Season 24-25 Mini Visit

On Friday 7th February a group of members and partners visited the Sheffield Weston Park Museum.

We met café, then most of us started by visiting the Memoirs of Peter McKee exhibition, a local artist who was born in the 70s and grew up in Sheffield; his picture brought back many memories to those of us who knew Sheffeield. We wandered round the the galleries and found a display of artefacts found by metal detectorists some from Thorpe Salvin other local areas. Many of had paused our wanderings for lunch in the café before resuming. There was lots to see and well worth a visit.

On Friday November 1st, a group of members and partners visited the National Emergency Services Museum at West Bar, Sheffield

It was the first time that many of us had visited the museum which is housed is an old Police and Fire Station. We congregated for a coffee in the café. After a brief introduction to the museum, we were free to wander round the three floors of exhibits from, Police, Fire, Ambulance, RNLI, Coast Guard and Mountain Rescue.

Exhibits started with horse drawn fire engines, and a horse recovery ambulance, through steam-powered water pumps to modern vehicles. We saw the development of ambulances and wheeled stretcher carriers from WW1 to better equipped and heated vehicles to the well equipped ‘mini-hospital’ of today. We visited the police cells, an Anderson shelter and learnt how the early fire station watched for fires in Sheffield from the tower and had to have the water mains switched back on at night.

On his previous visit, several years ago, one member remembers having a ride in an old fire engine; this is no longer possible as there is a £50 charge for the Clean Air Zone. to drive the engine on the roads.

There was something for everyone and we spent a fascinating morning wandering around the exhibits and reminiscing and learning about the services.