Did You Live In Shiregreen?

[Cynthia]

You do not know the half of it EAGLEWEB. If you went back in time you would see Shiregreen School after it had been bombed, not a pretty sight.

I left Shiregreen school in 1945.

[awoollen]

You do not know the half of it EAGLEWEB. If you went back in time you would see Shiregreen School after it had been bombed, not a pretty sight.

I left Shiregreen school in 1945.

i remember i left in 1944 i was in mr chapmans class jst at te top of the stairs at the boys end i remember going to school in a ladys front room bottom of our road bevercotes

[stevenorfolk]

Hi Eagleweb,

I thought I would ad my twopennyworth, regarding shiregreen and Joe Gould, by the way "suewho" is my sister,when I was about 8 or 9 (1958/9)I used to go to Joe's "Do it youself shop" it was at the other end of the row to His Grocery shop, it had a little shed at the side with a sloping roof to the floor,it might have been the cellar entrance, we used to slide down it as kids,my Dad used to send me for errands to buy bits of wood from Joe, my Dad was always making things with wood,and joe always came up with exactly what Dad wanted, sometimes he'd go to the yard around the back of the shops where, he had Loads of wood stored, the DIY shop was so full of stock, you could only get about 5 feet inside the door.

I also remember the Newsagents you mentioned,I think it was called Webbs my mate Bob used to deliver papers for them, and on our way to School we used to call in there for sweets.

I used to Deliver papers for elstones on nethershire lane, my "Star" paper round was bellhouse rd,oaks fold,and mason lathe rd, my last paper was the "Penquin pub" at the bottom, I remember on fridays the "Star" was always extra thick, I could only just get all the papers in my bag!!.

I remember my school mates ordering their Bangers for Bonfire night, from Joes Grocery shop, for some reason you had to order them, some would order 200 penny bangers,I remember them picking them up,Joe would just bundle them together with Elastic bands,(health and Saftey)LOL.

I do remember A lady in a Clippie uniform,who sometimes served in the shop, that must have been the sister you mentioned.

Regards Steve

[eagleweb]

Hi Eagleweb,

I thought I would ad my twopennyworth, regarding shiregreen and Joe Gould, by the way "suewho" is my sister,when I was about 8 or 9 (1958/9)I used to go to Joe's "Do it youself shop" it was at the other end of the row to His Grocery shop, it had a little shed at the side with a sloping roof to the floor,it might have been the cellar entrance, we used to slide down it as kids,my Dad used to send me for errands to buy bits of wood from Joe, my Dad was always making things with wood,and joe always came up with exactly what Dad wanted, sometimes he'd go to the yard around the back of the shops where, he had Loads of wood stored, the DIY shop was so full of stock, you could only get about 5 feet inside the door.

I also remember the Newsagents you mentioned,I think it was called Webbs my mate Bob used to deliver papers for them, and on our way to School we used to call in there for sweets.

I used to Deliver papers for elstones on nethershire lane, my "Star" paper round was bellhouse rd,oaks fold,and mason lathe rd, my last paper was the "Penquin pub" at the bottom, I remember on fridays the "Star" was always extra thick, I could only just get all the papers in my bag!!.

I remember my school mates ordering their Bangers for Bonfire night, from Joes Grocery shop, for some reason you had to order them, some would order 200 penny bangers,I remember them picking them up,Joe would just bundle them together with Elastic bands,(health and Saftey)LOL.

I do remember A lady in a Clippie uniform,who sometimes served in the shop, that must have been the sister you mentioned.

Regards Steve

 

Thank you steve, that is really really fascinating stuff for me...I'm actually writing now from my sitting room which is in the flat above my carpet shop, which was once the newsagents, mr and mrs Webb being my dads parents. (The present newsagents is now in the next door shop.) There were two blocks of four terraces, built in the twenties i think, and the Goulds came to own all four of the of the lower block nearer to bellhouse club, but also owned one of the four in the higher block where I now live, at the top end. This on is now a residential property, but it used to have a building on the side with a heavy steel corrugated roof, sloping down, which i am told was actually an air raid shelter, later used for coal storage. Even up to ten years ago kids used to be forever sliding down it and getting bollocked for doing so!! I always thought it was a strange looking construction, a strange relic of a former time, and it was only recently that jamie next door told me it was an air raid shelter, they had discovered steps leading to a cellar underneath during its demolition. Its not often I come accross anyone who actually remembers my grandparents' being here. My Nana died at the age of ninety nine in 2004, but she remained pretty with-it, so to speak, and used to always be talking about those days, the paperboys who delivered the star for them and having to get up at the crack of dawn to clear the steps of the inches of snow ready for the papers. I have an old photo of them standing in the newsagents hanging on the wall, must be from the fifties or sixties. When they came to knock down the lower block of four, i heard rumour that none of them had any floors in them, due to joe's desire to get round paying ground rent or something. When the builders gutted the top property next to me i rescued some old catalogues / booklets advertising ancient agricultural equiptment, testement to the vast array of products that old joe or his family could lay their hands on... I found that pretty amazing.

Also amusing, the pictures of these bizzarre looking contraptions. THanks again for sharing your memories.

[beady]

You do not know the half of it EAGLEWEB. If you went back in time you would see Shiregreen School after it had been bombed, not a pretty sight.

I left Shiregreen school in 1945.

I didn't know some of the school site received bomb damage - my parents never told me that. I remember my aunt once telling me a barrage baloon slipped its moorings in Concord park and 'chased' her right down Shiregreen Lane when she was going home. Frightened her to death! Come to think of it I vaguely remember some 'wartime' glass panes on the rear elevation of the Secondary / Infant School about 10 - 15 years after the war. Glad the clay quarry between the school and brickworks wasn't a bomb crater - suppose if it was we would have lost!! They also told me about getting from the shelter in the morning after 1 of the raids and finding the front door like Kermit - half way up the stairs. Did Shiregreen suffer much damage on the 2 big raids?

[awoollen]

I didn't know some of the school site received bomb damage - my parents never told me that. I remember my aunt once telling me a barrage baloon slipped its moorings in Concord park and 'chased' her right down Shiregreen Lane when she was going home. Frightened her to death! Come to think of it I vaguely remember some 'wartime' glass panes on the rear elevation of the Secondary / Infant School about 10 - 15 years after the war. Glad the clay quarry between the school and brickworks wasn't a bomb crater - suppose if it was we would have lost!! They also told me about getting from the shelter in the morning after 1 of the raids and finding the front door like Kermit - half way up the stairs. Did Shiregreen suffer much damage on the 2 big raids?

i remember a land mine dropped about 100 yards doown heather road at the school end one droppen in the allotments bottem side of honysuckel as was then one landed top of hucklow but did not go of land mines was drop by parachute the looked just like sea mines

does that help of corse there was plenty of incentry bombs

[Cynthia]

Thats why AWoolen remembers going to school in someones front room, because the school had suffered bomb damage from the land mine that dropped at the corner of Heather Rd.

Some time ago all this information has been on this same thread.

[beady]

i remember a land mine dropped about 100 yards doown heather road at the school end one droppen in the allotments bottem side of honysuckel as was then one landed top of hucklow but did not go of land mines was drop by parachute the looked just like sea mines

does that help of corse there was plenty of incentry bombs

Yep I remember Heather Road, Foxglove, Bluebell, Cowslip, Clematic, Daffodil etc etc but never thought the school was a casualty of bombing albeit broken windows by the sounds of it. Also remember the allotments - my grandad and cousin had a couple down there and grew absolutely all sorts of veg and chrysanths. The plots were behind the 2 police houses on Honeysuckle Road (on the left heading towards Windmill Lane). Some serious gardening went on down there! I also remember the 'greens' on to which all the house backs faced - no need for back gardens and led to a brill community spirit and 'security' when you could overlook all the backs of the neighbours. Remember as well all the allotments between Concord Park and the cemetery - loads of 'em. The roaming we did as kids in those days on Wincobank Hill, Concord Park and Wooley Woods, Firth Park, Brightside and Wincobank, Grange Lane and Scholes - we must have walked / biked miles and miles and never felt in any danger - what a sad situation now for the youngsters - must have been -after the War, perhaps up to the early 60's as 'free' a childhood as you could have wished for?:)

[Timbuck]

Halfway up Primrose avenue on the left was a little green grass area ..a family who lived there used to breed chickens,rabbits and geese...one Xmas I remember going to this house with my mother in 1948 to pick up a goose it was the first goose I had ever tasted..my Gran saved all the grease from it to rub on our chests to stop us getting colds....also there was a house at bottom of Primrose Ave where you could buy home made toffy apples.

[beady]

Halfway up Primrose avenue on the left was a little green grass area ..a family who lived there used to breed chickens,rabbits and geese...one Xmas I remember going to this house with my mother in 1948 to pick up a goose it was the first goose I had ever tasted..my Gran saved all the grease from it to rub on our chests to stop us getting colds....also there was a house at bottom of Primrose Ave where you could buy home made toffy apples.

I think I can remember that little green - did it back on to the English Steel's sports ground? In the 50's I went to school with a kid call Stephen? May who lived in the house adjoining this patch of green - house towards Bellhouse Road. Think he went on to Myers Grove after taking the 11+? Wonder what happened to him - bright at Maths from memory - his mum used to buy him Beacon Books to do at home - always way ahead of the rest of us. Wonder what happened to him - probably worked for NASA of something? Trying to recall the names of the 2 shops on the road between Primrose Avenue and Wincobank Avenue - was it Heather Rd? Taylors rings a bell but not sure about the other - Cobblers comes to mind but can't see that - did it have a Scottish name? - Mc ..........?