Come Rain or Shine - The Time Line

Come Rain or Shine is set in a school classroom during the 2007 floods, however the play dances between several significant events and people within South Yorkshire’s history. Through this timeline, we hope to give you an overview of the different period of time and events that our characters are from. With each section, we have provided suggestions of where you can go to find out further information.

The Timeline

1838 – The Huskar Pit Disaster

1864 – The Great Sheffield Inundation

1910-12 – The Sheffield Jungle

1940 – The Sheffield Blitz, 11 and 13 December

1929-2007 – The Lifetime of Derek Dooley

2007 – The 2007 Sheffield Flood

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4th July 1838 - The Huskar Pit Disaster

During a summer thunderstorm in July 1838, a clap of thunder was mistaken for an explosion at The Huskar Pit in Silkstone near Barnsley, South Yorkshire.

44 children who were working below ground as

'hurriers' and 'trappers', ignored instructions to stay where they were and decided that, if there had been an explosion, the dayhole was a quick and safe way out.

But as the children neared the surface, a nearby ditch flooded and the water poured into the dayhole. 26 children between the ages of 7 and 17, working, were drowned at they were attempted to escape from the Pit.

Silkstone was devastated, and the accident shocked the country. A report was published in The Times, and the wider British public learned for the first time that women and children worked in the mines.

Following a public outcry and a request from Queen Victoria; politician and reformer Anthony Ashley Cooper, later Lord Shaftesbury called for a Royal Commission inquiry into the working conditions of children and women in Britain's mines. Eventually, the law was changed.

Further information on the Huskar Pit disaster can be found at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/making_history/makhist10_prog8a.shtmlhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwarWdBzUks http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mines_and_Collieries_Act_1842http://www.mylearning.org/Museums/museum.asp?museumid=51 (search for the National Coal Mining Museum and the Huskar Pit disaster)

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11th March 1864 - The Great Sheffield Inundation

Just before midnight on the 11 March 1864, a crack appeared in Dale Dyke Dam at Lower Bradfield. The crack grew quickly, and soon the dam burst.

3700 million imperial gallons of water swept down Loxley Valley (it took 45 minutes to empty), through

Loxley village, on towards Malin Bridge and through Hillsborough where the River Loxley joins the River Don. The waters continued south to the Don, onto Sheffield city centre and eastwards to the Don and Lady bridge, and onto Attercliffe. The waters went as far as Don Valley, Sheffield arena and then onto Rotherham, they even reached as far as Rotherham.

The water caused terrible damage to the city:

- The flood wrecked almost every bridge as far as Lady Bridge- Mill, grinding wheels, warehouses, inns, domestic dwellings were

destroyed. This included: 4 mills, 17 workshops, warehouses, shops, 39 houses, and 2 beer houses were completely destroyed)

- Over 800 homes were destroyed- 270 people were killed, and their bodies were found as far down the

Don as Mexborough- 7000 people lost their jobs

After the Flood, the newspapers described it as “The Great Inundation” and the “Sheffield Calamity”. The reason the crack appeared was put down to the fact that the Dam’s walls were not built thick enough. The claim against The Sheffield Water Company is one of the largest claims for damages. There are many stories of bravery and loss connected with the Flood; so for more information go to:

http://www.mick-armitage.staff.shef.ac.uk/sheffield/flood.htmlhttps://www2.shu.ac.uk/sfca/The Sheffield Flood 1864 (PPT, 3.03 MB)

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1910 to 1912 - The Sheffield Jungle

Between 1910 – 1912, Frank C Bostock's Jungle arrived in Sheffield city centre The Sheffield Jungle made a massive impression on the city, and Bostock described it as "a show without parallel in history…worth travelling one hundred miles to see" (an awful long way in at the beginning of the 20th Century.

The Jungle was packed full of strange and marvellous acts from across the word including a drum-playing elephant, trained mice and 100 lions! The Jungle was in the newspaper almost every day, not least because of its owner F C Bostock who had lots of exciting methods to drum up publicity, such as auctioning Lion Cubs. There were also lots of amazing acts, such as Anita - The Living Doll, Otto – The Snake Charmer the Fearless Falkendorf.

Henry Falkendorf was one of the circus’ most brave and entertaining acts - a brave trainer of lions and tigers. In his eventful career, he was attacked more than once by the tigers and lions, he trained.

On the 11th January 1911, he was attacked by one of his tigers Mafu, and taken to Sheffield hospital. Whilst in hospital he fell in love with his nurse, Theresa Smith. They became huge celebrities, and when they got married on 11th February 1911 at St. Mary’s Church in the centre of Sheffield, women were fainting and screaming in the aisles.

For more information on the Sheffield Jungle go to: http://www.nfa.dept.shef.ac.uk/jungle/index1.html

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12 and 15 December 1940 – The Sheffield Blitz

During World War 2 (1939 – 1945), England was at war with Germany. Sheffield was a good target for the German bombers because it was a heavy industrial city). Documents that were captured at the end of the war, show that the targets for the raids included the Atlas Steelworks,

Meadowhall Iron Works, River Don Works, Darnall Wagon Works, Tinsley Park Collieries, East Hecla Works and Orgreave Coke Ovens.

On the 12 December British monitoring stations intercepted radio beams being laid across northern England and calculated that the likely target of the coming raid would be Sheffield, named by the Germans “Operation Crucible”.

It was clear winter’s day, at 6.15 the first air raid siren sounded. By 6.45pm, the second siren had been signalled and by 7.45pm, the whine of 260 bombers in the sky above was unmistakable and as the first bombs hit - the Sheffield Blitz had began. The attack was called Doppelganger because it took place over two days, to cause the maximum amount of chaos and damage. On the first night the bombs mainly hit the city centre and places where people lived. On the second night several steelworks received hits.

On the first night alone there were 280 aircraft, and the bombs mainly hit the city centre and places where people lived. On the second night the factories, steel and iron works and coal mines were targeted by 77 bombers, and several received hits. 660 people were killed, 78,000 homes were damaged, and 40,000 people were left homeless.

For more information go to:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7HL3pEAeFk – quite a dramatic film – but some great images of Sheffield from around this period. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJeENKT7iPA – photographs of Sheffield following the Blitz with places identifiedhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/31/a3971531.shtml

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1929 to 2008 – Derek Dooley

Derek Dooley was born in Pitsmoor in 1929, and went on to become “Sheffield’s greatest sporting legend”. He was the greatest goal scorer of all time for Sheffield Wednesday, scoring a total of 46 goals in his first season (1951) surpassing a 25 year

old record. The tally remains a club record to the present day.

Derek Dooley‘s first season finished with the Owls being promoted back to Division 1 as champions, but on the 14 February 1953 Derek had a terrible accident during a football match and broke his leg. The following Monday, as he was preparing to leave hospital, a nurse noticed that there was no reaction in his toes when touched. When the bandage around Derek’s leg was removed it was found that a small scratch on the back of his leg had become infected with gangrene, and the leg had to be amputated.

After the injury in January 1971, Dooley became Sheffield Wednesday’s manager, and the 1972-73 season was really successful. But, the next season started badly. The team was badly hit by a virus that affected a total of 16 players. The board also radically changed, and Derek was sacked on 24 December 1973. After that, Derek had a variety of jobs, and eventually ended up taking on the job of chairman for Sheffield United football club.

In 1992, Derek accepted an invitation to watch the Sheffield derby at Hillsborough, and he was given a standing ovation by both sets of fans. He was also made a freeman of the City of Sheffield in 1993. In 2003 he was awarded an MBE in the New Years Honours List and later the same year an honorary doctorate degree from Sheffield Hallam University. He retired as a Blades chief executive in 1996 but 3 years later he returned to the fold as chairman of the club. In 2007 when the play is set, Derek Dooley is a 78 year old man. He explains about the ups and downs of his career, how he was charmed one minute and cursed the next, but always putting 100% into everything he did. For more information go to: http://www.bbc.co.uk/southyorkshire/content/articles/2007/12/06/derek_dooley_sheffield_legend.shtml or http://www.theguardian.com/football/2008/mar/05/newsstory.sheffieldunited

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The Sheffield Flood of 2007

During the Summer of 2007, a number of big floods hit the UK. Unlike the Sheffield Flood of 1864, these floods were not caused by a Dam bursting, but by a huge amount of rainfall.

June 2007 was one of the wettest months on record in

Britain (records began in 1776)! An average rainfall across the country was 5.5 inches (140 mm); more than double the June average. Some areas received a month's worth of rain in just one day. The efforts made by the police, fire service and army were described as the biggest in peacetime Britain. Many areas across the whole of Britain were badly affected, and South Yorkshire was no exception.

On the 25 June, the River Don over topped its banks causing widespread flooding in the Don Valley area of the city. Two people were killed and several cattle were washed away (the cattle were found up to 3.5 miles across fields). Meadowhall shopping centre was flooded and Sheffield Wednesday's football ground at Hillsborough was under 6 ft of water. People were rescued by RAF helicopters from buildings in the Brightside area. To the South West of Sheffield Millhouses Park area), the River Sheaf overtopped its banks causing widespread damage.[104] There was also widespread flooding in Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham, many parts of the towns were cut off.

By 26 June, the waters in some parts of Sheffield and the surrounding area had receded. But over 700 villagers from Catcliffe (near Rotherham's Ulley reservoir) were evacuated after cracks appeared in the dam. Emergency services from across England pumped millions of gallons of water from the reservoir to ease the pressure on the damaged dam, and the nearby M1 Motorway was closed as a safety measure. On 27 June, the Army moved into the Doncaster area after the River Don overtopped its banks and threatened the area around what was Thorpe Marsh Power Station.

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