Memories
Black Carr Road
Melciss Drive
Melciss Drive
Melciss Drive
Springfield Road
Springfield Road
Springfield Road
Springfield Road
Springfield Road
Springfield Road
Sitwell Golf Course
I have just re-read Listerdale Remembered and wish to add a few comments that may be of interest.
We moved into No.2 Springfield Road on 8th January 1931, coincidentally my 8th birthday, my father being a policeman and No. 2 was virtually a police station and had one of the few telephones in the village at that time. We lived in Wickersley until my father was again transferred on 24th April 1939. I attended Rotherham Grammar School for the whole 8 years.
My brother and I attended St. Albans Church and we were Confirmed by the Bishop of Sheffield in 1937, the Vicar was Rev. C. May and the Curate was Selby Johnson who was also my Head Master at Junior School. Unfortunately due to a mix up my Holy Communion Book when finally received was signed by F. G, Hurst, Vicar, Rev May having passed away in the meantime. I played as goalkeeper with the Church Choir football team, but as I could not sing a note, to get round the anomaly, I was co-opted to pump the bellows for the Church organ thereby becoming a member of the Choir!!! It is not appropriate to mention all the mischief we got up to behind the organ, save to say the organist was most annoyed when the air pressure dropped and pedal as he might he could not hit the high notes until we nipped out our Woodbines and pumped like fury.
Listerdale and the Denes etc., have been amply covered by other contributors to the magazine mentioned above, so I will confine my comments to odd snippets not in any specific order.
Joe Lister was well known to us and his superstition of having his shoes off, this was illustrated when he collided with a Lancia car, owned by a Mr. Grenfell, opposite Noah Neal’s house, not much damage, but he got out with his shoes off.!! Clifford ran around in a small Austin 7 racing car and I remember Marjorie coming round every week collecting rents.
The Castle had an unusual feature, it was said that Joe paid a labourer half a crown to sit his bare backside in wet cement to form a mould from which casts were taken and installed on the 4 top corners of the Castle. Archie Bingham, - his forename was actually Archer, lived across the road from us and I spent many happy hours helping him work on his special motor cycles and he used to take me down the Denes on the back mudguard for the hill climbs. Mention is made of the large hole in the Denes round which we used to cycle, we called this the Wall of Death and were told the hole was actually a bomb crater from the First World War .
My sister attended Minnie Thompson’s dancing classes and at one of the Shows put on by Minnie my sister danced a solo routine accompanied on the piano by Thomas Dando the well known cinema organist in Rotherham.
I helped Harold Marston on Saturdays delivering greengroceries and collecting money.
I owe a debt of gratitude to Mr. Oldfield, the barber, he cured my Cowlicks, or Corflicks as he called them, as a result of which I have a good head of hair, now some-what grey I may add.
My mother attended Mrs. Parker the hairdresser, and I remember on one occasion I was called upon to escort my mother home, a little tipsy, having sampled Mrs. Parker’s home made potato wine.
I must mention the Muscrofts living at no.11 Springfield Road, Alf the father, green keeper and later golf pro at Sitwell Golf Club, his wife, and children Mary (Cooper), Edward (Eddie) and Joan. We all grew up together and became very good friends. When we arrived Eddie was “cock-of-the-walk” and he and I fought a number of battles before calling a honourable draw. After we moved we lost touch and it wasn’t until about 10 years ago when my wife and I visited Wickersley and looked up Mary, that I learnt Eddie was living in Newquay only a few miles from where we lived in Cornwall. We had quite a reunion. Eddie passed away a few years ago and not sure whether Mary is still with us.
In 1936 and again in 1937, my father rescued dogs from the deep quarry on the edge of the Denes, being lowered down in the dark on the end of a rope. For the first one he was awarded the Bronze Medal of the RSPCA and for the second the Silver Medal, both for bravery. It is interesting to note that up to that time the Medal Ribbon was the same for both Medals therefore a new Ribbon had to be designed and adopted for the Silver Medal.
In 1935 to commemorate the Jubilee of King George V and Queen Mary , a tree was planted near to the Cenotaph, unfortunately the tree withered, so later on the Parish Council decided, as it may be regarded as a bad omen, to replace the tree secretly. My father was called upon to patrol the area late one night so that the tree could be replaced. A courting couple sitting near the tree held up proceedings until my father had to move them on so that the replanting could be done. This resulted in an article appearing in the Rotherham Advertiser about a phantom policeman patrolling around the cenotaph at the dead of night.
In 1938 War was rumoured and the Air Raid Precaution (ARP) was formed. The Chief Constable of Police addressed a meeting at the Wickersley School , he agreed that we should set up a local organisation in the event of War being declared. I was appointed as a Messenger, more particularly to man the telephone at our police house. However in 1939, before the declaration of War, my father was transferred to Barnoldswick . Shortly after I enlisted in the Home Guard and served for 2 years.
This has developed into a biography of the King family, which was not my intention. However I hope the odd snippets will prove interesting.
Have you a story to tell?