Sheffield Blitz recalled by care home residents 80 years on

They were arguably the two darkest nights in the history of Sheffield – now care home residents in the city have been re-living what it was like to live through them to ensure their experiences are never forgotten.

Local author Neil Anderson is collecting stories for an 80th anniversary edition of his best-selling Sheffield’s Date With Hitler book.

The book was originally published in 2010 for the 70th anniversary of the bombing raids on the South Yorkshire city.

Residents of Broomgrove Nursing Home in the Broomhall area of Sheffield didn’t even let lockdown get in the way of re-telling their stories
for the updated edition – they used Skype.

Resident Ernest Barron, a former director of Sheffield Wednesday FC, was living in Wadsley Bridge at the time and vividly remembers the devastation following the first night of the Sheffield Blitz of December 1940.

He says: “I still remember walking up Snig Hill and Angel Street and seeing the devastation.

“The Marples building had been flattened in Fitzalan Square killing scores of people.

“Walsh’s department store had been destroyed –  only cast iron girders remained erect.

“The Empire Theatre had a bomb crater on fire outside and it was nothing but devastation on the Moor.

“I will never forget the memory of seeing the body of a man laid on Ecclesall Road.”

The Sheffield Blitz on the nights of December 12 and 15, 1940, killed and wounded over 2,000 people and made 40,000 people – a tenth of the city’s population – homeless. It took the city years to recover.

Sheffield was targeted by the Nazis as the city contained many heavy industries, particularly centred around steel with its Hadfields steelworks being the only place of production in the UK at the time for 18-inch armour-piercing shells.

Documents captured at the end of the war showed that the targets for the raids included a series of steelworks in the East end of the city, with the German operation appropriately known as ‘Crucible’.

Among the buildings to be flattened was Atkinson’s department store, which was subsequently rebuilt and still stands in the city today.

Last year, Atkinson’s became the starting point of a Sheffield Blitz Heritage Trail – one of 12 sites around the city centre which had their unique Second World War stories brought to life by a combination of interpretation signboards, mobile phone app and a book.

Shortly after the raids, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth toured the city to see the damage for themselves and attempt to boost morale among those whose lives had been devastated by the raids.

Prime Minister Winston Churchill also paid a visit, speaking to a 20,000 strong crowd and flashing his famous ‘V for Victory’ gesture.

Fellow Broomgrove resident Hugh Bradbury recalls hearing the anti-aircraft fire springing into life. He knew the attack was no false alarm. He was 10 years old at the time.

He watched the stricken city burning from his bedroom in Ecclesfield  and knew of two people that lost their lives.

Donna Pierpoint, manager of Broomgrove Nursing Home, says: “Our residents have lived such long and amazing lives and it’s great when their incredible knowledge can be used in this way. They were only too pleased to get involved.”

The new edition of Sheffield’s Date With Hitler will be out to mark the 80th anniversary of the attacks and be published in the autumn. Broomgrove Nursing Home is situated at 30 Broomgrove Road, Sheffield S10 2LR. Telephone 0114 266 1311.

Editor’s note: first and foremost - and rarely have I written down these words with more sincerity - I hope this finds you well.

Almost certainly you are here because you value the quality and the integrity of the journalism produced by The Yorkshire Post’s journalists - almost all of which live alongside you in Yorkshire, spending the wages they earn with Yorkshire businesses - who last year took this title to the industry watchdog’s Most Trusted Newspaper in Britain accolade.

And that is why I must make an urgent request of you: as advertising revenue declines, your support becomes evermore crucial to the maintenance of the journalistic standards expected of The Yorkshire Post. If you can, safely, please buy a paper or take up a subscription. We want to continue to make you proud of Yorkshire’s National Newspaper but we are going to need your help.

Postal subscription copies can be ordered by calling 0330 4030066 or by emailing subscriptions@jpimedia.co.uk. Vouchers, to be exchanged at retail sales outlets - our newsagents need you, too - can be subscribed to by contacting subscriptions on 0330 1235950 or by visiting www.localsubsplus.co.uk where you should select The Yorkshire Post from the list of titles available.

If you want to help right now, download our tablet app from the App / Play Stores. Every contribution you make helps to provide this county with the best regional journalism in the country.

Sincerely. Thank you.

James Mitchinson

Editor