Xomegaman Posted June 9, 2014 Share Posted June 9, 2014 Way back in 1966 I left school and started at Leisure Rentals in Walkley as a radio and tv apprentice. They were on Duncombe Street in an old church with another operation on Cundy Street. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fatrajah Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 I didn't work for Leisure Rentals but I spent several weeks at Duncombe Street helping to install the telephone system there. This was in the summer of 1966. The thing I remember most were the piles of old televisions with makes like Peto-Scott & Ecko much in evidence. I also remember the workshop up in the balcony. Come to think of it, someone there had a large collection of "Matchbox" model cars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xomegaman Posted June 12, 2014 Author Share Posted June 12, 2014 That's the place all right. The workshop was under the balcony where the pews would have been so it was stepped to go from the top benches to the bottom. Pye, Pam, Invicta, Bush, Cossor, Murphy and more than the memory will recall at the moment were amongst the brands of TV and radiograms in the main hall waiting mending and refurb. Workshop manager was Frank Small ex-army and always with a senior service fag in his gob - not politically correct today. Owners were Pete Rhodes and Tony Dobson of Dobson Rentals fame. Everything was on rental even washing machines and the place was rumoured to be haunted at night by a ghost who made toast upstairs. I do remember going up stairs one late evening and smelling toast and scarping back down quickly. There was a garage down the side with a polish mechanic called Heinrich who used to chase you around if you bent one of the vans. Oh to be young again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HughW Posted June 13, 2014 Share Posted June 13, 2014 Was that this church - Wesleyan Methodist, on the corner of Howard Road and Duncombe St? https://www.hpacde.org.uk/picturesheffield/jpgh_sheffield/s20987.jpg This is from Picture Sheffield which dates it as January 1967. Hugh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fatrajah Posted June 13, 2014 Share Posted June 13, 2014 That's the place all right. The workshop was under the balcony where the pews would have been so it was stepped to go from the top benches to the bottom. Pye, Pam, Invicta, Bush, Cossor, Murphy and more than the memory will recall at the moment were amongst the brands of TV and radiograms in the main hall waiting mending and refurb. Workshop manager was Frank Small ex-army and always with a senior service fag in his gob - not politically correct today. Owners were Pete Rhodes and Tony Dobson of Dobson Rentals fame. Everything was on rental even washing machines and the place was rumoured to be haunted at night by a ghost who made toast upstairs. I do remember going up stairs one late evening and smelling toast and scarping back down quickly. There was a garage down the side with a polish mechanic called Heinrich who used to chase you around if you bent one of the vans. Oh to be young again I don't remember any of the names from my time there but there were a couple of blokes who put in an appearance now & then. One was a shortish, thinnish,bespectacled bloke with an attempted Beatles-style haircut though he must have been well into his 30s. The other was fair-haired & had an office on the ground floor facing onto Duncombe Street. I'm not surprised the building had a reputation for being haunted; I thought it was a gloomy, rather depressing place. I only remember one of the TV engineers. He was dark haired, bespectacled & on the short side. He had a sort cheeky personality & went around singing "Yellow Submarine" which was at the top of charts at the time. I don't know why my time at Duncombe Street has stuck in my memory for nearly 50 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oh Carol Posted June 14, 2014 Share Posted June 14, 2014 I worked on the repair bench next to Frank Small for a while before going on field service in a green minivan with radio control.Barnsley area used to be my patch.A guy called Phil used to operate the Radio control from Duncombe street giving work to engineers in the field.Works manager was Bill Rhodes brother to co owner Peter Rhodes.Some on here may remember a dodgy guy from London called Ivor Hook who used to buy and sell refurb TVs from Leisure Rentals.Harold was the polisher.i have many memories of those days also at other firms where I was an engineer........Monty Thomas's at Hillsborough,......British Relay Wireless, Stocksbridge CO-OP Radio&TV. Snelsons.....Proffitts a Bolton firm had a branch in the Wicker.....RTV on Sharrow lane. PS, the fair haired guy could have been Eric Bollington? P.S. Tony Dobson married "Louise" from TV dance group "Pans People" Tony Dobson and Peter Rhodes have both passed away! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
escort1 Posted June 14, 2014 Share Posted June 14, 2014 I worked on the repair bench next to Frank Small for a while before going on field service in a green minivan with radio control.Barnsley area used to be my patch.A guy called Phil used to operate the Radio control from Duncombe street giving work to engineers in the field.Works manager was Bill Rhodes brother to co owner Peter Rhodes.Some on here may remember a dodgy guy from London called Ivor Hook who used to buy and sell refurb TVs from Leisure Rentals.Harold was the polisher.i have many memories of those days also at other firms where I was an engineer........Monty Thomas's at Hillsborough,......British Relay Wireless, Stocksbridge CO-OP Radio&TV. Snelsons.....Proffitts a Bolton firm had a branch in the Wicker.....RTV on Sharrow lane. PS, the fair haired guy could have been Eric Bollington? Was this the same Eric Bollington who was an area manager for Hoover? ---------- Post added 14-06-2014 at 10:22 ---------- Was this the same Eric Bollington who was an area manager for Hoover? Just remembered, it was Eric Billington not Bollington who was with Hoover. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oh Carol Posted June 14, 2014 Share Posted June 14, 2014 Was this the same Eric Bollington who was an area manager for Hoover? ---------- Post added 14-06-2014 at 10:22 ---------- Just remembered, it was Eric Billington not Bollington who was with Hoover. No,... as you have informed me that was Eric Billington. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xomegaman Posted June 17, 2014 Author Share Posted June 17, 2014 I worked on the repair bench next to Frank Small for a while before going on field service in a green minivan with radio control.Barnsley area used to be my patch.A guy called Phil used to operate the Radio control from Duncombe street giving work to engineers in the field.Works manager was Bill Rhodes brother to co owner Peter Rhodes.Some on here may remember a dodgy guy from London called Ivor Hook who used to buy and sell refurb TVs from Leisure Rentals.Harold was the polisher.i have many memories of those days also at other firms where I was an engineer........Monty Thomas's at Hillsborough,......British Relay Wireless, Stocksbridge CO-OP Radio&TV. Snelsons.....Proffitts a Bolton firm had a branch in the Wicker.....RTV on Sharrow lane. PS, the fair haired guy could have been Eric Bollington? P.S. Tony Dobson married "Louise" from TV dance group "Pans People" Tony Dobson and Peter Rhodes have both passed away! I also worked on the bench but then after passing my driving test I was also sent out in the field in a green mini van with a two way radio - CJX236C reg number and call sign Mobile 6 seems imprinted on the memory. I remenber another field engineer called Terry who also worked Barnsley.I left Leisure for Bunker & Pratley and then on to Telebank at Rawmarsh and then British Relay where I worked Rotherham and Barnsley for a while before becoming MSE for Abbeydale/Norton. BRW fell to Visionhire then on to Servicescope and then Sony for me. Eric Bollington was the guy who set me on in 66 at the grand sum of £2/10/6 per week. I remember going to Tony Dobsons house to repair colour TV and meeting "Louise" - happy days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oh Carol Posted June 17, 2014 Share Posted June 17, 2014 I also worked on the bench but then after passing my driving test I was also sent out in the field in a green mini van with a two way radio - CJX236C reg number and call sign Mobile 6 seems imprinted on the memory. I remenber another field engineer called Terry who also worked Barnsley.I left Leisure for Bunker & Pratley and then on to Telebank at Rawmarsh and then British Relay where I worked Rotherham and Barnsley for a while before becoming MSE for Abbeydale/Norton. BRW fell to Visionhire then on to Servicescope and then Sony for me. Eric Bollington was the guy who set me on in 66 at the grand sum of £2/10/6 per week. I remember going to Tony Dobsons house to repair colour TV and meeting "Louise" - happy days. There was a blond guy in the stores there called Steve while I was there who now runs an aerial business at Walkley. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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