It’s perhaps worth reminding ourselves what entertainment was available at this time
BBC radio was king, broadcasting the Light Programme, the Third Programme and the Home Service (which eventually became Radio 2, 3 and 4). TV didn’t start broadcasting reliably until 1948, and there was only one black and white channel, with perhaps one twentieth of the picture quality we now have. However, there were only 15,000 households in the whole country with a TV set, so Grenoside might therefore have had one or two
There were only a few hours of programmes per day, ending at 11pm. Programmes also stopped between 6pm and 7pm, to allow children to be put to bed, the so-called “Toddlers’ Truce”. ITV started in 1955; BBC 2 in 1964; colour TV in 1969, and Sky in 1989
How about local cinema? Ecclesfield had the Cinema House, on the Common, near where Morrisons is now. It closed in 1959. Chapeltown had the Palace, on Station Road. It closed in 1963. And High Green had the Picture House, on Thomson Hill, which closed in 1957. Karen Ann Loxley’s grandmother sometimes played the piano there to accompany the silent films!
Grenoside did not have a cinema, although a local dentist, Mr Billie Thorne, showed films in the Church Hall!
