Dore to Door internet edition

Local history - Winter 2005

Jean recalls - Oral History Collection (In conversation with Mollie Woodcock - nee Hingley) - Letters - More from Canada

Jean Recalls

All this fuss by Onyx regarding household waste. Before long they’ll have us all on payroll. I well remember when the refuse cart went round the village at no particular fixed day or time. The men emptied the bins into open galvanized baths and carried it to the cart regardless of the distance they had to go. They wore a sort of leather saddle on their shoulders to give a bit of protection. In the days before plastic bags most rubbish was either wrapped in old newspaper or chucked in the bin. You can imagine the mess this created. Though I suppose as the major part of the contents of the bins was ash from the fires, this would soak up any liquid and alleviate most of the odour.

I recall that the man who drove the cart was rather stout and we used to wonder how he climbed aboard,- with great difficulty I would imagine. Anyway back in those days we didn’t belong to todays culture of buy it and throw it away. Potato peelings and vegetable waste was boiled up and turned into mash for the hens and pigs to feed on and table scraps were fed to the family pets. Perhaps that is why in those days dogs didn’t seem to live as long as they do now. Obesity in children was practically unknown and if any child was fat it was put down to them having a glandular problem.

Can you remember the rag and bone man? He used to visit two or three times a year on his flat cart. His horse used to tear round at a fair old lick. He used to yell out his presence. I think he was calling out for old rags and bones but the children named him Johnnie Oynka because that’s what it sounded like.

The reward for giving him stuff varied from pumice stone, white pot basins, wind mills and the occasional gold fish. I bet there are few now who remember the old pumice stone. Every week the women would pumice stone the door steps and windowsills. If pumice wasn’t available there was another soft stone which could be used but didn’t give as white a finish as the pumice. I believe pumice is a kind of lava and also it floats on water. Sir Alan told us this was because it was full of gas bubbles.

I see in the current issue mention of making Cross Lane one way. When I was a child and until the beginning of the second world war, the No 50 bus used to go up Brickhouse Lane and down the Hathersage Road. I am not saying that Cross Lane was one way then but the practice was stopped on 2 counts. No1 because the drivers found it difficult turning out of Brickhouse Lane on to the Hathersage Road, and there was far less traffic then than now. Though I do believe that the front of the Dore Moor is slightly different from then, when Ron Bells garage butted out somewhat. No2, over the year the extra fuel used going round would not have been inconsiderable and it was rationed. If saving fuel then was a priority it should be even more now because of the dwindling world stocks. Though if the Aztecs and Incas were correct with their calculations all those years ago and we are all to perish in 2012 I guess it doesn’t matter.

I can’t think of anything to grumble about unless it’s children tearing up and down the pavements on bikes which look far too big for them and using their impudence if reprimanded. The flower tubs have looked really well, pity some idiot had to squash the one near HSBC. Some of the shrubbery overhanging the pavements could do with a good prune. The bumps on Dore Road get worse.

Jean Dean

Oral History Collection

In conversation with Mollie Woodcock (nee Hingley)

Edith Mary Hingley, known as Mollie, was born in Sheffield on the 18^th September 1922. She was the only child of Isaih Benjamin Hingley and Grace Beardshall whose family came from Crane Moor near Penistone. Mollie was brought up in Norton Lees and went to Carfield Council School. Her father worked at Sheffield Town Hall and liked to walk with her in Meersbrook Park at the weekend. In his youth he had played the violin and was keen to encourage his daughter’s own musical talent. Mollie remembers "When I was nine, my mother and father took me down to Wilson Peck’s and we listened to the pianos. My father chose a chapel piano which I liked and which is still in my home."

In 1934, she passed the 11+ examination and her parents decided to send her to High Storrs Grammar School because it was new and progressive. Traditionally, 11+ pupils from Norton, Dore and Totley went to Dronfield Grammar School ( and for many years families continued to send siblings or sons and daughters that way), but with the expansion of Sheffield City boundaries in 1934 came a wider choice of secondary schools.

Mollie loved High Storrs, which at that time was divided into two schools, one for boys and the other for girls, each with its own Headteacher. She recalls "Ours was Alice Battensby, a very modern woman who listened to what we had to say." Pupils came from all over Sheffield by bus or tram, many leaving before 8am to arrive on time. Mollie says "All the staff were lovely. I especially liked Miss Ibbotson, the chemistry teacher." However, her passionate interest and talent was in Music and when she decided to do teacher training there was only one place to go - St. Catherine’s College, Tottenham. A strong link had been established between St. Catherine’s College and High Storrs Grammar through the music tutor Muriel Hewitt who had taught at the school and many Sheffield teachers were trained in Tottenham.

This was 1940 and in order to escape the London Blitz the young ladies of St. Catherine’s were evacuated to Babbacombe, near Torquay, Devon. Mollie remembers that they were housed in very smart hotels and often did their college work sitting on the beach. There was the added attraction of large numbers of young men from the R.A.F. who were stationed nearby! St. Catherine’s organised the course for them as best as they could. "We used to do our school practice in the villages and take our instruments with us. In those days they’d never seen students," laughs Mollie.

After college she returned to Sheffield and in 1942 started her first teaching job at St. Barnabas Infant School, Alderson Road where she stayed for five years. A post in charge of the Infant Department at Intake School followed and then on to Lindsay Road Infant at Parson Cross until 1955.

In the meantime, Mollie recalls that she had met "a very serious young man who eventually became my husband Geoff." There were however certain difficulties to overcome first. She explains. "After sending me to teacher training college, my mother and father did not like the idea of me entertaining any young man. They thought I would continue teaching and become a Headmistress. But, that wasn’t my idea!" Geoff, who had been in the R.A.F. was sent to U.S.A. then India and she could only receive letters from him through the help of a kind neighbour. In the end her parents gave their blessing and they were married on 26^th July 1952 at St.Paul’s Church, Norton and came to live in Dore.

Then Geoff takes up the story "We were determined that we would not get married until we’d got a house. So, how do you get a house in 1952? You see, in those days you could have a new house built but you had to find a site and pay a development charge which was about £400. So, that was out of the question. Then we heard about a builder at Dore who had started building houses before the war and was about to carry on with no development charge." This builder was Mr.Jones and the plots of land were at the top part of Heather Lea Avenue. Geoff vividly recalls. "When we first saw where we are now it was a cornfield with manhole covers sticking up out of the corn." He recorded the whole building process through photographs which show the skill of Mr. Jones and the pleasure of seeing their own self designed house going up over fifty years ago. Theirs was the first to be built on their side of the road and all for less than £2.000!

In 1965 the new Dore Primary School was opened and Mollie (Mrs Woodcock) was asked by the Headmaster Gordon Cook if she would join the staff and take the J1 class. She talks of those pupils with real affection. "That J1 was wonderful. The children were absolutely marvellous. It was a new school and everything that those children touched was brand new. Not often you get that!" The other teachers were Miss Palmer J2, Mrs Morant J3 and Mr. Philbedge J4. Mollie recalls with kindness the "dreaded" Miss Palmer who had taught for many years at the old school and transferred to the new one. "Dear Connie Palmer, we kept in touch and I got to understand her a bit." Mollie describes a lonely spinster who finally found happiness through dancing classes by marrying her partner, Mr.Henderson of Henderson’s Relish. She gave up teaching, joined her husband in the family business and after his death carried on successfully running it herself.

Mollie will be remembered fondly by the hundreds of children who were in her Base in Dore Infant School or who spent their dinner hours with her learning the recorder or practicing band pieces for assemblies and concerts. The highlight of the year was, of course, the Infant Nativity Play with its large cast of actors, choirs and piping recorders who gave such pleasure to generations of parents. Mollie’s long career as a dedicated and talented primary teacher will have touched the lives of many in Sheffield and particularly in Dore.

To conclude Mollie says that she has so many happy memories of colleagues and pupils from 18 years at Dore Primary School but she adds "It’s strange now…it’s happened this last five or six years ….it’s only the mums now I see in Dore. My last reception class have all now gone. The birds have flown! That’s the sadness in a way." There speaks the caring and interested teacher who can never really let go.

Maureen Cope Dore Oral History Group

Letters

Dear Sir,

I am trying to locate the birthplace of my great-great-grandfather Samuel Frith. He was born in Dronfield in either 1811 or 1816. However, I don't know what parish of Dronfield he was born in. It was possibly Dore and I have read about a few Frith people on your website. Is there anyone researching the Frith family of Dore?

Simon Rollitt

Ed. If you can help with this enquiry please contact me by e-mail - editor@dorevillage.co.uk

Dear Sir,

William Tyzack.

I have enjoyed looking at your most informative web page and would be grateful if you could recommend any contacts who could help me obtain information in regard to the above person who I believe was a local mill owner. (possibly Abbeydale)
My research relates to Fredrick Naylor who was born either in Dore or Totley in 1866 and became a page boy to William Tyzack in or around 1878.
We know from family history his uniform was maroon and gold, and that due to a poor diet when an infant, was very small, so much so it was said he was the smallest page boy in England.
I would be most grateful if you or members of your local history group could tell me where did William Tyzack live so that I can check census details. Also is it known if there are any paintings or photographs of Wm Tyzack or any which may show his house hold staff etc.
I noted that the history group keeps details of such things as parish records etc, is it possible to view these records either on line or in person.

Bryan Blay

Ed. We will be checking against our archives which are available to view by arrangement or on the first Saturday of each month from 10am to 12 noon. In the meantime if anyone else can help please contact me by e-mail - editor@dorevillage.co.uk

More from Canada

In the last issue I quoted from a letter I received from Mrs Kathleen Rutherglen (nee 'Bunty' Stanley). It struck me as coincidental in two respects. Her surname is so close to that of her niece Sue Ruthven; Kathleen's sister's married name was Nelson, and Kathleen now lives in a town called Nelson in British Columbia! She had gone over to Canada to marry someone she had met during the war.

About that time her parents moved back to Dore and lived at 81 Bushey Wood Road, previously owned by Jack Brearley, son of the inventor of stainless steel. Kathleen's brother Wilfred and his family also lived on Bushey Wood Road and mentions that a long-term friend was Jimmy Martin. Her mother and Mrs Glossop used to walk together pushing Kathleen and Bill (Glossop) in their respective prams. (I can't imagine my friend Bill in a pram). Don Marcroft who, with his father, built the houses on Marstone Crescent was a friend of Kathleen's brother Ray and lived on the top road of the Quadrant in Totley.

As I mentioned in the previous article, when Kathleen was young, the Spencer family lived at 38 The Quadrant. The property went right down to the Old Hay Brook and her father made a zigzag path down through the trees (Akley Wood). Kathleen remembers Thomson's the butchers, Mrs. Jackson at the post office and Miss Mottershaw at the sweet shop. There was usually a fair held each year on the field behind Totley Rise and then a much larger one at Abbeydale Hall Park where a one- legged man called 'Diving Peggy' would dive in flames from a small platform, which was quite high up, into a small portable pool.

Although Kathleen gets homesick for the 'gentle' kind of English countryside and misses the little footpaths through fields and alongside streams, she points out that the area where she now lives is lovely but rather mountainous and heavily forested.

Brian Edwards