Elsie Pix (nee Godley): My Life

Trevor Hall sent us his mother’s memoirs about her life growing up in Broomhall:

“I was born on the 8^th February 1912 at 2ct 2 Hodgson Street Sheffield to Ernest and Annie Godley (nee Pattison) and christened Elsie at St Silas Church Broomhall Street. I already had an older brother Ernest who was 3 years old. My brother Clifford was born 2 years later. Our home was in a yard which had 10 houses in it. They were known as back to back houses. We lived in a corner house, which had the advantage of having a living room and a separate kitchen. The kitchen accommodated the sink and setpot. The setpot had a small fire underneath in which water was heated to fill the zinc wash tub. It was used also to boil the whites with addition of washing soda. Many children from large families were put in the setpot for their weekly bath when the washing was finished. Also in the kitchen there was just room for a mangle and a chair. The kitchen had a window and two doors, one, the main entrance leading outside to the yard, and the other into the living area. The centre piece of the living area was the table, and at the side of this against the right hand wall was a sideboard. This had a marble clock in the centre, and a lustre at each side which was considered posh. The sideboard also had two mirrors at the back and two cupboards at the front. A dining chair was placed at each side of the sideboard, ready to be brought forward to the table for meals. All our meals were cooked on a cooking range fired by coal, which was just to the front of the table on the left hand wall. To the left upon entering the room was the window which overlooked the yard…….”

Read the rest of Elsie childhood memories in the PDF below…

Elsie goes on in her memoirs below to talk about her life after she left the Broomhall area and her marriage to Tom in 1935 , as seen in these images….

“On the 28^th December 1935 I married Tom Hall at St Mary’s Church Walkley. We were lucky to be able to rent a house at 54 Freedom Road at Walkley tram terminus. It was the same type of house as Duncombe Street, and the rent was 10s-6d (approx. 52p) per week. We only stayed there for four years before moving to 4 Kinnaird Place, Shiregreen, a two bed roomed council house with a bathroom, which was the main attraction. We moved in on Friday the 2^nd September 1939, and on Sunday the 4^th September the start of the Second World War was declared. There was I on that Sunday, by myself, not knowing anyone in an area I did not know, and the sirens went. Tom was working and I was scared, but fortunately it was only a test.

Tom was the senior electrician at Travis and Marr in Division Street, so was exempt from call up for the forces, so he volunteered for the anti-aircraft situated at Shirecliff. I think he did two nights a week. They were kitted out with a full uniform and he became a Lance Corporal. He also had to do fire watching at his work place. At home we were given a galvanised air-raid shelter which we had to erect ourselves in the garden. I hated having to go into the shelter because it was cold and damp, and I was really scared of spiders. We put Trevor in the zinc bath which we had brought with us from Walkley. It came in handy because he was well wrapped up and nice and snug in it. I should have said that when we moved house from Walkley to Shiregreen I was pregnant with Trevor; Wendy followed three years later……”

Read the rest of Elsie’s life story in the PDF below….

Watch a film about Elsie’s childhood memories here

Read Elsie’s recollections about Hodgson Street here