Who Had A Television Set Before The Coronation In 1953?

[Padders]

57 minutes ago, Bodsy said:

We lived on Manor Park and went round to a neighbour's house for the Coronation - along with many other people.  My Dad came home from morning shift at Sammy Fox's at Templeborough and brought my sister and I a tin of toffees each.  

 

I used to go round to a friend's house to watch 'Children's Hour' on the BBC.  We got our TV just as ITV came on air (thanks to a previous poster, this appears to have been around 1956). 

 

Prior to all that, the highlight of our day was 'Listen with Mother' on the radio at quarter to two in the afternoon.  "Are you sitting comfortably?  Then I'll begin".  I started school just before the age of 5 and was dreadfully jealous of my younger sister, because she could stay home and "Listen with Mother". 

Was their a Sammy Fox"s at Templeborough ? can remember Steel Peach and Tozer, but not Fox"s.

[lazarus]

My Mother got one in 1953 to watch the Coronation, it was on the weekly from Wigfalls.

[Daven]

My lovely Mum often talked about her Dad who died in 1950.

He made his own TV set from scratch (he was a telephone engineer) so this must have been in the late 40's.

He knew he had succeeded when he got a green spot in the middle of the screen !

I doubt he had all the neighbours round to look at but it was a massive achievement for the time.

[old tup]

I remember watching the coronation on our telly ,I think it was a 12inch screen Bush,when my dad told us we were having a telly I made the mistake of informing a pal at school!.On the day it was being delivered on my way home from school I resembled the Pied Piper with a fair crowd of scruffy urchins myself included trooping into our house!.We all sat on chairs and the floor fascinated with the tv when a large dark shadow appeared in the doorway,my grumpy tired hungry bad tempered old dad!."What the bloody hell is going on?,out you go you scruffy little sods!".Another memory was when the live cricket was on ,there were no portable tvs in those days and our house was the nearest to the Power Station so my dad was a foreman there and every time I came from school for my dinner I couldn,t get to the table as the room was full of his bosses and croneys drinking tea and coffee smoking cigs and pipes!,the room resembled a Turkish brothel its a wonder I didn,t catch a resperity ailment!.This went on every summer when I was a nipper!.

[Padders]

2 minutes ago, old tup said:

I remember watching the coronation on our telly ,I think it was a 12inch screen Bush,when my dad told us we were having a telly I made the mistake of informing a pal at school!.On the day it was being delivered on my way home from school I resembled the Pied Piper with a fair crowd of scruffy urchins myself included trooping into our house!.We all sat on chairs and the floor fascinated with the tv when a large dark shadow appeared in the doorway,my grumpy tired hungry bad tempered old dad!."What the bloody hell is going on?,out you go you scruffy little sods!".Another memory was when the live cricket was on ,there were no portable tvs in those days and our house was the nearest to the Power Station so my dad was a foreman there and every time I came from school for my dinner I couldn,t get to the table as the room was full of his bosses and croneys drinking tea and coffee smoking cigs and pipes!,the room resembled a Turkish brothel its a wonder I didn,t catch a resperity ailment!.This went on every summer when I was a nipper!.

Like that post, old tup. 

[Bodsy]

22 hours ago, Padders said:

Was their a Sammy Fox"s at Templeborough ? can remember Steel Peach and Tozer, but not Fox"s.

I was sure that my Dad worked at Sammy Fox's at Templeborough, then moved to the Stocksbridge works in the very early '60s.  Unfortunately he died there in a works accident in July 1966. 

 

So, I consulted professor google to see what the story was.  Most articles spoke of Fox's amalgamating with Steel, Peach and Tozer plus Appleyards around 1918, so I think that the major works in Templeborough would have been SP&T,  with a small Fox's works.   I did  find one article that said "Additional manufacturing property was purchased on the Templeborough site at Rotherham, which became known as Samuel Fox & Company limited Rotherfield Works. It was used to produce the fine-drawn wire and strip used in the manufacturing of Watch and Clock springs." 

 

Also a 1963 copy of The Fox Magazine speaks of the Rotherfield Works having "2 departments engaged on light production work, employing 30-40 people - and a section of Cold Rolled Strip Department with a similar workforce".  The article, though, does admit that most people didn't know that Sammy's had this outpost. 

 

I actually enjoyed researching this .......better than the telly any day!  

[Padders]

47 minutes ago, Bodsy said:

I was sure that my Dad worked at Sammy Fox's at Templeborough, then moved to the Stocksbridge works in the very early '60s.  Unfortunately he died there in a works accident in July 1966. 

 

So, I consulted professor google to see what the story was.  Most articles spoke of Fox's amalgamating with Steel, Peach and Tozer plus Appleyards around 1918, so I think that the major works in Templeborough would have been SP&T,  with a small Fox's works.   I did  find one article that said "Additional manufacturing property was purchased on the Templeborough site at Rotherham, which became known as Samuel Fox & Company limited Rotherfield Works. It was used to produce the fine-drawn wire and strip used in the manufacturing of Watch and Clock springs." 

 

Also a 1963 copy of The Fox Magazine speaks of the Rotherfield Works having "2 departments engaged on light production work, employing 30-40 people - and a section of Cold Rolled Strip Department with a similar workforce".  The article, though, does admit that most people didn't know that Sammy's had this outpost. 

 

I actually enjoyed researching this .......better than the telly any day!  

Thanks for the info Bodsy.

[hauxwell]

On 30/08/2019 at 11:57, old tup said:

I remember watching the coronation on our telly ,I think it was a 12inch screen Bush,when my dad told us we were having a telly I made the mistake of informing a pal at school!.On the day it was being delivered on my way home from school I resembled the Pied Piper with a fair crowd of scruffy urchins myself included trooping into our house!.We all sat on chairs and the floor fascinated with the tv when a large dark shadow appeared in the doorway,my grumpy tired hungry bad tempered old dad!."What the bloody hell is going on?,out you go you scruffy little sods!".Another memory was when the live cricket was on ,there were no portable tvs in those days and our house was the nearest to the Power Station so my dad was a foreman there and every time I came from school for my dinner I couldn,t get to the table as the room was full of his bosses and croneys drinking tea and coffee smoking cigs and pipes!,the room resembled a Turkish brothel its a wonder I didn,t catch a resperity ailment!.This went on every summer when I was a nipper!.

The Sheffield history section on the forum is a favourite of mine.  I’ve read some lovely true stories, and this is another one I’ve enjoyed reading.

 

[Janner]

I lived on Masters Rd Parson Cross & remember a neighbour who had a TV in 48/49, the reception was aweful, we soon gave up trying to watch anything.

[Padders]

41 minutes ago, Janner said:

I lived on Masters Rd Parson Cross & remember a neighbour who had a TV in 48/49, the reception was aweful, we soon gave up trying to watch anything.

Did it have an Horizontal and Vertical hold