompted my wife to suddenly announce that she wondered where all her Sheffield swimming medals had gone to...

Complete news to me, but apparently she used to swim for the City/County when she was a teenager, but had all her medals stolen during a burglary around Saxon Road, Heeley...about 40 years ago!

So if anyone has some medals - one of them from Fattorini's apparently! - engraved with the surname 'MOREMENT' on the back, she'd like them back, please!

[ptrA 10]

I used to go in the Teenbar a bit in 1956-7 . Couldn't go in too often as we didn't live near there but Heeley was a popular place to meet up and the Teenbar was quite famous { I think it was an experiment by someone or other to combine the Youth Club and the Coffee Bar and one in the East End of London and the Sheffield one were the first two in the U.K.}

 

We also used to go regularly to Castleton on Sundays, catching the 10 a.m. train from the Midland Station.We got up to some strange antics on the journeys there and back, which are not suitable to mention on a Family- type Forum ! Needless to say, our main aim in going to Castleton wasn't hiking or climbing.There were often gang fights in or around Castleton between the Sheffield lot and gangs who came from Manchester and the police were always scouting around and the railway police were apt to patrol the trains too.

 

We'd generally get back to Sheffield early evening and try to get to see a good film to round things off. I remember I met a really nice girl from the Manor, called Stella, on one of the Castleton trips and went out with her for a time.

 

Apart from the Teenbar there was also the Plumtree cafe and the Oak Tree .Later, aged about 17, it was the pubs round Heeley and anyhere else that would serve us under-age.

 

As you say, Heeley Girl, great days, the late '50's-------the beginning, more or less, of teenage power!

Teenbar, Castleton. Me too, only we got on at Heeley.

[Royston 10]

Teenbar, Castleton. Me too, only we got on at Heeley.

 

The Teenbar was a breakthrough for many of us kids! I would go down there from the Arbourthorne although we were originally from Carter Place Heeley...I hung around at that time with a guy called 'Twinney" ..John Charlesworh who naturally was a twin lol from around Upwell or Thirwell Street I think. We got into some right "tangles" to say we were only maybe 13....but we survived and became reasonably good global citizens..... I think! Thanks for the memories! I think the Oak St coffee bar stayed open later than the Teenbar and I remember we ended up there many nights playing the jukebox and have some happy naive memories from there also.

[trastrick 866]

Teenbar, Castleton. Me too, only we got on at Heeley.

 

 

Unfortunately the train only went as far as Hope, then you hiked.

 

There was a single decker bus that went from city center (Midland Station area) direct to Castleton, though.

[seamuscleary 0]

i remember heeley. did not live there very long, just over a year. Heeley holds many fond memories for me. Hardy's Bakery, The shops under the bridge. Heeley must have been very busy in the 70's as it had four banks and good  shops. We rarely had to go into the city. There was a shop just over on the corner opposite the end of anns road. He sold a lot of things for a small shop, cannot remember his name. Our house was an end terrace on gleadless road not far from anns road. It had 3 stories, loved the attick room, it was massive. Then we got a letter from Sheffield Council telling us that all the houses in our section of heeley were being pulled down. I loved that house. The only thing with it was you had to walk carefully in the sitting room as you could have gone through into the cellar. our kitchen was massive. The large steel tub used to hang on the back of the kitchen door and would come down every saturday so we could all bath. Our toilet was at the bottom of yard, alongside all the others. there was a shed at the back of the yard, we loved sliding off the edge of it. My da bought some tar to do the path in the back yard, he hadnt a clue how much to order and got too much, there was enough in the lorry to tarmac the path behind the houses and some of the other yards too. I think the neighbours appreciated it being done. We had great neighbours and on the whole everyone got on well. Used to look after neighbours wee ones even tho i was only 9 myself. Loved living in heeley and never wanted to leave it.

 

[seamuscleary 0]

Before we got the house in Heeley we lived with one of our uncles in woodhouse. the other one lived in hillsborough. a third uncle lived in manchester. Anns road primary school at the time was an old victorian building, the school always had a good name, which i believe continues to the present day. The school was massive, when we were there, there was some renovation work going on. For a period of time we were all bussed out to another school to allow the work to be done. I dont know if anyone else remembers this or not. We had seperate entrances and exits for boys and girls then. The new school building must be different now. Its a shame to see that the victorian building that we went to is now disused and attacked by vandals with windows broken. I hope at some stage it will be used again for something. I think we lived in Heeley 1972-1973. Went back to sheffield a while ago and walked the short distance from the midland station down into Heeley. Was good to see it once more. All relatively new houses now. followed anns road around into gleadless road to see if i could remember where the old house was. When i found the road opposite where the house was all the fond memories came back. It had all changed, but in that moment Heeley was the beautiful place it had always been to me.

 

[seamuscleary 0]

The only bad memory i have of Heeley was the day that we left it to go back to essex again. I was broken hearted at leaving, the rest of the family were looking forward to what essex would bring us. As we left Sheffield midland station i knew that we would pass Heeley on our way to london. I sat in a back facing seet so that i could keep Heeley visible for as long as i could. When it went out of site it took me a while to recover, then i knew we had to move on and so i did. I missed sheffield and heeley for a long time. Every time i go to sheffield i take a walk down to heeley and it warms me to remember how things were then. The people of Heeley were very warm and friendly. It was like a community on its own. The Sally Army used to play and sing outside their headquarters frequently. We used to play regularly on the derelict land beside our row of terraces. There was an arch about half way up the terraces for us all to use to get to the back yards and the loos. There was a few children in anns school that i did not get on with at the time. They had a system at lunch time that you had to sit in the same place at the same table for lunch every day. There was this girl who kept on teasing me, one day i opened my mouth to say shut up or i will kill you. the sorriest thing i ever said, from that day on she would always say, well, have you got your knife. I wonder if this girl remembers this, it was a long time ago. She was a lovely looking girl too. Cannot remember her name. I do hope that she is doing well for herself now.

Edited August 28, 2019 by seamuscleary
mis spelt word

[seamuscleary 0]

Granda used to live in Parsons Cross. He would come to us in Heeley most weekends and us children would take it in turns to sleep with him in the attic room. Our attic room had 3 beds and a skylight. Loved listening to the rain pelting on the skylight at night. He used to bring fruit with him every time he came. He always said to us, i wont have any part in rotting your teeth

 

[DUFFEMS 55]

Heeley was a place of self sufficiency in my time living there in the 50's/60's until I married in 1970.

There were shops of ever description on Heeley Bottom and a short walk into town via Cumberland Street to the Moor where the department stores of the day were, Atkinsons, Pauldens, Woolworth not forgetting Redgates.

People were friendly and looked out for each other.  I don't recall any crime such as burglary in our area in all the years I lived there and, let's face it, none of us had secure homes, you could lean on our back door when it was locked and it would open!

We knew all our neighbours and their extended families so it was no good doing owt wrong and thinking you'd got away with it, someone would always tell your mother.

 

Our happiest times were spent in Heeley being carefree and unconcerned  about all the worries of the world  as long as you had a threepenny bit or a tanner on Saturday the world was alreeet!

 

My mother-in-law aged 96 still lives there and it's unrecognisable, I wish I no longer had to visit because it shatters our childhood memories when we see the run down areas now.

 

Regards,

Duffems