YP Letters: Nostalgic pleasure from Steel City memories

WHAT a nostalgic pleasure it was to read Matthew Flinders’ article (The Yorkshire Post, April 29) about Attercliffe and to learn that its heart is still beating. It took me back about 60 years to where I first discovered my love of local history.

I knew about Attercliffe as a child. My father worked in the steelworks and I remember the damage from the Sheffield Blitz. The area was considered “rough”, so when I was sent there for my first teaching post people were sorry for me. Even the man who sent me there said that I needn’t stay long, but would soon be able to move to a ‘better area’.

I had no need to worry. I was warmly greeted and I grew to love Attercliffe with its history, its exciting, noisy industry and its friendly people. I decided that there could be no better area and, despite tempting offers of promotion, stayed for 17 years until the houses were demolished and school closed.

When I retired, I researched my family history and found that, during the Industrial Revolution, the farmers, maltsters and bakers from Bradfield relocated to Attercliffe to work in industry. Many are buried in the same graveyard as Benjamin Huntsman who first made crucible steel. No wonder that I felt at home. George Orwell should have stayed a bit longer.