Sheffield gales 1962

[tasha_78 10]

I was 9 at the time and my claim to fame was that I saw Fyffe Robertson from the Tonight Show (anyone remember it, hosted by Cliff Michelmore) on the old Arbourthorne prefabs site, interviewing the locals

[hillsbro 32]

My goodness - I had almost forgotten him. Here he is on

James Fyfe Robertson, 1902-1987. Cliff Michelmore was great - I think he's still around at almost 90.

[Davekowl 10]

I lived at the top of Dagnam Road , Arbourthorne at the time of the gales and was in my last year at Norfolk school. The winds that night were terrible and blew a great hole in our roof as well as blowing the chimney stack down.

The next morning me and my mates went to school via Northern Ave. to see the damage we had heard about on the radio. It was an amazing sight. All the prefabs that were on the left hand side of the road were flattened . Indeed , half of them were in the gardens of the brick built houses on the other side. Peoples belongings were scattered all over the place and folk were just wandering around in a daze.It was something I'll never forget.

[chrishall 10]

Bruce Forsyth donated the jackpot (£900!) from Beat The Clock on Saturday Night At The London Palladium, it went to the sheffield Hurricane Fund, wonder what it was spent on

[saxon51 10]

I was 10 and living right down in the depths of Gleadless Valley and our den in Rollestone Wood was destroyed.

[willybite 10]

my wife and me had been married about a year and we had only been in our house just over a month when the gales hit us, we lived up gleadless rd. while we were in bed bricks came down the chimney in the middle of the night, when we got in touch with our insurance co we said the quote was fifty pounds he said to get it done if you can. i've just had a claim for three thousand pounds for a house thats just been compleated, the wind had buckled all four walls so they would have to rebuild it the builders we got had come over from ireland on the reciept was for a bricklayer a labourer a plasterer another labourer two scaffolders we only saw two men at a time on our house.My parents had been living in a thirteen story block on the twelfth floor on mitchell street about six or eight months when about three in the morning they got up they couldn't sleep so mum made a cup of tea for each, while they were sat dad said to mum our table is moving away from the wall about four inches. when he asked the caretaker the following morning he was told there was seven inches of sway allowed for if not the tower would just crumple.,

Edited May 26, 2009 by willybite

[Dodgepot 10]

I was brought up six miles south of Chesterfield and we had the 1962 gales. I remember waking at 05:00am to the sound of roof tiles being blown off by the dozen. On my way to work I saw sheets of corrigated iron being blown from rooves. I was apprenticed in the building trade and spent the next few days helping to make rooves and chimneys safe, it then took weeks to put things back to normal. I did get lots of overtime though.

[hillsbro 32]

...I was apprenticed in the building trade and spent the next few days helping to make rooves and chimneys safe, it then took weeks to put things back to normal. I did get lots of overtime though.

 

As they say "it's an ill wind that blows nobody any good" and at least you were kept busy. The insurance people weren't happy, though... The claims man who visited our house was from Leicester - the insurance company (Norwich Union I think) had had to draft people in from elsewhere to deal with the workload.

[Plain Talker 11]

my wife and me had been married about a year and we had only been in our house just over a month when the gales hit us, we lived up gleadless rd. while we were in bed bricks came down the chimney in the middle of the night, when we got in touch with our insurance co we said the quote was fifty pounds he said to get it done if you can. i've just had a claim for three thousand pounds for a house thats just been compleated, the wind had buckled all four walls so they would have to rebuild it the builders we got had come over from ireland on the reciept was for a bricklayer a labourer a plasterer another labourer two scaffolders we only saw two men at a time on our house.My parents had been living in a thirteen story block on the twelfth floor on mitchell street about six or eight months when about three in the morning they got up they couldn't sleep so mum made a cup of tea for each, while they were sat dad said to mum our table is moving away from the wall about four inches. when he asked the caretaker the following morning he was told there was seven inches of sway allowed for if not the tower would just crumple.,

 

Yes, all of the tower blocks were designed with a certain amount of "give" because of wind-pressures.

 

My aunt, and a cousin, both lived on the 15th floors of tower blocks on Norfolk Park, and it was extremely eerie sitting there and feeling the sway, watching Xmas decorations and the ceiling-lights rocking.

 

The views were fantastic, you could see right the way over the Roman road, past Ringinglow, but as wonderful as it was, I hate heights, and spent 99% of the time in their flats willing the time to pass when I could get my feet on solid ground!

 

OK, I have to confess, though, I am the sort of woman who gets dizzy wearing platform -soled shoes! lol

[CeeBeeBee 10]

Not St Hilda's but the Methodist Church at Firth Park. His child/ren were killed.

 

Mr Thompson was the Vicar at St Hilda's in the Vicarage next door - we are Windmill Lane residents and have been for over 45 years - I remember this so well.

 

The prefabs on Honeysuckle Road were also damaged.

 

Colin Hill was the vicar at St Thomas on Holywell Road Grimesthorpe. His wife was killed by a chimney stack falling through the roof and right into the lounge as she sat reading. I went to St Thomas's church at that time and everyone was stunned by the news. I think that Colin left the parish shortly after this

[maidinsheff 10]

I remember the gales. My mum kept us off school we were living on Seagrave Cres then and someones garage door had come hurtling down the road and there were slates flying around. It was a really sad day for me because I insisted on taking my box kite out (can you believe it) and of couse it was snaffled up and whisked away from me the moment I let go of it.

 

I had plenty of kites after that but never one as good as that box kit. I often wonder where it ended up!

[choogling 14]

I was at Newfield Secondry School at the time of the Sheffield Gales, it totally tore of the school roof.

I can remember seeing a peice of guttering flying through the air and it embedded in the embankment out side the main doors.

 

We were kept at school until 12.30pm and we thought we would hae had the day off, what a disapointment. The school was ony closed a day or so, good workmen those days, to the dissapointment of us.

 

Your memory is better than mine i also went to newfield ( boys ) but cant remember the school roof being blown off ,the gym roof was and finished up on the nearby sports field .the front of the building was made of steel frames holding the glass sheets the frames were pushed inwards and were only stopped by some floor supports in later years rods were fitted to prevent a repeat performance.one thing that i remember well is the smell of hot tar that seemed to last for years so the main building roof must have suffered some damage due to lifting.I lived at the bottom of derbyshire lane at the time and we had to walk to school i was surprised by how little damage had been done, the road was covered in broken slates of course but i only saw one chimney stack down and that had fallen on a motorbike combination parked just up the road from my mothers house.The Sheffield history forum recently ran a thread about the storm and someone posted the stars special edition but the quality was a bit ropey .