Totley Shops
In answer to your request for memories of the shops on Baslow Road in the late 60s I offer the following comments, one from a Totley Church leaflet dated 1937 that shows W.T.Hutchings at 185 Baslow Road, not 187 as in your article.
My memories, however, go back to the late 20s & early thirties when the new Labour Hall was built with the two shops at the entrance.The Co-op, lower down Baslow Road, had a steep flight of steps up to the door with a rail to help the less able. Dick Wragg, a boy from Dore, worked at the Co-op in the butchery dept after leaving school age 14. Mr. Hutchings was a young man when he opened his chemist shop in one of the newly built shops between the Co-op, and the new Labour Hall. He had trained as a Doctor and was a great source of information on medicines and drugs, saving many a visit to the doctor, and giving sound advice when a visit was deemed necessary.
Stan Wesley's father was the first Newsagent in the shop next door to the Chemist at no. 187 when my youngest brother Jeffs Saturday job at the age of twelve was delivering newspapers and other purchases for him around Totley on his newly acquired 'bike. Stan Wesley married Kathleen , Grand- daughter of Mr. And Mrs. Kenworthy who lived in one of the cottages at the entrance to Summer Lane, with whom she spent long holidays in the summer, sometimes attending Totley school, as deemed necessary to please the school inspector. Lawrence Tym a butcher at Carver, son of Mr. Tym of Totley Hall Farm, opened his new shop at the entrance to the Labour Hall in about 1930 and in November 1933 married my cousin May Ibbotson, a school teacher, at Totley Church when they took up residence at no. 19, one of the three newly built newly built semi-detached houses down the left side of Main Avenue. After leaving school at Easter 1934 Jeff. started work as a trainee butcher with Mr. Tym, which, with night-school tuition, would lead to his becoming an Inspector of meat.
Although there were two grocery shops in Totley, Mr Jackson on the comer of Grange Terrace, where housewives could take their bread for baking at a cost of 1d a loaf after his day's baking was done, and Mr Evans in Hillfoot Road neither of them sold meat, so, in 1922 when I was 7 years old, on arriving home from school one Friday about 4.15pm I was initiated into the art of shopping by my Mother who gave to me a penny, a note for the few items she needed for the weekend, and a message for Mr. Colin Thompson the butcher that she wanted a piece of beef about six shillings (Top-lift, Underlift, Corner-Cut Rib, and other of the best roasting joints, were 1s 6d a pound. Ladder-staves were much cheaper). With a carpet-bag, the note and my penny, I set off walking the mile to Totley Rise. The journey was easy, all downhill, past the site being prepared for the new memorial, the Cross Scythes Hotel, and the Grange, the big house where the Eamshaws lived, from which Grange Terrace was named, either by the Eamshaws or, more likely, by the previous owner Thomas Edward Ellison. Then the long walk under the canopy of the huge horse-chestnut trees that housed the schools of rooks, who left every morning with their young, returning in the evening at 6pm with the teachers flying round backwards and forwards to encourage the slow ones and to draw in the wanderers, and of course there were hundreds of conkers to keep the village lads happy for many a day. The last of the houses was the Lodge to Totley Grange the home of Mr. Weston and his daughter Muriel. This was considered to be the end of the village with fields on the left all the way to Green Oak. A few yards from the Lodge on the right was Main Avenue, New Totley which boasted a row of houses on its right side, and two at the top on the left, one of which was the home of Dr.Gregg, father of Olive a Totley School pupil. Mr. Walter Evans built the grocery shop at the top of Main Avenue and the two blocks of semi-detached houses on the main road about this time moving into the shop from Hillfoot Road when Mr.Frank Evans, his brother, moved in.
Heatherfield Estate was a few years away, but, passing Pearson's Nurseries on the right, I soon reached the four bungalows on the left recently built by Earnest Elliot, the last one on the comer of the Crescent that led to the Quadrant and the recently built first house on the Grove the home of the Suggs the Sheffield sports shop owners. The last house before reaching Totley Rise was Green Oak House, whose long front boundary wall, topped with wide, flat coping stones, was very tempting to walk on and stretched for a number of yards down the road to the high wall and fence bordering the field where the butcher Colin Thompson's cattle were held ready for his shop. The right side of Baslow Road from Mickley lane to houses shown in the Independent picture, was dominated by the high wooden fence of the Victoria Gardens, where my Mother remembered Blonden, the tight-rope walker, performing his act during her childhood. When the Victoria gardens closed the area was known as the Monkey Gardens, a reference to it's previous use, at this time it was used for growing Rhubarb by Mr. Gledhill, later to be the Chairman of Totley Parish Council, who lived in the Matchbox house on Glover Rd. at the comer with Mickley Lane moving later into one of the houses shown in the Independent photograph. He used the wooden shed with the corrugated roof for housing tools and other gardening equipment, as well as a sorting and packing-shed for rhubarb. I have no recollection of a Hotel there and always understood that Mr Gledhill lived next door to the shed. Perhaps the Census records of 1931 will reveal the answer!
Arriving at my destination my first call was Marrisons, the Grocers, on the comer of the Lane leading to the Chemical yard. Handing the list of items to be delivered during the week to Mr. King the Manager, and the note for those goods I had to take that day, I made my way to the Butcher next door, where Mr. Thompson greeted me with the same words he was to repeat every week for the next few years; " Now little girl what can I do for you today?", and my reply , also the one that I would repeat, "My Mom wants a piece of beef about six shilling please", and Mr. Thompson would know exactly what that meant for when my Mother unpacked the carpet bag she was always pleased with my purchases. Back to Mr. King to pick up the items he had ready which he deftly put in my bag, always ending my shopping trip by putting in my hand a sweety from a big jar on the shelf behind him, or a biscuit from a huge tin at the end of the counter, and I went happily on my way to catch the next 'bus for Totley and hand over my penny.
Sometimes I had to wait for the 'bus, having just missed one, and that gave me time to investigate the other shops down the 'Rise. Next door to the butcher was the Post-office where Mrs.Jackson was the Post-mistress, and next below was Mr.Wints grocery store, a family business since pre 1877. His son Harold, who later took over the business, and Hetty his daughter, although much older, were both Totley School pupils. The use of the strange shop next door with its peculiar entrance up a flight of steps eludes me but, in the thirties it was Molly Crumps's hairdressing Salon, and later Jack Stacy's shoe-repairing business. Next was Mr. Cartledge the butcher, then a small shop that often used to change and was later opened about 1935 as a tea-shop by Eric Briers who lived in one of the bungalows at Green-oak. After this came Mrs. Spring's sweet shop, (she was the sister to Mr Harry Mottershaw, the famous 19 th C pioneer of photography, who owned the Norfolk Row shop, and Photo-finishers at Nether Edge, where I later worked. A cake shop came next, then Hobsons the Chemist where, a few years later my Mom gave to me a sixpence to spend on Prolactum (the first lipsyl) to put on my lips, and a jar Mercalized Wax to use on my face because they were both harmless and I wanted to be pretty (some hope!).
The last shop in the row was Wolstenholmes the haberdashers where everything was available for home dressmaking, including rows of bails of fabrics of all colours and textures displayed on a high shelf for easy choice, with gloves, socks and stockings for every age and a large selection of young children's clothes and accessories, and the biggest selection of fancy buttons displayed on cards for easy choosing. There was also a chair in front of the counter on which to rest whilst being served, a custom that later became compulsory where there was at least one assistant, now with self-service stores never provided. The row of houses came next, to the last shop at the bottom of the row, the newspaper shop owned by Mr.Ethelbert Theaker and his wife. Until Mr.Wesley opened his shop this was the only place to obtain a newspaper, magazine or comic, but as he delivered every day there was no loss, and we could always enjoy our Comic Cuts on Monday and Chips on Wednesday and the daily paper for the adults.
Mom was always on the look out for me returning and by the time I reached the three cottages above the post office she was waiting to carry the bag of my precious purchases back home. Mr.King called every Tuesday to collect the money for the last week and to take the order for the next, and a few years later he opened his own greengrocery shop at Green Oak and supplied us with the blue paper out of the banana boxes for the Conservative minded children to wave around on our holiday from school on polling day in 1926. Those who favoured the Liberal or Labour candidates were supplied with red and yellow ribbon by Emily Green from her shop at the end of Summer Lane at the cost of 1d per l/2yd.
Jo Rundle
July 2005