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Pick Just One Building From When You Were Growing Up In Sheffield


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If you're only allowed to pick one building from your childhood in Sheffield what would it be ?

Where was it ?

What is it now ?

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For me it would be either of the Sugg Sports shops that were around in the 1970s or Redgates (of course!)

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Stamp shop, Figtree Lane (Philately).

No idea what it is now.

This is Figtree Ln looking downhill, where was the stamp shop

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Left hand side, about halfway down - as far up as you can drive - opposite the Womans Hospital plaque, small, bay-windowded shop front.

This is Figtree Ln looking downhill, where was the stamp shop

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Guest Barbara M

It would be Firth Park Library on Firth Park Road , couldn't get enough of reading books .....any books,

still the same now !!

Look at the differance between then c 1950's ? and now.....all shut down & forlorn !! The new site is in the old Co-Op building at the bottom of the gennel in Firth Park.

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I need to know more about the stamp shop on Figtree Lane

Someone tell me there's a pic ?

:rolleyes:

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The old Firth Park Library was the first place I worked after leaving school. At the time it seemed huge, but I went back a few years after moving on and it seemed about a third the size! I enjoyed my time there. We dreaded rainy weather though. Not from leaks anywhere, but because it had a combined reference and reading room, where the men from the hostel at Firvale used to while away their time.

The rainy weather problem was from their practice of hanging their wet coats on the radiators to dry. We tended to keep out, but at teatime the Star would be delivered, and someone had to take it through to the reading room. the only way to survive was to take a deep breath and hold it then dash in and back out without breathing. I'm surprised the paint didn't peel off the walls!

On the other side of the building was the children's library. It had a highly polished floor that was the cleaners' pride and joy. One morning when they arrived there was a pet rabbit at the back door, obviously escaped from somewhere nearby. They put it into the children's library for safety, as it would be closed until 3pm.

In the middle of the morning a workman arrived to do some work in the same room, so we let him in not thinking. After a while he came out with a puzzled expression and said " Er, there is a rabbit in there isn't there? Come and look."

It seems he was working and looked round to see a rabbit, sitting upright, sliding past. We watched and the rabbit hopped to the end of the room, took a run and sat back and slid the length of the room again.

One happy rabbit, one surprised workman.

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Opposite this building, on the other side.

PictureSheffield

Almost all pictures are taken top to bottom, or bottom to top - there's the problem.

I need to know more about the stamp shop on Figtree Lane

Someone tell me there's a pic ?

:rolleyes:

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Got to be one of these - maybe be mistaken about the bay window ... still there in mid 1970's, I would have been 12-13, still got many purchases from that shop.

I need to know more about the stamp shop on Figtree Lane

Someone tell me there's a pic ?

:rolleyes:

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The old Firth Park library for me too as I am a great reader (the new Firth Park library is no match for it) plus the Pavilion as we called it - the clock tower building next door. Loved your story Bayleaf. We lived on Hamilton Rd and my granddad would take me on a Sunday to the Pavilion for a sherbert dip or parma violets.

Lyn

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Opposite this building, on the other side.

PictureSheffield

Almost all pictures are taken top to bottom, or bottom to top - there's the problem.

The building in the photo, the original Sheffield Hospital for Women , was occupied by our solicitors, Clegg and Sons, in the 1970/80's.

We visited it several times over the years in connection with house conveyence. Our solicitor occupied an office on an upper floor.

There is a very ornate old stone spiral staircase with an open centre which is cantilevered out from the walls.

Although the staircase must have been standing for more than 150 years I never felt safe walking up stone slabs that were only anchored at the outer end.

HD

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1970 Kelly's ?

Possibly earlier, possibly later ...

I need to know more about the stamp shop on Figtree Lane

Someone tell me there's a pic ?

:rolleyes:

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1970 Kelly's ?

Possibly earlier, possibly later ...

Take a look here:

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=figtree+lane+sheffield&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=KzPeT-CyN8e20QWWsKSKCw&biw=1280&bih=825&sei=SjPeT_zULsir0QXFwND6Cg

Do any of these get "the stamp" of approval.

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Has to be Gleadless Library on White Lane for me.

I think it opened at about the time I learned to read, and I was taken there almost every Friday for several years, such was my voracious appetite for reading. I continued using it throughout my childhood years, and it must lay claim to a major part in my love of books and reading.

The building has been replaced but the library is still open.

Picture Sheffield Image

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Guest Barbara M

The old Firth Park Library was the first place I worked after leaving school. At the time it seemed huge, but I went back a few years after moving on and it seemed about a third the size! I enjoyed my time there. We dreaded rainy weather though. Not from leaks anywhere, but because it had a combined reference and reading room, where the men from the hostel at Firvale used to while away their time.

The rainy weather problem was from their practice of hanging their wet coats on the radiators to dry. We tended to keep out, but at teatime the Star would be delivered, and someone had to take it through to the reading room. the only way to survive was to take a deep breath and hold it then dash in and back out without breathing. I'm surprised the paint didn't peel off the walls!

On the other side of the building was the children's library. It had a highly polished floor that was the cleaners' pride and joy. One morning when they arrived there was a pet rabbit at the back door, obviously escaped from somewhere nearby. They put it into the children's library for safety, as it would be closed until 3pm.

In the middle of the morning a workman arrived to do some work in the same room, so we let him in not thinking. After a while he came out with a puzzled expression and said " Er, there is a rabbit in there isn't there? Come and look."

It seems he was working and looked round to see a rabbit, sitting upright, sliding past. We watched and the rabbit hopped to the end of the room, took a run and sat back and slid the length of the room again.

One happy rabbit, one surprised workman.

It was the smell of books that I loved , not the old men !! I first went with my mother when I was about 6 or 7 in 1949/ 50 , we walked through Firth Park & out the other end .....we lived on The Oval , it took a couple of years before I could go on my own . I remember turning left as we went through the door, so that must have been the childrens library, I also remember the referance section .

Its a long time ago now !!

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It was the smell of books that I loved , not the old men !! I first went with my mother when I was about 6 or 7 in 1949/ 50 , we walked through Firth Park & out the other end .....we lived on The Oval , it took a couple of years before I could go on my own . I remember turning left as we went through the door, so that must have been the childrens library, I also remember the referance section .

Its a long time ago now !!

Under the porch roof there was a light. We rarely used it, but one autumn evening it was foggy, so we switched on the light. A few minutes later someone came in and said "Your outside light's on fire!" Sure enough, smoke was puthering out. We called the fire brigade, who came and sorted it out. The cause wasn't electrical. The light hadn't been used since the previous winter, and in the meantime a bird had found a way in and built its nest inside the light fitting, and the heat from the bulb had started it smouldering.

One Saturday morning, just before noon, a man came in and said "There's a dead cat outside, what are you going to do about it?" So we rang the Cleansing dept. It was now almost noon, when all the other council departments closed .

The bloke at Cleansing was obviously keen to leave. We reported the dead cat, and his reply was "Is it on the road or the pavement?" "In the gutter " we said. "Then you want Highways not us" was the reply and the phone went down.

The library was built into the hillside at the back with just a walkway to the back entrance between the building and a retaining wall. With a bit of a jump it was possible to clamber onto the flat roof in the centre of the building, between the pitched roofs on 3 sides. A few years before the library closed, some workmen went up there to carry out repairs. On the roof was a small hut-like structure housing water tanks. When they opened it up it appeared someone had been squatting there, with mattress, sleeping bag, stove etc. Not a bad spot really, private, with a view of the woodland!

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The Old Forge Greenhill (now a private dwelling)

Stopping off after school to watch Blacksmith Joe Truelove thro the ever open window forging what looked like Machete type blades.

Then jumping over the old stile by the side of the forge(the stile to nowhere! well not in 1955) and makeing my way home down Annesley Road.

Southside

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