Sheffield memories
Here are memories of Sheffield and the local area. You can start now: Add your own Memory of Sheffield or a Sheffield photo.
Number 1 Nether Edge Rd.
This house was built by my great- great grandfather around 1883. His name was James Burnand, founder of James Burnand and Sons, cutlery and Bowie Knife makers.
Circa 1950s
I was born in 1939 and remember the war years vividily. However, I was draughted into the army in 1948 and because of my knowledge and interest in explosives, became an Ammunition Examiner. During this period, I knew I liked music but nothing specific and I had never been to a live concert. I was walking by Barkers Pool one day and saw an ad at Wilson Peck's for a band concert. I don't know why but on a whim, I bought a ticket. It was some band headed by someone called Ted Heath. I had never heard of him but that concert electrified me. I had never heard anything so fantastic and today he is still top of my list.
At the same time, I had become very interested in ballroom dancing and took lessons. I can't remember the name ofthe place but it was on Eccleshall Rd.I became quite good and was asked if I would like to take it up as a professional career. I declined.... Read more
Lyceum Theatre 1950's
I think my first memory of going to the Lyceum theatre was to see Harry Seacome in the Christmas Pantomime of around 1949, but the highlight for me when I was invited to be a cast member in "Song of Norway" put on by the Sheffield Teachers Operatic Society around November 1954. That experience of being on a show for the whole week with a matinee on Saturday has always been a fond memory but it was also the end of my stage career, I was 14 at the time.
Gordon Lawton Australia
The Gaumont & City Hall
Barkers Pool to me will always mean the Gaumont (ex Regent) Cinema and the City Hall.The Sheffield Gaumont was one of my favourite cinemas. My first visit was to see 'The Great Escape' followed by 'Mary Poppins' and I spent many a Saturday afternoon there in its luxurious surroundings.I also remember seeing Tom Jones and Engelbert Humperdinck live on the Gaumont stage. Across the road at the City Hall I saw many of Sheffields Big Amateur Operatic Societys Musical shows there after the Lyceum closed in 1969 and prior to its great reopening in 1990. Only the City Hall remains now of one of Sheffield's former entertainment areas.
Sheffield Lyceum
My first visit to this beautiful (and my favourite) theatre was to see Ronnie Hilton in the pantomime 'Sleeping Beauty'. It was then I fell in love with the theatre in general and the Lyceum in particular. It was a great loss to the Sheffield entertainment scene in 1969 and I was one of many people who tried to get it reopened during the 1970s and 1980s. It was great to see it re-furbished and re-opened in 1990 and whenever I am in Sheffield I always try and catch a show there. It was designed by W G R Sprague, opened in 1897, and is now the only surviving Sprague theatre outside London. With its modern sister theatre, the Crucible, next door, Sheffield once again has a great cultural quarter.
We Were 'The Young Ones'
This photgraph brought instant memories of when, as a teenager, I regularly walked with friends, Barry, George, Eric, and others, from Portland Street (Near the Royal Infirmary) to Crookes Valley Park. There we hired racquets and balls for an hour, and played tennis on the court to the right of the bowling green shown in the photograph.
We were 'The Young Ones', full of energy and careering around the court, whilst the old guys played bowls close by, and the park keepers made sure we didn't get out of hand.
Now I'm one of the old guys, but the memories come back afresh on seeing the photograph.
Unsettled Times
I have very vivid memories of the war years as it was coming to an end. I was born in Cambridge Street in The Sportdman's public house, which up to the present time is the only pub left on Cambridge Street. Where the John Lewis store now stands on the corner of Barkers Pool/ Cambridge St there was a firm called, The Steel City Works, that got bombed, oh don't I remember the sounds around that night!!!. I remember the City Hall getting hit by the tracer bullets, I still think we were lucky not to have the City Hall bombed. I am now in my 68th year and as I walk around the city centre, memories still stick with me of those unsettled times we ALL had in Sheffield. I am pleased that some of old Sheffield remains, it's good to jog ones memories of the past.
Magic And Mischief
When it was new , the changing colours of floodlights that swept round the fountain and tinted the sprays looked so futuristic and bright, You could stare at them waiting for the cycle to run over again. At times it froze into grotesque lumps, but the most amazing was when students put Teepol or other industrial strength soaps into it and the froth flowed down the street. Equally impressive was the fluorescent dye that gave the water a yellow green radiance. It was much abused but ever entertaining. Shame it has gone, probably offended Health and Safety?
Songs of Praise at Ecclesall Church
This was the church I went to as a child - mostly I had to go as a condition of attending Brownies, but it was always both imposing and comforting as a building and place of worship. However, the most outstanding memory I have is when, in the early sixties, the BBC visited to broadcast a live service. Normally the church was about two-thirds full, but that day, there were far more people than spaces on pews, and the BBC chaps on the door were 'vetting' people as they tried to enter. Luckily mum was dressed in a new outfit which was the height of fashion. I don't remember her smart skirt suit, but I do remember her dark maroon hat with rakish feather. The BBC chappie sent her straight down to the front pew, as a suitable candidate to appear on live TV. They didn't reckon on me and my younger brother, however, as neither of us could take our eyes off the cameras - we spent the whole... Read more
Sticklebacks at Wire Mill Dam
After dad got his first car, an Austin A30, he used to take me and my younger brother out for trips a little further afield, and Wire Mill Dam was one of our very favourite places. We'd be armed with a jam jar and fishing net apiece, and spend hours trying to catch the numerous sticklebacks, and watch people sailing their model boats. The sticklebacks were carefully carried home, but they never survived long in their glass jars.
It was a very busy place, the photographer must have been there during the week, and during school term time.
This photo gave me a wry smile, as the photographer must have been standing in the exact spot from which I fell in the water one Sunday afternoon! Dad made me stand up in the car all the way home so I didn't get the seats wet, and I got quite a scolding from mum once we got back.
Remembering Sheffield
As a long distance truck driver running up from Staffordshire I would spend five nights in Sheffield every two weeks. I would stay at the Salvation Army hostel just off the moor. Evenings were spent wandering around Sheffield city centre. My job was to deliver grinding wheels from Universal Grinding Wheel Company in Stafford to Rileys Transport in Birley Vale, with all the onward wheels for Scotland. Then I would deliver wheels all around Sheffield from Rotherham to Stocksbridge. I met my wife in the company office by the cathedral where she worked, she later moved to work in the Cutlers Hall. After proposing to my wife in the Manor picture house and being accepted I moved up to Sheffield, staying in a flat down Millhouses. I was employed as a driver on Sheffield City Transport operating on the 24,33,75 routes, based at the Eastbank Road garage, sometimes running to Buxton, Bakewell or Doncaster races. The buses were not the new comfortable buses that run in Sheffield today. I... Read more
RAF Norton
I was posted to RAF Norton in 1960 and told by the powers that be to catch a bus (number ??) from the railway station to the camp. I asked the conductor to tell me when I got to the stop. He said "RAF Norton, I've not heard of that". He asked around the other passengers and one of then said "Perhaps its T'Balloon Barrage. When we reached the stop there was a blue sign as big as the side of a house 'RAF NORTON.' The conductor said "Well, I've never noticed that afore". I spent a happy two years at the camp but 'lived out' at 98, Abbeydale Road just town side of the Abbeydale cinema. The flat was on the corner of Stead Road and my No. 2 son was born there.
Regards,
Mike
Hunters Bar School 1961-1964
when i was a child i attended hunters bar school in sheffield, i lived on chelsea road at bryncliffe.
i cant remember the park at the bottom of the road from the school, but i remember going there every thursday, my aunt would collect me from school and take me there, many a happy afternoon was spent there, i remember the ducks and the little stepping stones you could cross the pond there.
my favourite park was millhouses i loved it there, and loved to go on the swings.
i wonder if there is anyone else out there who attended the same school at that time, i would love to hear from them.
Memories of South Yorkshire
Firvale Infirmary
I worked at Firvale Infirmary as a nurse from 1957-1959, but I cannot find anything in the archives relating to these years, does any one know?
Family
I had a step sister who lived in Grimesthorpe, her name was Lily. I can't remember her married name but she was married to a man called Joe who was Irish and she had a son called John. I can't remember what road they lived on but I live on Wincobank Lane now and would like to trace them if possible. She had a brother who was called Desmond Westney and he lived in Hillsborough. I remember visiting them and staying over and once went on a day trip to Mablethorpe with them. The last time I saw or heard from them was when me and my mum went to their house when I was sixteen to tell them unfortunately that Dad had passed away, but I have happy memories of playing in the yard with my cousin John. If anyone can help me trace them or knows what happened to them I would be grateful to hear, thank you.
Waiting For The Bus
As a small child and a grown woman with children of my own I remember waiting for the Wakefield bus after a visit to my grandparents. Some times it would be the West Riding bus, at other times it was the United one. Until his death in 1973 Grandad, whenever possible, would walk us down to the bus stop and wait with us until the bus came.
By Jean Johnson (nee Aston)
Weddings & Christenings
The Parish Church at Hemsworth is where my parents were married and where me and my twin sisters were christened. In 1959 I was a bridesmaid for my aunt when she got married. The last time I was in the church was for my cousin's funeral a few years ago. I have a copy of this photograph on my lounge wall in my Wakefield home.
Jean Johnson (nee Aston)
The War Years From The Eyes of an 8 Year Old Boy.
I was born on Rodman Street, Woodhouse Mill on the 15th November 1931. That makes me 79 now. I remember the Second World War and the shelters in the back garden. I remember the poppy day ceremonies at the cenotaph in Woodhouse, I was a scout with Skipper Edwards as our leader. Bob Graves was the Akela for the cubs. We played Kick Can on Rodman Street in the blackout. I live in Shireoaks now but I will always remember "Wudhus mill" or "The mill" as we knew it. When the school was taken over as an emergency post, we did "home service" in Mrs Bloom's front room for a couple of hours a day, with Miss Alton (Alston?) as our teacher. What days they were!
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