Bowler Dessert Online

Sheffield before the Blitz

A post appeared on a local Facebook page about the Sheffield Blitz during WW2 of which here is an extract. The mention of a certain film and accompanying image caught the eye...

It’s amazing how differently children viewed life during World War II. Many have been interviewed over the years, and quite a few were at the Central Picture House on The Moor on the first night of the Sheffield Blitz.

Their parents had taken them to see Shirley Temple's ‘Blue Bird’ as a Christmas treat – the film was hoping to compete with the ‘Wizard of Oz’ which had been released a few months earlier. More than 80 years later, do you know their main regret? Not seeing the end of the film!

‘To Hell with Hitler’ was the rallying cry as tens of thousands filled the city centre determined to celebrate Christmas on December 12th, 1940.

Bernard Taylor and his band were entertaining the City Hall ballroom masses with swing, while Laurel & Hardy’s ‘Saps at Sea’ was being shown in numerous cinemas.

The bars and theatres were bustling. Without the air raid sirens at 7pm, one might scarcely believe that Britain was on the brink of invasion, the Nazi war machine seeming unstoppable at this point. Yet, even then, the public's reaction was muted - false alarms had become a regular occurrence.

The calm was shattered when Sheffield’s anti-aircraft batteries activated and cinema managers interrupted shows to direct audiences to air raid shelters, as the hum of enemy planes approached. Sheffield's day or reckoning had arrived, heralding nine hours of relentless bombardment.
 

 John Burton