Additional information about Thomas Sharpe

From Ruth -

The great thing about writing this blog is that other members of the family can read it and fill in some of the gaps for us.  My cousin, Janet, has emailed with some more information about her Dad, Tom:

'Dad was in the Royal Artillery from 1940 - 46 and was stationed on the London Docks throughout the Blitz.  He should have gone to France on D-Day but was medically unfit due to damage to his ears due to anti-aircraft guns. He then went to Scapa Flow'.

Thanks, Janet.

Dad and I are looking forward to going round to visit some members of the family over the coming weeks for more stories and to get some more photographs, particularly of his brothers and sisters when they were younger.


© Ruth Coward 2012

Getting the hang of School

Coming back to the war years. I was now at Cobden school. Mother dragged me in on my first day and I was ready to come straight back out again! I soon settled down though and was always happy if I had some plasticine to play with.  I didn’t know what school was all about and I was always ready for the break when we got the milk which arrived on a cart full of crates containing small glass bottles of about a third of a pint each.

Occasionally, there would be an air raid siren and we had to run out of the gate into a jitty and into a small shelter with wooden seats. We seemed quite happy there pulling faces at each other and messing about. Most of the time I think the teachers would turn the siren on just to get a little rest! When we went into the top class we had a teacher who was about 50 and rather well-built. She used to take us for music but she had her work cut out trying to keep us all together and in tune.  She used to start playing the piano and everyone was so out of tune that she used to put her hands on her head and plonk her elbows on the keys.

We also had two or three male teachers who had just come back from the army, they managed to keep us under control better. We seemed to get the cane quite a lot and were often sent off to the headmaster’s office. After leaving Cobden Street we went on to Limehurst School.

Limehurst - can you spot me? See answer below*

When we went to Limehurst it was very strict. We did Maths, English, Woodwork, Gardening and Drawing.  The school was split into two and some of our classrooms looked out onto the playing field.  One day I was sitting looking out of the big window watching the girls playing hockey. The teacher came up to me and spoke in my ear ‘Nice aren’t they?’  ‘Oh, yes, sir!’ I replied and then next thing I knew I was getting a good wallop around the ears from him!

Towards the end of our time at secondary school the school was getting too big so three classes went over to Lodge Farm. The teachers there were very good and never gave anyone the cane. There was also a large field for playing football etc.

Whilst I was at school I used to get up at 7:50 and send out the Newpapers which Sid used to do. After school I used to go to the Echo office taking parcels and letters for them. After that, on Thursday, I used to go to Sea Cadets which I did for about 4 years. We did lots of activities including racing rowing boats at Burton, 5 days at Bramcote shooting and we went on a short flight on a plane twice.

Various photos from my time in the Sea Cadets

Sea Cadets on Nottingham Road bridge

Before I started work I went with a group of sea cadets to a ship at Southampton where we slept on hammocks. We took part in boat races with other teams and shooting in the shooting range. We were let out at 5 o’clock and the sailors on the door said ‘don’t be later than 10 o’clock or you will be locked out!’ We set off home on the Friday and it was soon after that trip that I really started thinking that it was about time I answered to call to start work at Yeates buses. I was 14 when I started work.

*Limehurst photo - I am second row, second from the left!

© Ruth Coward 2012

Shakespeare Street school today!

These are photos of how the old Shakespeare St school looks today from Rushes' Tesco car park.

© Ruth Coward 2012

Sketched Map

(Addition from Ruth) Below are two copies of a sketched map  (same sketch different sizes) that Dad has drawn to help me get an idea of where things were. This is a work in progress ...

© Ruth Coward 2012

Back to the Sharpes

So, taking everyone in ascending order, we’ll start with me, Peter James, at 3 years old.  Rumour has it that I was a beautiful child and whenever I went to the market with my mother people would stop to say how beautiful I was. I just usually stared back at them – I thought they were teasing or just having a good laugh for some reason!

Beautiful child!

Me with Mam and Dad at Skegness

Next in order was Rita who was now at school aged 5 and working very hard at skipping! She mainly used to play with the other girls but sometimes she would take me out, too.  We didn’t really fall out but I always remember the time when she got home from school and was looking for the toasting fork, which was a long twisted metal fork, I got it first and she was trying to take it off me so I bent it in half. She shouted at me saying ‘I’m going to tell mam!’ I can’t remember if she did, though, or what happened to the bent toasting fork.

Sid was 9 and at school - he hung around with all the older boys. When he was around 12 he worked as a newspaper boy for about an hour and a half a day. He started work as a draughtsman at 14. When he was 21 he served in the Royal Air force for two years and then returned back to his usual job.

Renee was 12 and was still at school. When she was 14 she went to work at Godkins where they made lingerie. Being a bigger girl she was often out with her friends. When she was about 16 it was still wartime so she became a land army girl but she soon came home - it obviously didn’t suit her and she was released from duty and went back to the factory. Not long after, Renee courted a young man whom she then married. She went to live with him in Ireland for a while but they later both moved back.

Mary, 14, was my eldest sister.  From about the age of 13 she used to work at the hospital in Baxter Gate after school. After that she worked at a large factory on Derby Road where they made parts for planes etc. Another part of the factory carried out repairs on small aircraft and you could often see the planes taking off from the large fields nearby. Mary later married and moved to live in Shepshed.

Thomas was about 17 and had earlier attended Shakespeare Street School.  Unfortunately, I didn’t know too much about him because he was a lot older and often out and about.  When he was 14 he worked at a Butcher’s shop in Great Central Road.  He worked at the Butchers until he was called up for the army and was based at Barracks in Warwick.  After his training he was sent up to the Orkneys. Once or twice he had leave to come home for a few days and he always used to manage to bring some sugar down for us as it was hard to get.  He got married whilst he was still in the army. When he came home for good, he worked in the Butchers again and then later on had a job painting cars.

Lenny was the eldest. I didn’t see a lot of him as he was married and lived in Hartington Street, off Nottingham Road. But he still called to see us and often had dinner with us. He worked in a printing building in Church Gate. During the war he was called into the army and was sent over to India where he became a Sergeant Major.

One of my earliest memories was one night when the air raid siren went off and we all made our way down to the cellar carrying a tin box with a candle in it so we could see where we were going.  (For some reason our Dad didn’t want us to go to the specially built shelters).  Suddenly Mam said ‘where’s our Tom?’ She hurried back upstairs and shouted for him (he was on the third floor) but he shouted back ‘I’m not coming, I’m too tired!’ Tom liked a drink and Mam thought he was probably a bit worse for wear although sometimes he was so tired when he was back on leave that he just used to sleep right through the sirens.  I used to sleep on a blanket on the heap of coal under the coal shoot. Eventually, the all clear sounded and everyone went back up to bed.  When I woke up, however, I was still in the cellar and I wondered where everyone had gone. I made my way back upstairs bleary eyed and my mother said ‘you looked so cosy I didn’t want to disturb you!’  I was too young to feel worried about any of it. To me it was just like an adventure.

ADDITION FROM RUTH

Having done some family tree work in the past, we have found that Dad was actually one of 10 children born to Lizze and Leonard Sharpe so, as far as we can tell, the family chronology of births and deaths is as follows:

DAD: Leonard Sharpe (1895 – 1962)

MAM: Lizzie Vesty (1897 – 1972)

1. Leonard (1914 – 2004?)
2. John Thomas (1920 – 1977)
3. Gladys Joan (1922 – 1925)
4. Arthur (August 1923 – September 1923)
5. Doris Mary (born 1926)
6. Renee (born 1928)
7. Sidney Harold (1931 – 2004)
8. Raymond (March 1932 – May 1932)
9. Rita (born 1934)
10. James Peter (born 1936)

So, it’s clear that Arthur and Raymond were only a few weeks old when they passed away and Gladys was only 3 years old.

Janet, my dad’s niece explained that Tom (her Dad) and Gladys both contracted Scarlet Fever. Janet told us how Tom bore a scar on his front where a nurse had placed an overly hot poultice which had scalded him and left him scarred – this may well have saved his life, however, whereas poor Gladys passed away.

© Ruth Coward 2012

On the run up to the War

As we children grew up we were able to play in the street. In those days there weren’t many cars around. We lived in the second row of seven houses on Salmon Street and next to them was a stable and also a parcel store / warehouse. A driver used to collect and deliver parcels around the town with his horse and cart. Opposite our terrace was a bread shop where there was also a horse and carriage to deliver the bread.  Sometimes, late in the afternoon, the driver would be coming towards the end of his daily deliveries and the horse would know it was close to home and that its stable was just around the corner so it would trot off back to the bakery on its own with the driver running after it trying to catch it up!

In those days the milkman would come round on his cart, too, and he would lift off a heavy churn of milk and scoop it into jugs and various containers that the ladies brought out to it. Once they’d got their milk, the ladies trotted off to the market for the day’s dinner and probably to have a good chat with their friends. Sometimes a customer would have to ask for a loan as they didn’t have any money until Friday.

The time now was 1939 and many men were being called into the army as soon as they were old enough.  Both men and women went into the Army, Navy and Air Force. Older men, like my father, worked during the day and then, at night, they would be on watch.  All the shops and businesses were boarding up windows.  Workers were also building brick shelters in some of the streets. The shelters would have a square roof built of thick concrete and were covered over with grass.

The war began on September 15th.  Chamberlain flew to Germany to meet Hitler at his Alpine retreat. Chamberlain seemed pleased with what they accomplished but after he left, Hitler’s mood soon changed. The British ambassador to Berlin handed the Germans a final note stating that they should be prepared at once to withdraw their troops from Poland.  No such action took place so, consequently, the country was at war. Men all over the country started to dig trenches mainly in London Parks and hundreds of soldiers were stationed as look-out on the tops of tall buildings. The fire engines were all on alert. The Royal Navy, the Army and the Royal Air Force were put on a war footing. Thousands of gas masks were sent out through schools, work places and shops etc.  They were horrible things that had a flap at the front that used to make a rasping sound.

After a few days, in the London area, there was the first Air Raid warning.


Soon after, the ration system started and, from 8th January 1940, each adult was allowed 4oz of Ham, Bacon and Cheese per week and 12oz of sugar. Meat was rationed to just over 1lb per person per week.

Below is a selection of photographs from the Shakespeare Street, John Street and Salmon Street area. 

This shop was opposite our house and as we were level with it the Coronation bunting went accross from our house to the shop. The street going to the right was John Street. The houses you can just make out in the distance on the left are Shakespeare Street.

Looking down towards Shakespeare Street - those houses are still there - the larger building (back centre) is the old school rooms and this, too, is still there. Stand in the car park at Tescos in the Rushes and scan the surrounding buildings and you should spot it!

Photo taken from the garret room at the Salmon Street house - looking at The Victory Cinema on the left and I think you can see the Carillon Memorial Tower on the horizon.

A view from the back of our house showing our back yard - the people walking beyond the back wall are my Mam and Dad and, I think, my sister Mary with two of her daughters. 

View down John Street, looking towards Limehurst School at the end to the right and the old fire station at the end to the left. Right at the very end was some kind of clinic? The cleared area on the left was where the firemen used to practice thier drill with the hoses etc.

This is the demolition of Salmom Street starting late 1950s. 

© Ruth Coward 2012

How it all began - 25th July 1936

Every one of the family was getting ready to get off to school or work or the young children were getting ready to play. Mother, Liz, had finished getting the breakfast and sat on the chair whilst the young Rita was dancing around.


After a short rest she thought she would get the chimney swept, which was a regular job. When she was halfway up she began to feel a little poorly and she shouted to Sidney, our son, to call for help from one of the neighbours. When the neighbour came she she said she would go down to fetch a lady who was a regular and knew all about babies whilst another neighbour came in to take Liz to her bed. The first lady shoved a lot of rags etc. and other things in a big bag.  She was the regular woman who always used to help with births for a fee of 5 shillings.

Salmon Street - no. 17 was the second house from the right.  Now the site of The Rushes shopping centre.

When she arrived at 17 Salmon Street she was upstairs like a billy goat!  Her first words were "where is she?" and she started to tuck in and get down to business as soon as she could. She had a quick cigarette until the baby started and, then, within a few minutes everything was all happening.

I pushed a little and someone else was pulling as hard as she could. I couldn't work out whether I was coming in or out. They did a good job and I was dying for a good drink from somewhere. After all that they all gave a roaring yell and I didn't know whether or not to go back!

After all the others saw what was happening they all started to help cleaning the baby and putting on his clothes.

After everything had settled down, my father came in from work , took one look at me, and then asked if the tea was ready!

As they went downstairs they realised that the brush was still stuck up the chimney - brother, Sid, pulled it out and put it away in the shed.

[Before I finish this section, I would like to describe how the rods came out of the chimney between the stove made of iron.  One side had a lift up lid which you could put water in as we didn't have hot taps. The other side had the shelves for keeping dinners warm and even baking.]

Now that we were all settled the girls used to like to pick me up out of the wooden drawer which was my makeshift crib and take me out somewhere. I can't remember much apart from when my mother used to take me up and down the entry on my brother's bike.

As I got older I got to know my six brothers and sisters. The first one was Rita aged 3, Sid was 6, Renee was 10, Mary was 13, Thomas was about 16, and Len was 18 (I THINK).

As the family were all older than me, they all seemed to be like one another. If you wish to know even more about them I will give you what little I know.



© Ruth Coward 2012