Looking for my dad

I am trying to track down my dad, Edwin Alan Simpson.

His last known address was on Cemetery Road, Mexborough in 2003.

I tried then to contact him, but his sister Freda blocked any contact with him.

I have never known him, but would like to make contact as he would now be in his late 70s.

Any information would be greatly appreciated.

John Barlow

[email protected]

Take your money back

So Chansiri has found yet another way of squeezing money out of the already beleaguered Wednesday fans.

From this season Owls fans will no longer be able to hear commentary on Radio Sheffield on Owls away games unless they pay Mr Chansiri £4.49 per month.

At least Dick Turpin had the decency to wear a black mask and carry a revolver.

It’s time he took his money and his ethos back from whence he came and sooner the better.

J Vintin

Sheffield, S10

Sad saga continues

Jared O’Mara, the sad sorry saga continues, he’s now cutting back on his workload due to medical advice.

I have met him and what has been said before, he is more disabled than you think, the man is obviously not well.

From the triumph of ousting Clegg it’s taken a downturn, one that people living in the area cannot be happy with. The Labour MP they voted for has now nailed his colours to another political mast.

Isn’t it time the situation was resolved so the residents in that area get a MP that can work in the community and do the job that they were voted in to do?

Jayne Grayson

Sheffield, S35

The City of Old Relics

If we save any more old buildings in Sheffield it will not be known as Steel City but City of Old Relics.

And that includes the old Coroner’s Court building that is past its sell-by date.

Time to let it go and raze it to the ground, a post-mortem is not needed.

EB Warris

Sheffield, S14

What is the point?

Re your article on smoking at bus and tram stops, I would ask who will be enforcing such a smoking ban? Not the police, unless they put an officer on every bus and tram stop. Also what will be the prosecution area to be enforced around all stops.

I am a non-smoker but this is another unenforceable law, just like the ban on those smoking in company vehicles.

I see them on a regular basis while driving around Sheffield, some with co-workers as passenger in them and see this happening around the rest of the country.

Smokers standing in doorways of pubs and public buildings is the same as well and I have run the gauntlet of smoke to enter these building.

Another problem is drivers or passengers smoking while children are in the car, mobile phones being used openly by drivers, another law not actively enforced and the recent law on centre lane driving on motorways.

I have seen an increased abuse in this since the law was introduced.

What is the point in having laws if they do not enforce them?

Robin Gissing snr

Sheffield, S12

My childhood memories

I recently revisited my childhood home in Shiregreen. Arriving first at the “busy end” of Bellhouse Road, I was reminded of how it used to be in the early to mid 1970s.

It is even busier now – many more takeaways, cafés, cars and buses and lots of people.

Travelling up the road and over the hill I came to the old working men’s club. It is still there, thankfully, but boarded up and in a state of disrepair. Access to the side and back is prohibited.

I was sad not being able to go round the back. My sister and I used to explore there, and we liked standing at the front of “the club,” as we called it, enjoying our drinks and packets of Poppets chocolate peanuts and raisins.

Then I retraced my steps back home, walking down Bellhouse Road towards the zebra crossing. What a lovely sight met my eyes when I looked up, farmland! And it was remarkably quiet here. Such a contrast to the other end of the road. I almost felt that I was in the countryside.

I don’t remember this view as a child, perhaps I had other things on my mind in those days. And I was smaller then. Maybe I wouldn’t have seen such a lovely view.

Just before the zebra crossing, I turned right to get to Keppel Road, our childhood home. Still a corner semi but with plenty of changes. Why couldn’t they have left it as it was? The pavement seemed familiar though. Quite narrow and neat. Very good workmanship from the builders. Still looking good.

Lastly I walked to my old school on Beck Road. Such a long journey it seemed to me. Did we really go there and back each school day? And my stride would have been shorter then so it would have taken longer.

I lived down here until about the age of seven; my sister is a few years younger. Then we went off to Zambia for two years. But that’s another story.

John C Fowler

Leverton Gardens, S11

Old tradition

With the Edinburgh Festivals starting, can I remind your readers to helpfully inform visitors to our city that, unlike the made-up and damaging “tradition” of rubbing Greyfriars Bobby’s nose, it is a genuine Edinburgh tradition to pause for a moment in the Royal Mile beside St Giles to lick the Heart of Midlothian.

John Hein

Edinburgh, EH7