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Nature Fights Back

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Originaly I lived from 1943 for 20 years in the Owlerton area,as a kid I roamed far and wide between there and the Hillfoot area!.Starting from the Five Arches right across to the top side of Stones brewery the ground was very poor,stony,shale that only grass and stunted bushes grew in,I spent my schooldays knocking around Parkwood Springs!.Parkwood in fact didn,t have a single tree anywhere on it the same from the top of Shirecliffe down to Wardsend Cemetery also on the right hand side going up Herries Road !.Now fast forward to nowadays its amazing how nature fights back its turned into a forest with help from no one,I had to take a trip along Penistone Road  last week and was amazed with the view of all the tree growth stretching across the horizon and going up Herries Road !.I suppose most people don,t give it a second thought but I think its marvelous how nature fights back!.

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2 hours ago, old tup said:

Originaly I lived from 1943 for 20 years in the Owlerton area,as a kid I roamed far and wide between there and the Hillfoot area!.Starting from the Five Arches right across to the top side of Stones brewery the ground was very poor,stony,shale that only grass and stunted bushes grew in,I spent my schooldays knocking around Parkwood Springs!.Parkwood in fact didn,t have a single tree anywhere on it the same from the top of Shirecliffe down to Wardsend Cemetery also on the right hand side going up Herries Road !.Now fast forward to nowadays its amazing how nature fights back its turned into a forest with help from no one,I had to take a trip along Penistone Road  last week and was amazed with the view of all the tree growth stretching across the horizon and going up Herries Road !.I suppose most people don,t give it a second thought but I think its marvelous how nature fights back!.

I"ve often thought the same Tup, I used to pass the River Don at Hillfoot Br. regularly in the 60s, I liked looking at the river, especially after heavy rain.. Can"t see it now, its lined with huge trees.. course it was heavily polluted back then, but just proves your point.

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Sorry to burst your bubble but it has had a lot of help ans not just from nature

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13 hours ago, bullerboY said:

Sorry to burst your bubble but it has had a lot of help ans not just from nature

Great observation, old tup.

 

Bullerboy, would love to know more if you have any details.

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13 hours ago, bullerboY said:

Sorry to burst your bubble but it has had a lot of help ans not just from nature

Hi bullerboy this I did not know!,I should imagine planting has gone on at the huge infill site at Parkwood Springs and I know volunteer groups work in Wardsend Cemetery!.Perhaps you could enlighten me for I am interested!.

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2 hours ago, Dozer said:

Great observation, old tup.

 

Bullerboy, would love to know more if you have any details.

Sheffield has definitely "greened",  Attercliffe and my old neighborhood, Heeley were once bereft of trees and now they are growing everywhere.

 

Aside from the slum clearance,  there is no more pressure to find firewood  for  home heating and bonfires. During and after the War we used to roam far and wide to bring back any stick of wood we could find. Only the big mature trees were safe from our hatchets.

 

I was there, this last summer. My old hike from Fox House to Hathersage used to be mostly bare moor, but now trees hide a lot of the stark sandstone outcropping. You can't see the red sandstone quarry that produced the millstones any more for the trees. There were two small caves on those moors we used camp in overnight, which are overgrown and now lost.

 

I'd say the combination of human  intervention and a definite warming of the climate is responsible for the change (I remember reading the headline in the Star I was delivering in 1952/53 , "Sheffield set a record summer temperature, 83 degrees!"),  as is the disappearance of the acid rain from all that Sheffield chimney smoke has contributed in a big way, but I agree that it is amazing what nature can do, even in my short lifetime!

Edited by trastrick

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If i remember right there were volunteer groups who were the busy bees and money was put in by the Council and Contractors to make it a green park but its amazing anything grows at all with whats under there over 70yrs.

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I agree that the "Clean Air Act" has reduced the damage caused by the heavy pollution we experienced in the 40/50/60 period. I remember we used to wear a scarf round our mouths from about October onwards because of the heavy smogs, in Sheffield. I had a yellow scarf and you could see the black stain where I was breathing/filtering the air through it, you could taste it too.

As trastrick says, in Heeley, there weren't many trees apart from Meersbrook Park but, that was Meersbrook, we'll not start the Heeley versus Meersbrook  malarkey!

Cat Lane Woods and areas around the river off Rushdale Road were a hunting ground for wood for the fire at home and particularly Bonfire Night.

I suppose those areas are now greener than they ever were but, I haven't been to look, it breaks the happy memories of childhood where days were always sunny and long and there was never enough time to play out even though you went out in a morning and only came home for your tea then back out again until bedtime.

In a way it's as well nature has restored itself in places but, the damage caused by humans i.e. fly tipping, drugs, lack of appreciation for nature has outweighed this.

 

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Old Tup we had the land opposite the railway lines to you with all the muckhills and the cable tubs dumping ash from the power station we lived on the top off the hill breathing all sorts of crap from those tall chimneys,not the cooling towers the tall thin ones and the wind was always blowing our way.We had some great times on there and made many memories kids today dont know what they are missing.

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How well I remember the choking sulphur fumes from the power station sweeping across the valley bottom in the 50s,the tall chimney was built to alleviate this but all it did was blow it over towards Shirecliffe who unfortunately were on a level with the chimney top after its construction!.To this day I have a persistant cough that I blame on that nasty toxic cloud and my smoking habit that I gave up over 40yrs ago!.

Edited by nikki-red

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I work on Clubmill Rd which is part of Old Tup's old stomping ground. Not only has the foliage established itself, the wildlife is also doing well. We regularly see buzzards soaring above the factory along with kingfishers on the river. At the back of our department next to the railway embankment summer evenings are spent watching bats flying about. Our bird feeders attract Goldfinches, various species of Tit etc. There are a number of foxes around which feed on an abundance of rabbits and rats.

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Hi charliewag I used to walk up and down Clubmill Rd twice a day to go to school at Hillfoot County from 1948 until 1959 when I left!.In those days from the school up to the silver mills on the right hand side was a massive ash and clinker tip with no vegetation at all,nowadays its covered in trees,you would not believe anything would grow in it proving what I said about nature fighting back!.

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