Sheffield Scout camp days for Cyril Grant and his family

Reader Robert Grant, who sent in a picture of his father at the Firth Brown transport department (Retro, March 3), has shared two more photos.
By Julia Armstrong
Published 6th Mar 2019, 17:45 BST
Updated 6th Mar 2019, 17:48 BST
The 11th Pitsmoor Scouts away on camp around 1948. Picture submitted by Robert Grant whose father, Cyril, was a keen scouter. He is the third person from the left on third row from the frontThe 11th Pitsmoor Scouts away on camp around 1948. Picture submitted by Robert Grant whose father, Cyril, was a keen scouter. He is the third person from the left on third row from the front
The 11th Pitsmoor Scouts away on camp around 1948. Picture submitted by Robert Grant whose father, Cyril, was a keen scouter. He is the third person from the left on third row from the front

Robert’s father Cyril Grant was born in March 1911, when his family were living at 8 Marshall Street, Pitsmoor but by 1925 they had moved to 284 Ellesmere Road, Pitsmoor.

Robert wrote: “My mother, Hilda Tunnard and her parents were living at 108 Ellesmere Road so there is the connection for them to get together.

Robert Grant, aged around five, with his parents Cyril and Hilda at a scout camp in about 1947Robert Grant, aged around five, with his parents Cyril and Hilda at a scout camp in about 1947
Robert Grant, aged around five, with his parents Cyril and Hilda at a scout camp in about 1947
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“Cyril was a keen Scouter and involved with the 11th Pitsmoor scout group and I can remember going with him on a Sunday morning to sort out equipment for the various camps, competitions etc.

“I was born in 1942 and this would be 1947/8/9. Unfortunately, Dad died in 195,0 just after my eighth birthday, so my memories of him are a bit sketchy but I can remember him sitting down with me at the kitchen table and explaining how a steam engine worked.

“From his pattern maker training he made me a desk, a wooden steam engine which I could sit in and pedal and a sledge - with stainless steel runners, don't ask where the stainless steel came from!”

One picture shows the family at a scout camp around 1947, when Robert was five, and the other shows 11th Pitsmoor scouts at camp, probably in 1948.

The transport garage of Thomas Firth & John Brown, Princess Street, Sheffield, probably 1931 or 32. Reader Robert Grant's father Cyril is on the extreme right, dressed in a boiler suitThe transport garage of Thomas Firth & John Brown, Princess Street, Sheffield, probably 1931 or 32. Reader Robert Grant's father Cyril is on the extreme right, dressed in a boiler suit
The transport garage of Thomas Firth & John Brown, Princess Street, Sheffield, probably 1931 or 32. Reader Robert Grant's father Cyril is on the extreme right, dressed in a boiler suit
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Robert said: “I remember going to summer camp a few times and we went as a family. One of scout group’s favourite camping sites was at Danes Dyke on the east coast.”

Richard Antcliff got in touch when he saw the picture of Cyril with colleagues at the Thomas Firth & John Brown transport department in Princess Street.

He wrote: “My grandfather, Joseph Henry Gregory, was a long-time driver for Firth Brown  and my mother, who is in her 90th year, thought her father was the chap in the middle row, third in from the left, below the chap in the flat cap.

“My own recollection of the Princess Street garage was in the 1960s when my aunt and uncle, Joyce and Charles Hicks, lived on site in the gatehouse.”