Sheffield Manor Parish

Next Event - Norfolk Heritage Park

Just a reminder that our next event is the Norfolk Heritage Park tour and talk.  We will be meeting at the Centre in the Park at 10.30am on Saturday 27th April.  A map of its location can be found by clicking on this link - Centre in the Park - and then opening the visitor map at the bottom of the page.

Anybody who is unsure if they can manage the walk can just come along for the talk.  The tour is not intended to be energetic and will be tailored according to the ability of the group.

From Back to Backs to Penthouses

On Monday 8th April we welcomed local speaker, Suzanne Bingham, to St Aidan's for a talk entitled From Back to Backs to Penthouses - The Way We Used to Live.  Everybody who attended really enjoyed the talk and there were lots of laughs and reminiscences about how it used to be.  It was so interesting to see the internal and external developments in housing during the 20th century and not only how far we had progressed, but how we have gone back to some traditional styles because the new styles sometimes just didn't work.

Suzanne has a wide repertoire of talks and guided walks and has also been involved in family history research in Sheffield since 1998. 

April Events

We have two Manor Memories events coming up in April.

The first is the talk by Suzanne Bingham at 2.30pm on Monday 8th April at St Aidan's Church.  The talk is entitled From Back to Backs to Penthouses – The Way We Used to Live.  It’s one of Suzanne’s favourite talks because it always gets people talking and reminiscing.  Come along and share your memories of how it used to be!

And the second event is the tour and talk at Norfolk Heritage Park on Saturday 27th April at 10.30am.  We will be meeting at the Centre in the Park and a map of its location can be found by clicking on this link - Centre in the Park - and then opening the visitor map at the bottom of the page.  The park is one of the country’s oldest public parks and has many areas of specific historical interest.  Hopefully the weather will have improved by then and we will be able to enjoy a stroll around the park.

Visit to Sheffield Archives

Today we visited Sheffield Archives for a beginners familiarisation session.  Archivist, Robin Wiltshire, talked us through how to use the archives and what kind of documents they hold there.  Then we had a quick visit to the strong room followed by a look at some wonderful original documents that had been extracted from the archives for us to view.  These included a letter from Mary, Queen of Scots, a ledger from Middlewood Hospital, some information about parish records and the Royal Charter to hold markets and fairs in Sheffield which was granted by Edward I to Thomas de Furnival in 1296. 

Below are some pictures of the group looking at the documents (click on them to enlarge).  Apologies for the quality.  Our photographer was snowed in and couldn't make it so they were taken on a mobile phone.  The final image is of a fabulous poster that is hung up at the Archives.