I was born in the Upperthorpe area of Sheffield in 1949 near the back of the Royal Infirmary Hospital in September. My father had been a painter and decorator but he had just started as a tram driver for Sheffield Corporation and my mother went to work at Leppington’s Cutlery Company in the office. At that time we lived on Cross Addy Street in a terrace house shared with my mother’s grandmother. The houses at the end of the road in Addy Street were back to back 3 story terrace house(which were also in our yard also although they were not back to back houses. Hence there was a great deal of people in a confined area.
Our kitchen which we tended to live in faces three garages. We thought that the owner of the corner shop was well off because he garaged his car in it. One of the later owners was a chap who was always on the last minute push to go anywhere. Usually when he reversed the car out of the garage he always had a puncture and had to continually pump the tyre up and it was not always the same one. This went on for ages he would never get the punctures repaired. The toilets were all outsides in one long block as the yard we were in had 10 houses along with the garages and two workshops. The owners of the corner shop put a lock on the toilet door along with others as it wasn’t the first time they had gone to the toilet and found a stranger sat there. We were not proud in those days you’re now asked to recycle paper but then it was done automatically. The “Star and Daily Mirror” were always ripped into quarters to use after you had been to the loo. You were rich if you could afford toilet paper such as Izal which was as bad as using the papers.
The second garage was owned by Harold smashing chapped he owned I think a couple of houses the corner shop and chippy in the yard. When I was younger he and his wife Rose ran the Fish and Chip shop and became firm friends with my mom and dad as they got older.
The 3rd Garage was rented by a chap who lived out of the yard. Although at that time cars were a pretty rare commodity he owned a three wheeler Bond. What made him noticeable was that he could not drive it in as the garage was long and narrow with the door on the side. Therefore because the three wheeler had no reverse he gear on to get it in and out of the garage by either pushing it in or pulling it out. This was by holding the emblem on the bonnet to guide it.
sticky labels on apples - remove before washing!