Ordinary Sheffielders.

[hackey lad]

5 hours ago, cuttsie said:

James Herbert Cutts .

 

Jim was my adopted father , he along with Mabel fostered me when I was a baby after the posh lot I was born into decided I was an embarrassment to their cosy carry on .

 

Jim was miner at Treeton pit at the time but had to pack it in due to chest problems brought on by coal dust .

He has served in the First World War in Belgium and France , He was part of a troop who went to war on Horse back.

In his  later life I used to rummage in his private rammel drawer where he kept a a load of medals won on the battle fields in those Countries , Among those medals were letters from his old commanding officer who he was batman to , The letters spoke of the horrors they had been through it also appears the officer sent Jim money when he was out of work in the depression that followed the First World War . The officers name was Ford .

 

Any way from a early age I realised that Jim was always in bad health , He had a constant cough due to his chest problems not helped by his love of smoking Woodbines .

 

After he left the pit Jim got a job with a local builder called Sanderson as a general labourer . He was never really up to the hard graft on building sites but was to proud to not work and provide for his family my self included as he legally adopted me when I was eleven .

 

I remember his kindness to me .a  kindness that must have been difficult due to him and Mabel never having any spare money . (A contrast to my original birth parents who lived in a  different comfortable World to say the least).

Every Friday pay day I would be on our front steps on Gleadless Crescent waiting for Jim covered in gobbo (cement dust) to walk up the hill from the Common .

This was a ritual as I knew that some where on him in a pocket or maybe his snap bag he would have a treat for me ,

This treat always included The Eagle comic , The Eagle was different to most comics as it was glossy colour and as big as a Star paper . Along with the comic Jim also hid a bag of spice . two ounce of liquorice all sorts usually , He always made me look for these treats and took art fun in wrestling me off telling me he had forgotten to get them and so on .

He never did , those Eagle comics taught me to read and lead me on to a life time of enjoying a good book even to this day.

 

Jim had an allotment on the Myrtle Springs . It was next to a large house that was built like a castle and in fact was called Castle House 

On the allotment Jim kept a pig in partnership with a bloke called Percy Hill who lived on Arbourthorne Road just up from Myrtle Springs .   

Percy had a horse and cart . the horse was called Darky .

Every weekend Jim ,myself and Percy would go around the district collecting scraps off discarded food , potato peelings and any thing else that people saved for us . we gave eggs to those people in exchange when we had them . 

These scraps were hem minced up by scrunching them in a pit dug on the garden , we then lit a fire under cold boiler and boiled the stuff into pig mash , This was how we kept the animal till it was fat enough to slaughter .

The slaughter day was always a sad day for me  as I always got attached to the pigs over the year they usually lived on our allotment .

The bloke who did the deed was a butcher by traded lived on Gleadless Avenue .Jim did him a bit off gardening from time to time .

The pig was split between us and Percy who distributed it among family members and I still remember my old Ma salting our portions and putting the on what was called the stone bench situated in a pantry that was situated on a cold outside wall .

 

more to come

The Friday payday bit brought back special memories for me . Every Friday teatime me and my brothers waiting for dad at bus stop knowing he would have bought us some spice ( spangles , smarties etc ) from Thrupenny bit in Pond St . Good days and great memories . Thanks 

[Jim117]

Your dad sounds a top bloke Cuttsie. For what it’s worth I’m not blood related to my granddaughters but I’m still grandad. I’m just the bloke doing the job and hopefully not buggering it up 😂 . Btw, I trust the pram wheels on that barrow were Silver Cross, they were always the best for our trolleys.

[cuttsie]

1 hour ago, hackey lad said:

The Friday payday bit brought back special memories for me . Every Friday teatime me and my brothers waiting for dad at bus stop knowing he would have bought us some spice ( spangles , smarties etc ) from Thrupenny bit in Pond St . Good days and great memories . Thanks 

Small things that meant so much to kids at that time .

35 minutes ago, Jim117 said:

Your dad sounds a top bloke Cuttsie. For what it’s worth I’m not blood related to my granddaughters but I’m still grandad. I’m just the bloke doing the job and hopefully not buggering it up 😂 . Btw, I trust the pram wheels on that barrow were Silver Cross, they were always the best for our trolleys.

Yes they were big pram wheels with little chrome discs on middle , white tyres that lasted for ever .

[trastrick]

19 hours ago, cuttsie said:

James Herbert Cutts .

 

Jim was my adopted father , he along with Mabel fostered me when I was a baby after the posh lot I was born into decided I was an embarrassment to their cosy carry on .

 

Jim was miner at Treeton pit at the time but had to pack it in due to chest problems brought on by coal dust .

He has served in the First World War in Belgium and France , He was part of a troop who went to war on Horse back.

In his  later life I used to rummage in his private rammel drawer where he kept a a load of medals won on the battle fields in those Countries , Among those medals were letters from his old commanding officer who he was batman to , The letters spoke of the horrors they had been through it also appears the officer sent Jim money when he was out of work in the depression that followed the First World War . The officers name was Ford .

 

Any way from a early age I realised that Jim was always in bad health , He had a constant cough due to his chest problems not helped by his love of smoking Woodbines .

 

After he left the pit Jim got a job with a local builder called Sanderson as a general labourer . He was never really up to the hard graft on building sites but was to proud to not work and provide for his family my self included as he legally adopted me when I was eleven .

 

I remember his kindness to me .a  kindness that must have been difficult due to him and Mabel never having any spare money . (A contrast to my original birth parents who lived in a  different comfortable World to say the least).

Every Friday pay day I would be on our front steps on Gleadless Crescent waiting for Jim covered in gobbo (cement dust) to walk up the hill from the Common .

This was a ritual as I knew that some where on him in a pocket or maybe his snap bag he would have a treat for me ,

This treat always included The Eagle comic , The Eagle was different to most comics as it was glossy colour and as big as a Star paper . Along with the comic Jim also hid a bag of spice . two ounce of liquorice all sorts usually , He always made me look for these treats and took art fun in wrestling me off telling me he had forgotten to get them and so on .

He never did , those Eagle comics taught me to read and lead me on to a life time of enjoying a good book even to this day.

 

Jim had an allotment on the Myrtle Springs . It was next to a large house that was built like a castle and in fact was called Castle House 

On the allotment Jim kept a pig in partnership with a bloke called Percy Hill who lived on Arbourthorne Road just up from Myrtle Springs .   

Percy had a horse and cart . the horse was called Darky .

Every weekend Jim ,myself and Percy would go around the district collecting scraps off discarded food , potato peelings and any thing else that people saved for us . we gave eggs to those people in exchange when we had them . 

These scraps were then minced up by scrunching them in a pit dug on the garden , we then lit a fire under a old boiler and boiled the stuff into pig mash , This was how we kept the animal till it was fat enough to slaughter .

The slaughter day was always a sad day for me  as I always got attached to the pigs over the year they usually lived on our allotment .

The bloke who did the deed was a butcher by traded lived on Gleadless Avenue .Jim did him a bit off gardening  for him from time to time .

The pig was split between us and Percy who distributed it among family members and I still remember my old Ma salting our portions and putting the on what was called the stone bench situated in a pantry that was situated on a cold outside wall .

Lots to come

 

Great memories Cuttsie!

 

And a small world.

 

We had no Dad, we lived with gran, and brother Roy used to wait at the top of our steps on Hartopp Rd, looking at everyone who got off the bus at the top of the road. Mom had a canteen job, and Fridays she would have a bag filled with crushed custard tarts and stuff.

 

Then one day 2 corporation joiners came to work on the windows and stuff. Gordon and Norman.

 

 Grama used to feed them home baking and endless cups of tea. Then mom would come home and their eyes would light up. That council job went on for months, Lol

 

She finished up marrying Gordon, who became the step father of us 4 kids.  Our lives changed after that. He rarely took a drink and worked hard, taught me how to play chess.

 

Freed me up pursue my dreams in Canada.  They moved to Manor Park and had a child, Wendy.

 

He died a few years ago.

 

You remember Gordon Humphries, he was your neighbor up in  "posh" Gleadless.

[cuttsie]

18 minutes ago, trastrick said:

Great memories Cuttsie!

 

And a small world.

 

We had no Dad, we lived with gran, and brother Roy used to wait at the top of our steps on Hartopp Rd, looking at everyone who got off the bus at the top of the road. Mom had a canteen job, and Fridays she would have a bag filled with crushed custard tarts and stuff.

 

Then one day 2 corporation joiners came to work on the windows and stuff. Gordon and Norman.

 

 Grama used to feed them home baking and endless cups of tea. Then mom would come home and their eyes would light up. That council job went on for months, Lol

 

She finished up marrying Gordon, who became the step father of us 4 kids.  Our lives changed after that. He rarely took a drink and worked hard, taught me how to play chess.

 

Freed me up pursue my dreams in Canada.  They moved to Manor Park and had a child, Wendy.

 

He died a few years ago.

 

You remember Gordon Humphries, he was your neighbor up in  "posh" Gleadless.

Blinkin heck !!!!!!!!! The Humphries one step below our house . 

We were good neighbours on the Crescent , Why the council destroyed that community is beyond belief .

Its posh now as they sold the land to private speculators .

I remember  my mam sending me around to the Humpfries to borrow a cup of sugar . 

Some times it was the other way around , A smashing place was the Crescent .

Hartop Road was not far away from us , I used to sell The Green Un on there on a Saturday night ,I worked for Amies paper shop on The Manor Top .

 

Green un, Green un get your Green Un was the cry ,Used to sell up in ten mins.

Just now, cuttsie said:

Blinkin heck !!!!!!!!! The Humphries one step below our house . 

We were good neighbours on the Crescent , Why the council destroyed that community is beyond belief .

Its posh now as they sold the land to private speculators .

I remember  my mam sending me around to the Humpfries to borrow a cup of sugar . 

Some times it was the other way around , A smashing place was the Crescent .

Hartop Road was not far away from us , I used to sell The Green Un on there on a Saturday night ,I worked for Amies paper shop on The Manor Top .

 

Green un, Green un get your Green Un was the cry ,Used to sell up in ten mins.

By the way I knew a Roy Rastrick or was it Trastrick a long time ago /

[Kidorry]

In the 50s we never locked our doors ( nothing to pinch anyway) but in the winter my mother would leave some hash on the hob and the local plod used to come in and have a sit and a warm meal.  The same plod would give us a clip round the ears with his leather gloves if he caught us doing something wrong. He would then take us home and tell my mother what had happened and then my mother would give us another clout. We all loved her dearly. Happy days.

[Padders]

2 minutes ago, Kidorry said:

In the 50s we never locked our doors ( nothing to pinch anyway) but in the winter my mother would leave some hash on the hob and the local plod used to come in and have a sit and a warm meal.  The same plod would give us a clip round the ears with his leather gloves if he caught us doing something wrong. He would then take us home and tell my mother what had happened and then my mother would give us another clout. We all loved her dearly. Happy days.

Ha Ha, very true Kidorry,

Once went into town and got involved in a feight, I got a right pasting, 2 black eyes, bloodied nose, cut lip, when I got home I got another good hiding from mi mam for fighting..

I can still feel her back handers.....

[trastrick]

Just now, cuttsie said:

Blinkin heck !!!!!!!!! The Humphries one step below our house . 

We were good neighbours on the Crescent , Why the council destroyed that community is beyond belief .

Its posh now as they sold the land to private speculators .

I remember  my mam sending me around to the Humpfries to borrow a cup of sugar . 

Some times it was the other way around , A smashing place was the Crescent .

Hartop Road was not far away from us , I used to sell The Green Un on there on a Saturday night ,I worked for Amies paper shop on The Manor Top .he's 

 

Green un, Green un get your Green Un was the cry ,Used to sell up in ten mins.

By the way I knew a Roy Rastrick or was it Trastrick a long time ago /

I'm Tony, Roy is my brother,  he's the footballer in the family. He remembers you from the Locarno days.

 

He came to join me in Canada. He's still working at his business, I'm retired in the sun, after years of hard graft

 

Cheers!

[cuttsie]

5 hours ago, trastrick said:

I'm Tony, Roy is my brother,  he's the footballer in the family. He remembers you from the Locarno days.

 

He came to join me in Canada. He's still working at his business, I'm retired in the sun, after years of hard graft

 

Cheers!

Thats smashing , makes the forum worth while . Brings memories good and bad back to life .

I also remember Madge Humphries .

Edited November 29, 2021 by cuttsie

[Kidorry]

2 hours ago, Padders said:

Ha Ha, very true Kidorry,

Once went into town and got involved in a feight, I got a right pasting, 2 black eyes, bloodied nose, cut lip, when I got home I got another good hiding from mi mam for fighting..

I can still feel her back handers.....

I don`t know about your mother but my mothers back handers always managed to trap my ear with her wedding ring.