Things that you just don't see now!

[Greybeard 10]

Buck - I'll not get into that argument thanks

 

But I do wonder at the skill of our mothers in cooking on those Yorkshire ranges. Mine often cooked Sunday roast (with Yorks pud of course) for eight of us on that range and a couple of gas rings on top of the wash boiler in a tiny little kitchen. The only hot water came from a little boiler on one side of the range or a kettle on the gas ring.

 

From an early age, about seven or eight- can't remember exactly, it was my job to get up early on Sunday and thoroughly clean all the flueways in the range and make sure the dampers were working properly, then light the fire and black lead the whole thing till it shone. After that I'd clean and polish all the shoes ready for church, - but I think all 'ordinary' kids had to earn their pocket money from household chores in those days.

[skippy 11]

Marvelous how we can remember things that happened when we were only 2 or 3 years old, I'm glad someone mentioned that, my family have always told me that I must have dreamed about some of the things I remember. I was born in a block of flats off Duke St [stepney Buildings] there was an air raid shelter in the middle of the flats as they were built in a square but my own family said I could not possibly remember that, but I do.

Haven't we had a memorable life lads ?

[Fareast 10]

I'm the same age as Shoeshine and this IS a very interesting thread . I've been trying to rack my brain , such as it is after all that beer , to think of something that's been missed out !

Bus drivers [ we used to get the 32 Woodthorpe bus from Hastilar Road to Town in 1942--9 and the 21 Swallownest bus back ] used to really struggle with the wheel before power steering -----especially going round the Manor !

The Bin men , from what I remember , used to wear a sort of leather apron on their backs and carry the metal bins to the lorry . Then they had to sort of sling it all into the back of the lorry ; no mechanical aids ; tough job !

Loads of men going and coming to work in their blue overalls .The heat and noise made from all kinds of little workshops as you walked round the [cobbled ] streets , particularly either side of the Moor .

Gas lamps that stuck out horizontally from walls ------very Dickensian !

Riding home-made trollies , scooters and sledges in the almost traffic- empty streets .

Men on Sundays in 3-piece suits and trilby hats and the little crowds gathering outside pubs on Sunday lunchtimes as it got near to 12 o' clock.[only open 2 hours ! ].

Very self-important ticket inspectors who used to get on trams and buses and REALLY have a good look at your ticket .Teachers wearing cloaks as their normal dress , even at everyday schools. Milk monitors and ink monitors in every primary school classroom .

The very real LACK of fear on the streets . Most children felt as if they could go anywhere safely . Mothers shouting out names of their kids from the doorstep when it was tea-time or time for bed .

Park keepers who tried their best to make people stick to the rules .The strange quietness that descended on cities every Sunday .

Well , sorry if I've repeated some things but those are what I mainly remember about the 40's and 50's , other than the ones already mentioned .

[Internetowl 10]

Sunday afternoon TV used to be a war film now all we get is the Premiership

[flyer 10]

HI Greybeard ,Hmm going by the going to school in 52 I would guess 68 tops.To me is quite funny how one get's an instant impression of a person fm few line in a post. I wonder how many times we're way off.

[Greybeard 10]

HI Greybeard ,Hmm going by the going to school in 52 I would guess 68 tops.

 

Well 66 actually

 

Public toilets are something we don't see many of these days, - there were loads when I was a lad but mostly for men. Guess we've all got better bladder control than we used to have

 

And men smoking pipes - why did that die out ?

[Fareast 10]

Yes , Greybeard , Attlee and Stalin always looked more thoughtful and gentlemanly when pictured lighting their pipes .

I guess it died out as the campaign against us cigarette smokers gathered momentum. It's bad enough trying to grab a quick drag anywhere in Britain these days . By the time a pipe -lighter got going he'd have been grabbed by the Health Fanatics and tied down in a health clinic .

It would have been interesting to see one of the Anti-smoking brigade asking Stalin to put out his pipe or cigarette ! I think they'd have ended up in some kind of " health " clinic !

[docmel 10]

I

Loads of men going and coming to work in their blue overalls .The heat and noise made from all kinds of little workshops as you walked round the [cobbled ] streets , particularly either side of the Moor .

.

 

Getting on the 31 Lower Walkley bus from Pond Street on a Saturday teatime with my Mum - most of the bus full of men in their working blue overalls - six day week still the norm back then - and the smell of the oil and grease etc.

[buck 11]

This is one of the best threads I've been in. All of the things people mention are part of my life.

I look at that life now from my comfortable well equipped home in Connecticut, with its 2 cars in the driveway, and think what a differeence.

I have survived fire at sea, apikle up on the Massachusets Turnpike that killed my beloved Sheffield wife, and crippled my son, my home in Tinsley destroyed by the Lufwaffe, and a fire in my Montreal apartment building. I have lived all over Canada, The US, Malta, Cornwall and Wales. But it is Sheffield how to be tough but decent, kind and caring for kids and old people, one of which I now am myself

[Falls 10]

There is one thing that comes to mind but you might think it's a bit morbid.

 

If you were a kid before, say 1945, there was no Penicillin, anitbiotics or any of wonder drugs we all take for granted today. Therefore, if you contracted certain types of pneumonia or any of the contagious deseases such as scarlet fever or menigitis, the chance of you survivng was not good at all. Some time chances were less than 50-50. If there was also the risk of you passing it on to other people, then you would be taken away to Lodgemoor or another isolation hospital. When you saw the ambulance coming down the street, older people - around then - would call it the "Fever Ambulance".

 

I know that at one time, Sheffield did have an ambulance specifically reserved for this job and that the crew wore a different colour uniform; however, the practice may have lapsed even that long ago.

 

The thing that I really found sad was when the child was being placed in the ambulance all the neighbours would be out trying to cheer the kid up. This may have being just good neighbours but in fact, it was often an oblique way of saying goodbye. My experience of this was in Pitsmoor but I'm sure the same type of scene was being played-out in other parts of the city. Do any of you remember this type of situation?

[Greybeard 10]

Do any of you remember this type of situation?

 

ISTR in infants/junior school it wasn't unusual to have prayers for kids who were seriously ill or had died, I certainly remember a pal of mine at school in 1952 died of pneumonia. One of my sisters spent about three months in Lodge Moor I think because of suspected TB - she was always considered to be 'delicate' afterwards and not allowed to do PE and sports etc at school.

[desy 10]

5 stones kids game