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High Hazels Park Cafe


Pc Infield

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I found this old photo album while doing some sorting out in the old cafe building at High Hazels.

The photos are probably taken in the 1950'swhen the cafe was at its most popular,run by Edgar & Dot Gough.

The photographer has also provided a plan of where he took the shots.

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Guest Blue&White

The cafe was run by my partner Sally's grandparents, who were often helped by Graham and Jean Gough (her parents). She will be so excited to see these pictures. Unfortunately Graham has passed away but I will also show Jean as I know she holds may fond memories of working in the High Hazels Cafe along side Graham. Thank you for posting them, Marcus.

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I used to love this cafe. My childhood memories of it, in the '50's, are that it always used to smell of Vimto. They made their own Vimto ice lollies too.

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My wife lived on the Darnall just outside High Hazels Park and also remembers this cafe well from the 1960's, by which time it hadn't changed very much.

She remembers the Goughs, and also being served by what she described as "a little old lady who stood for no nonsense".

She says the Goughs also had a shop outside High Hazels Park which sold similar sorts of stuff.

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I used to love this cafe. My childhood memories of it, in the '50's, are that it always used to smell of Vimto. They made their own Vimto ice lollies too.

Wife informs me they had a whole range of soft drinks of the era like Vimto, Orangeade, Cream Soda and Sasparilla. Several of these drinks were made into ice lollies during a hot summers day when they would be very popular, - and they were very cheap.

Also, they sold their drinks in "childrens portions" for a penny (1d). This was the same drinks but served in a potted meat jar instead of a glass to give the smaller quantity. The potted meat jars came from the Southerlands factory which was also at Darnall.

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One of the pictures clearly indicates that the cafe (and their shop apparently) was also a tobacconists, with adverts for Nelsons and Park Drive.

My wife remembers going there to get cigarettes for her dad in the days when the law was more lenient and the shops could and would sell cigarettes to anyone who just looked old enough without asking for any proof.

She thinks they also sold loose cigarettes, so you could buy an odd number, or even just one.

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For me personally the most evocative picture here is the one of all those large sweet jars.

My own grandmother used to run a sweet shop / ice cream parlor on Division Street as she was married in to the Cuneo ice cream family and it just reminds me of her shop.

The days when sweets were sold loose and you could buy them by the quarter (4oz) weighed from those large jars.

Gran always used to give me a quarter of mint rock!

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Wife informs me they had a whole range of soft drinks of the era like Vimto, Orangeade, Cream Soda and Sasparilla. Several of these drinks were made into ice lollies during a hot summers day when they would be very popular, - and they were very cheap.

Also, they sold their drinks in "childrens portions" for a penny (1d). This was the same drinks but served in a potted meat jar instead of a glass to give the smaller quantity. The potted meat jars came from the Southerlands factory which was also at Darnall.

Good grief !....i'd totally forgotten about those potted meat jars, but now you've mentioned them, I DO remember them. They must have cost just a few coppers, so we kids could afford to buy more.

I wish we could go back there, now and again.

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Good grief !....i'd totally forgotten about those potted meat jars, but now you've mentioned them, I DO remember them. They must have cost just a few coppers, so we kids could afford to buy more.

I wish we could go back there, now and again.

My wifes dad (my father in law) used to work in the potted meat factory and they used exactly the same jars as the cafe / shop and they could supply limited numbers of unused jars within the trade (presumably at trade "discount for bulk" prices) and this is how Groves aquired their stock of these small drinks containers. It's not as though they collected and wasshed out used jars to sort of recycle / reuse them for a different purpose.

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Guest Jeangough

I am the daughter-in-law of Edgar and Dot and helped serve in both the cafe and shop in the 60s. The drinks were priced at 1p, 2p, 3p, 6p and 7p then you had your bottles of cola. The penny glass was the sutherland jars, which we used for sandwiches then washed out thoroughly and used for drinks. The large sweet jars contained sweets that could be bought by children for a penny eg. 7 smarties for one penny. The children used to love to come in and spend sixpence and go out with a variety of goodies and big smiles on their faces. The Goughs did have two shops, the cafe inside the park which only closed on Christmas Day, and the shop just outside the park which opened every day.

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I am the daughter-in-law of Edgar and Dot and helped serve in both the cafe and shop in the 60s. The drinks were priced at 1p, 2p, 3p, 6p and 7p then you had your bottles of cola. The penny glass was the sutherland jars, which we used for sandwiches then washed out thoroughly and used for drinks. The large sweet jars contained sweets that could be bought by children for a penny eg. 7 smarties for one penny. The children used to love to come in and spend sixpence and go out with a variety of goodies and big smiles on their faces. The Goughs did have two shops, the cafe inside the park which only closed on Christmas Day, and the shop just outside the park which opened every day.

How enterprising of them.

Bulk buy potted meat in small jars from a local factory.

Use the meat to make and sell sandwiches

Then wash the pots out and use them to sell small childrens drinks in.

Brilliant idea to maximise the use of this product.

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Guest plumbum

Thank you so much for this, it really made my day to find these images. My sister and I spent many hours in the park as children and often found our way into the Gough's establishments. I favoured the 3d glass of Tizer myself...

Dad delivered wholesale ice cream deliveries for Wall's (he was based at Bramall Lane) and I am reasonably sure that Gough's was on his route - he certainly delivered to the Lyric cinema...

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well these photos have brought so many memories back.. i went to Whitby road school leaving 59/60. and myself and friends spent most of our time in High Hazels park and was always in Goughs.... back in the days of Easter parades,Whit Walks, with floats and brass bands aagh memories....

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Guest wobblybob

My sister and i spent hours in High Hazels Park in the early 60's and we were only talking about the 1d glasses of pop the other day. We both remembered Mr Gough and seeing the photos have brought back great memories. We were on about the boating lake and bandstand now long since vanished and the Darnall Medical Aid parades that used to finish in the park. I walked through the park a couple of months ago for the first time in years and it left me feeling a bit sad that it has not been maintained and the golf course seems to have encroached quite a way in.

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I think you'll find the maintenance will improve this year.

Friends of High Hazels was formed largely due to the encroachment of the golf course,and for the past two years volunteers from Carillion plc have been helping us regenerate the neglected areas.

They are coming again this year at approximately monthly intervals,but we always need more volunteers and active Friends group members,if anyone is interested.

Here's a photo of the boating lake.

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Hi Fellows SHs

Just checking through the local papers from 1900 with refferance to High Hazels Park and i came across these snippets

talking about lack of facilities in said park..

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

The Sheffield & Rotherham Independent (Sheffield, England), Saturday, May 19, 1900;

Spectator in Hallamshire

The Sheffield & Rotherham Independent (Sheffield, England), Saturday, May 19, 1900;

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

The Sheffield & Rotherham Independent (Sheffield, England), Friday, May 25, 1900;

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

The Sheffield & Rotherham Independent (Sheffield, England), Saturday, June 02, 1900;

The Sheffield & Rotherham Independent (Sheffield, England), Friday, July 13, 1900;

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Guest wobblybob

High Hazels was a lovelly park and Im pretty sure it can be again with the TLC that its friends want to give it. Good luck to you, if Im fit enough I might volunteer this summer. Just how did the golf course manage to get so far into the park, its not that the course was needing any more room was it really.

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High Hazels was a lovelly park and Im pretty sure it can be again with the TLC that its friends want to give it. Good luck to you, if Im fit enough I might volunteer this summer. Just how did the golf course manage to get so far into the park, its not that the course was needing any more room was it really.

The golf course lost three holes to the building of the airport.They were given the top part of the park to construct three new ones.

The park lost the boating lake, pitch & putt course, two cricket pitches, two tennis courts and the Circular Walk, all without consultation.

Thus, the Friends group was formed in 1998, to stop any more encroachment.

We had to raise £30k just to reinstate the Circular Walk.

Everyone were losers - the park lost facilities, the airport failed,and the golf manager told me the new holes are rubbish!

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What's the situation these days? Do you have a website? I was reading that the House was used as an art gallery once? Is that correct?

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The council put a development team in the park 2000-2011,and the Friends group worked very successfully with them to raise funding for several new facilities.Unfortunately they were victims of the first round of cuts.The Friends group are doing what we can to keep the park in good condition,helped by the ranger service and corporate volunteers,but we are anxiously waiting for the next round of cuts before we get some idea of what the future holds.

The house was a museum and art gallery from 1903-1953,before the golf club took over.

We don't have a website,if you Google High Hazels Park there is plenty of info. about us.

Here is a pdf of our historical leaflet.

HHP History.pdf

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Thank You. We are all holding our breath re cuts I think. I think Sheffield Parks are an important resource and everyone should do what they can to keep the parks in best condition possible.

Re the Art Gallery, I was researching Charles Edward Dixon who lived next to Meersbrook Park and was an ornithologist. His father was an engraver and landscape artist and it was said his painting of Manor Lodge was in High Hazels. I just wondered if anybody had interior photos from that period?

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High Hazels Cafe is where I tasted my very first drink of hot dilute Vimto, strange that I can remember that from fifty seven years ago or roundabout. I also remember the petrified tree root that was just in front of what was the Museum also the Pierrot shows in the open air stage that were put on through out the Summer.

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