Plain Talker Posted November 12, 2005 Share Posted November 12, 2005 sorry, greybeard, I got you and oldtimer mixed up. It was where you lived in Highfields I was curious about. PT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texas Posted November 14, 2005 Share Posted November 14, 2005 Very well put, pitsmoorboy. You obviously have seen all the changes, I'm lucky, I haven't been to Sheffield for almost 50 years so I can't comment, but some of the changes make depressing reading on these threads. And now Hibberts Art shop is no more, bloody hell! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greybeard Posted November 14, 2005 Share Posted November 14, 2005 Originally posted by Plain Talker sorry, greybeard, I got you and oldtimer mixed up. It was where you lived in Highfields I was curious about. PT Kearsley Road - the other side of the (tram) tracks Highfields was a 'village' in those days with really no need to go into town for any day-to-day shopping. If you lived on Mount Pleasant Road in the early 1950s I probably delivered your papers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plain Talker Posted November 14, 2005 Share Posted November 14, 2005 Originally posted by Greybeard Kearsley Road - the other side of the (tram) tracks Highfields was a 'village' in those days with really no need to go into town for any day-to-day shopping. If you lived on Mount Pleasant Road in the early 1950s I probably delivered your papers Ah, no, a bit before our time, we moved onto Mt Pleasant Rd in the early 1970's, just before the supposed "slum" clearance. PT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greybeard Posted November 15, 2005 Share Posted November 15, 2005 Originally posted by Plain Talker Ah, no, a bit before our time, we moved onto Mt Pleasant Rd in the early 1970's, just before the supposed "slum" clearance. PT Don't recollect those houses as 'slums' - but if they were four to a yard with just a single storey outshot they would be condemned anyway. We were two to a yard with a dividing fence and a two storey outshot. AFAICR we always had a proper bath and sink upstairs with a gas geyser. The landlord put in an upstair loo about 1952 I think. Really liked the area as a kid Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plain Talker Posted November 16, 2005 Share Posted November 16, 2005 I would not have called them slums, either, greybeard, personally. The happiest times of my life were spent there.... they might have been old houses, but they were not at all badly constructed. they were in a compulsory purchase order on our properties,which was designated as "Slum Clearance", which was why we were moved out and went onto arbourthorne. it was not bad on there, but not as convenient for town. The reason they were condemned, afaik, was because they had no indoor sanitary facilities (no bathroom/loo). It *kind* of worked in our favour, financially, as the rent was very, very low, about £2.50 a week, instead of the £15-20 we'd been paying out for the council house we moved out of. The lack of indoor sanitation could have been remedied quite easily and inexpensively. however, it was chosen to demolish the houses. I thought it was a crying shame that the houses and community were cleared. I love/d it round here, which is why I was so happy to be moved back here. (I am now living just a few hundred yards up the hill from where I was as a child) I am lucky, and so glad that there is almost the same level of a sense of community round here, as there was back when I was a child. PT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soft ayperth Posted December 2, 2005 Share Posted December 2, 2005 I'm on the same wavelength as Oldtimer. Not that much difference in age either. Born '43. Grew up in the Park area off Duke St (Talbot Place), moved to the Stradbroke estate when it was built, then in late teens to Gleadless Town End. Emigrated to Canada '69. Go back every few years, but to be frank, it is like a foreign country now and a big part of me wishes that were not so. The heart of the city has gone..the old Sheaf market, the free and easy mingling of pedestrians and traffic. Now, there are multi-lane giant roundabouts, fast traffic throughways, alleys and buildings paved over. The smaller independently owned stores that used to border the center are gone. My wife has relatives in Edinburgh and Glasgow. Different types of cities, but each has kept its character and its heritage. Too bad for Sheffield. I live in a city that's not much more than a couple of hundred years old. If a building is 75 years old, it's called a heritage bldg. Sheffield has so much more of a heritage. Whatever happened to the Manor Castle, btw? Is it still there? That was a historic building. Hang on to what you have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fareast Posted December 2, 2005 Share Posted December 2, 2005 rogG Sorry to hear that your Sheffield has disappeared but you're absolutely correct . The big problem is , in Sheffield , at any rate , is , that when us older ones [b.1941] , say that Sheffield used to have a ,"buzz" or a ,"city feel" to it , which it no longer has , we get called , " old-fashioned , out-of-date , fuddy-duddies ....etc...." To some people , "Big" equals better ; plus , they have to keep changing things to justify their nice, soft jobs with every mod-con , paid for by the very people whose lives they mess around and sometimes even ruin. They seem never to have seen how a real city functions , the sort of people who would rather live ,in say , East Berlin than Amsterdam or prefer Warsaw to Paris. I actually worked down the Wholesale Market in my school holidays [1958 ] for Enos Kaye-----as you said ----a great atmosphere . Incidentally , and I asked about this on another thread but no reply , do you remember a lad called Johnny Schuler [or Shuker ?] who was killed at the bottom of Duke Street , in 1957-8[?]------good , quiet lad and a great dancer ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
helbco Posted December 2, 2005 Share Posted December 2, 2005 thank God my parents decided on Australia!! Born at Jessops, lived Abbeydale, Gleadless, Basegreen and finally Bradway/Dore Left in 1966 - been back to Sheffield twice since then - last time in 1982 and at that time vowed I would never return - so depressing! Brought my aunt here in 1988 - she was afraid to walk the streets in the Sheffield town centre - particularly the "hole in the road"! I look on real estate sites frequently - often thinkng about returning to the UK - sorry but there is no comparison. Melbourne might have some "problem" areas but certainly no slums! Wonderful food markets, sunshine and accessible lifetstyle available to just about all! We are changing- with lots of Asian migration, but generally a very tolerant society. Housing is attractive - we have some "council" style flats but long ago the government decided this was not the way to go so lots of options for low cost public housing. My mother was back in Sheffield this year for the first time in 23 years. She has longed to return to "the old country" but now is reassured she couldn't possibly live there! Australia is still the land of great opportunity!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nanrobbo Posted December 3, 2005 Share Posted December 3, 2005 Yea maybe but I'd still kill to go back to the Sheffield of 30/40/50 years ago. When we were last over in Sheffield I found it more confusing than depressing. Just never got my bearings still not sure where Meadowhall? was. The large shopping centre. I do remember, and was puzzled, that my cousin was quite scared to take me to my bros. in Upperthorpe, she nearly died when I rolled down the window of her car to ask directions. Sad! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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