Smoking In The Air Raid Shelters

A Memory of Rotherham.

I have lots of memories of the High School, I was there from 1959 to 1966 and it would be great to hear from anyone who remembers me. My name then was Kathleen (Kath) Atkinson, though I am now Kate Condliffe. Looking at this website has set my memory going - it's amazing that I can remember things that happened over 50 years ago, but can't remember what I just came into the room to do! A few of the first to arise are: ball-boying for Christine Cutts on the grass courts, being told off by Miss Burns for not sitting and standing straight enough and taking the piss out of Mr Perry, the Latin teacher. It would be great to hear from anyone who remembers me. If so, please email me on kcondliffe99@gmail.com.

I moved away from Rotherham after university; I used to go back a lot to see my mum, but since she died I have rarely returned. I now live in London, but Rotherham still haunts me. I've just written a book which, although it is not strictly about me, has quite a few memories of living there, including stuff about school. Since it's about a woman in her sixties, anyone who lived in my era might be interested in it. If you're interested in looking at and possibly reading a book looking back to those times and the times in between, it's on Amazon and the book version is called Sixty Shades of Grey Hair. There's also a kindle version for those who have one of those, called Over Sixty Shades of Grey Hair! They're basically the same, but I made a few changes when I published the book. If you fancy it, you'll have to order the 'real' book on Amazon as it's still print on demand, but you can get the kindle immediately.

Anyway, back to Rotherham High School. Smoking in the air raid shelters, which I'm ashamed to admit I started to do when I was about 14, was replaced when we got into the sixth form by going to Susan Bennett's house at lunchtime to smoke. We also thought we were very sophisticated when we went to the coffee bar in town, after playing tennis/netball matches on Saturday mornings.

I could go on, but if anyone is prompted by the memories I've described, I'd be delighted to hear from them and if anyone is interested in a bit of a reminisce about the sixties in Rotherham, have a look at my book.

Kath Atkinson, now Kate Condliffe

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