As A Kid Growing Up In Sheffield What Did You Do To Earn Extra Money ???

[Floridablade 11]

I delivered papers, worked in a butchers shop during the war making sausages out of pig fat and sawdust. I worked in Gowers on Sharrow lane delivering Saturday morning. One morning a city councilor was talking to the manager and at the same time dipping his hand in the baccy barrel. The next Saturday I switched the baccy barrel for a black treacle one, what a wonderful sight seeing him trying to hide his hand dripping black sticky treacle all over his suit.

 

The manager didn't know he was pinching baccy but we all had a laugh for weeks after that.

[Puffin4 10]

Like most kids, I started off in the early 50's with a paper round in Richmond. As I recall, I was paid 6/6d per week for mornings, evenings and Sundays.

When I was about 15, I had a job at a pub in Millhouses, bottling up on Sunday mornings.

A little later I had a job playing double bass with a dance band and I graduated to a jazz band in the city. I kept this one up after I left school.

[manorlad1973 10]

i used to do the usual morning and evening paper rounds and my mum use to work as a warden in a old peoples complex so me and my bro use to go and see if they needed any chores doing

[StJohn 10]

I used to have a morning paper round from Alan and Johns newsagents at the Foster and delivered to the bottom of High Green and Burncross. I also had a Star round from GT News at Burncross. Shortly after i quit Alan and Johns as i got a morning round from GT which was nearer. I then took on a sunday round from GT News which soon became about 3 rounds. Add in to it a Rotherham Record delivery round which after 3 weeks became Rotherham Record delivering me 300 hundred newspapers with leaflets which ended up getting fly-tipped on Charlton Brook, which lasted all of 6 months. Also did a Candis round as well which was profitable.

 

All in all i used to earn about £30 a week

 

When was this? because I too had a paper round in the mid 70's at the newsagents on the fosters, I did Angram bank, Oak lodge road and Thompson hill, 65 papers on my bike. Then on Saturday I did a double, Star then the Green-uns. I remember I only had 11 Green-uns to deliver but one was all the way down Greengate lane. And I was lucky to get 2.10 a week, and I had to give half to me mum ...

 

That's it if off to shout at my teenager he's in his bedroom playing playstation ... In the words of Norman Tebbitt, "Get on your bike and find a job"

 

StJohn

Cincinnati Kid

[medusa 16]

I didn't grow up in Sheffield, but my money making came from working as a cartwright on the local market, working on a couple of stalls when the opportunity came (that was less back breaking than working on the carts and paid £5 a day instead of the £4 I got for the manual labour), an Avon round and a few hours on a Sunday supervising all of the small kids in the area who were taking violin lessons and wouldn't do their practice.

 

I did my fair share of babysitting too.

[soft ayperth 11]

Spending money? You name it, I did it. Did the usual newspaper round where I lived on the Stradbroke estate. Worked during school and univ. vacations at Davy's making pork pies and at Express Dairy bottling milk. Christmas post, even garbage collecting. I hated that job because the regular guys used to sit in the trucks and make the students do all the work lugging dustbins back and forth. Numerous building sites. Last time I visited Sheffield, I had to ask for directions. Yes, after all these yrs., it happens. The barmaid used the Fire station on Mansfield Rd near Manor Top as a reference point. I told her that this would bring bk memories as I helped to build the thing. The neatest job I had was at the Embassy ballroom, also on Mansfield Rd., checking in coats or taking money at the door. Manager there was Ron Storey, ably assisted by bouncers Bert and Lol.

[Jemima B. 10]

As a teenager I worked for Addsetts, they had icecream stalls at The Farm Grounds on Granville Road during the Fair. They also used to sell ice cream and drinks at the football matches and had sweet shops.

[Arfer Mo 10]

When i was a kid living on lowedges in the late 60s early 70s there wasnt a lot of spending money to be had, due in part to both my parents having disabilities and both being on benefits (dont go there or i will take offence!!!) Yet all the other kids allways seemed to have the latest fad toys and gimmicks that were so prevalent in this era, ie; zammo kites, peter powell stunt kites, crickets (remember them ?) along with big bags of yorkshire mix !!! grrrrr they never used to share!!! so i took it upon myself to find a way to earn extra cash... Now i was not into nicking stuff from the local shops so opted for finding lost golf balls (not stealing!! and dont go into the legalities of taking golf balls from a golf course, talk to the hand !!!) the best places i found were the litttle streams that had about 6 to 8 inches of muddy silt in the bottom or gorse bushes ie: places that posh golfers did not want to venture, or beauchief ponds. in a day out equipped with wellies and a tough old parka i could find anything up to 100 golf balls in a day and by the way can still do it now !!! i used to go all round dore and totley then cross over where the bradway pub is and then go all around my regular haunts on abbeydale golf course before moving on to beauchief ponds and the golf course where i would find a ball washer and clean all my golf balls up and sit on beauchief drive in between two greens where i would sell them at 20p for a brand new condition one and 10p for pretty good condition ones. on a good day i would make up to £15 on a saturday, my record was £22.00 and im talking the 70s here. I was transformed by my efforts into the local rockafella as i allways had spare cash and not short of toys or gimmics again.... im sure im not unique in this pastime as i allways bumped into other kids from the estate all up to the same. just what did you do to earn extra money in sheffield when you were a kid

 

Hi nabsdabs ,as a14yr old when the war broke, every window had to be blacked out at night, l made a temp;cover for our windows from tile lath and sisalcraft which was durable and cheap, fastened to the window frames with turn buttons,when Mam told the neighbours l was swamp with orders and made a lot spending cash l think this was a springboard for l started in business at 22 yrs old, Cheers Arthur.