Sheffield retro: It hardly seems any time at all since the Queen's Coronation in June 1953

There had been a boom in council house building in Sheffield after the First World War and it often just took an advert in the local paper shop to obtain an exchange to an area of choice.

Living standards were higher and there didn’t seem to be a job shortage. Where I lived everyone’s father seemed to work in something steelworks or railway related. Mothers didn’t go out to work in those days, but did everything in the home, and were always there when we arrived back from school.

The Coronation of the young Queen provided great excitement in our lives. We didn’t have a television set in common with very many other people, and so gratefully accepted the invitation to a neighbour’s house, taking chairs and contributions of cake.

We had a day off school and a Coronation souvenir plus a bar of chocolate with the Queens head on, which we had promptly eaten! The souvenirs were varied depending what school was attended, and included teaspoons, penknives, decorated tin boxes and small pairs of scissors which, it was rumoured were, despite Sheffield being the home of cutlery, made in Hong Kong, to save money.

We settled down for the start of broadcasting at 11-00am, which was a spectacle like we had never seen before despite the grainy images on the small television set which had a wire ariel on the top which was frequently tweaked to get the picture back. The commentary was by the UKs most important broadcaster Richard Dimbleby with his cultured tones. He was the obvious choice for the job having been the first broadcaster to send dispatches from the concentration camp of Belsen when it was liberated.

Although the rain was heavy, we were transfixed by the images of other world leaders like Queen Salote of Tonga who was over six foot in height and of very large build. Her beaming smile was infectious especially as she refused an umbrella so that people could see her!

The Coronation hadn’t been the only excitement in 1953. A month before, Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tensing had been the first people to reach the summit of Mount Everest, but the news was withheld until the Coronation. And, a month after, the Cup Final between Blackpool and Bolton was the first attended by a reigning monarch. It became known as the Matthews Final after Stanley Matthews who played for Blackpool, although Stan Mortenson scored a hat trick ensuring that Blackpool won.

Life was pretty hopeful in 1953! In 1951 there had been the Festival of Britain largely held on the South Bank in London. It showcased arts, science, architecture, and dreams for a prosperous Britain. Although it went largely unnoticed apart from the showings on cinema newsreels, our parents were very optimistic about the future. We didn’t have central heating, fitted kitchens or carpets, fridges, or automatic washing machines. Come to think of it we didn’t have foreign holidays, televisions, telephones, or computers.

But we had a loving family, enough to eat and a roof over our heads. What could possibly go wrong?