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In Victorian times the industrial revolution wasn't kind to Sheffield. It was a smokey town of 200,000 people, with narrow streets and few buildings of any size.

The Sheffield work of the then Christian Mission began in the city on Wednesday February 13th, 1878, when, under instructions from the Reverend William Booth, Mary Goddard (along with her husband) Miss Dunnage and 'Gypsy Smith' arrived in the city to start the work of what was to become the Salvation Army's 32nd corps. So the Corps was really founded by a woman!

It took them only four days to get organised and they conducted their historic first meeting on Sunday February 17th in the Temperance Hall on Townhead Street. This hall had been built (though not for these evangelists) at a cost of £2,000 and seated 2,000 people. (It later became the Playhouse Theatre, though with a much reduced capacity.)               

In addition, weeknight services were held in the Hall of Science on Rockingham Street. The meetings must have been dynamite because between February 17th and August 31st of 1878 it is reported that 900 people were converted 

Army's Costs

Headquarters in London lent the Sheffield pioneers £20 with which to start the work. By August, half had been repaid. 

Six months salary for the three evangelists amounted to £75 (just under £1 a week each.). The rent of their halls was £95. The cost of furnishing the 'quarters' at 43, Mount Pleasant Road in Highfields (second left off Sharrow Lane going up from London Road.) was £34. 15s. 0d. 

William Booth's First Visit

On May 25th, 1879 the Founder, William Booth visited Sheffield for the first time since the work in the city had begun. On Whit Monday of 1879 and also on the Tuesday, tremendous gatherings were held.  finished up about six in the morning. 

William's Sheffield Links

William Booth was, however, no stranger to Sheffield. Indeed, had circumstances been different he may well have set up home and headquarters in the city. 

In 1855 the Annual Conference of the Methodist New Connection appointed the Rev. William Booth as a roving Evangelist. He and Catherine were married shortly afterwards and the new couple had no fixed home. Soon she found herself in Hull, whilst he conducted a mission in Caistor. Then a visit to Sheffield was planned and Catherine wrote to her mother, 'We are having apartments in Sheffield. You cannot think what joy I anticipate being to ourselves again.' 

 The mission in Sheffield was a massive triumph. The chapels were so full that the stairs to the pulpits were crowded and hundreds of people stood at the doors. Conversions occurred amongst people of all classes. He was besought to go to other chapels in the neighbourhood. The church to which he belonged realised a new John Wesley had risen in their ranks.  

 After the strain of his mission William and Catherine together with his old mother went to Chatsworth for a brief rest. He stayed in the picturesque village of Endsor.  

After his resignation from the Methodist New Connection, William Booth visited Sheffield several times before the move to London in 1865. In fact during the later part of this period,  Sheffield was his headquarters. 

He debated the question of renting a small house in Sheffield and making it a centre for freelance revivalism. At this time they were desperately short of money and he had published a book of hymns and was experiencing difficulty with the publishers. So he took matters into his own hands, acted as his own  traveller and sold 500 to a Sheffield bookseller.    

 Whilst living in Leeds, but still thinking of taking a house in Sheffield, Mrs. Booth was invited to conduct a mission in Rotherhithe in South East London and it was this that eventually lead to their move to London and the founding of the Christian Mission there. 

 But for this divine call Sheffield might well have seen the birth of the Salvation Army, and International Headquarters might have been No. 44 Pinstone Street, Sheffield, instead of 101, Queen Victoria Street, London!   

Move to Thomas Street

Around 1880 the Sheffield 1 corps, as it was formerly known, moved into a building in Thomas Street, which they continued to occupy for fourteen years. However, it was merely a base. (Known as the Glory Hut) The corps never held its Sunday meetings there as the congregations were always too big. A nice problem to have. 

Sheffield Riots

In 1882 the corps was again visited by General and Mrs. Booth, for the farewell meeting of Captain and Mrs.Tom Coombs - a visit which forms a part of early Salvation Army history, showing the willingness of the early-day soldiers to endure terrible persecution in God's name. The Sheffield Riots, as they came to be known, caused by the visit of the General were the worst the city has ever known. 

The Army often got a rough ride whilst trying to preach the gospel in the streets of England. Some members were even arrested and charged with breach of the peace for doing so. Publicans who ran the drinking dens and gin palaces, wary of the anti-drinking stance of the Army, found it very easy to raise a mob of people from the drunken working classes to break up the Army's meetings. It was into this atmosphere that William Booth arrived in Sheffield to encourage his troops. 

The mob attacked the Sheffield Salvationists brutally with sticks, stones and anything else they could lay their hands on. Lt. Emmerson C. Davison, a former champion wrestler who had been converted, tried to ride through the mob on horseback. He was beaten so badly that he lay unconscious for hours and never really recovered from his injuries. Booth himself was un-injured, despite being the main target of the mob and standing upright in an open horse-drawn carriage throughout. 

However, the attitude towards the Army in the city soon changed. Three months later they held two massive marches through the city centre and although there were hundreds of police on hand to protect the marchers, this time there was no sign of any trouble. 

Further Information

The Other William Booth

During the same period Sheffield 1's own Corps Sergeant Major was also named William Booth (no relation.) He composed many songs, much used at the time. This is a verse he wrote about his own conversion which was sung at the farewell of Captain Stoker in 1889 or 90. 

I remember very well,
I was going down to Hell
When I came across this noisy lot -
At St. Phillips Road at the top.
There were some there I could see
Who were once as bad as me,
I heard them speak and sing,
They said Jesu's blood had made them pure and good,
Hallelujah to our Heavenly King.

Musical Beginnings

Music has always played a big part in worship in Sheffield. As early as the mid 1880's the Concertina Band was going strong. The first leader was Joe Elstone, who wore an old frock coat and a bowler hat. This was later 'improved' upon and he exchanged the bowler hat for a blue cap he had bought at the Naval and Military Stores in Cambridge Street.  

As the members of the band were men, they wore their own Sunday best suits with blue caps from the same Naval and Military shop and in addition wore garibaldis of turkey red twill made up by the women folk of the corps. 

Move to Cross Burgess Street

As the corps grew however, the 'Glory Hut' in Thomas Street was proving quite inadequate for the crowds and in the years leading up to the eventual move in 1894 the Albert Hall in Barkers Pool (where Cole Brothers is now and most appropriate because it is where the band does its Saturday carolling to this day) was constantly hired by the corps. Sunday night crowds at this time were in the region of 2,500-3,000. Many present day football teams would be glad of such a 'gate' today. The collections were so huge that the treasurer had to take the collections (mostly copper in those days) home in a horse-drawn cab. 

The corps needed 'headquarters worthy of their numbers, their reputation and their influence.' It was believed that their numbers could be doubled if a suitable building could be found. (Watch out Psalter Lane.) Numbers at the meetings by this time were actually falling - this in a city where there had been such growth that it looked set to become one of the most successful Army centres in England. 

This early decline was put down to 'meeting places secured which were for the most part small, inconvenient, uncomfortable and particularly un-inviting.' Many of the converts were in fact drifting to other churches.  

So in 1892 definite plans were discussed for the purchase of land and the erection of a 'commodious building,' culminating in the site at the corner of Cross Burgess Street being bought from the Corporation by the Army for the sum of £7,812. This was regarded as an excellent investment by the business fraternity of the time. On September 12th, 1892 the Foundation Stone was laid by Mrs. Bramwell Booth and the impressive building was opened on January 27th, 1894. Thus began over 100 years of almost unbroken service on this famous and much-loved site. 

The total cost of the work on the corner site was about £25,000 of which only £7,500 was used in the erection of the Citadel itself. The rest was spent on the building of the shops on Pinstone Street, which was to become one of Sheffield's main shopping areas. The main entrance was on Cross Burgess Street, with another entrance on Burgess Street. There was also an entrance to the hall on Pinstone Street and the 'SA' lettering can still be seen in the stonework above the shops. 

The new hall had a seating capacity of 1800 and in many respects resembled a theatre, with a tiered platform at one end and on the other three sides a groundfloor,  gallery and a top balcony. The platform could be seen and heard from any part of the building. The walls were sage green with a deep maroon dado. The floor was paved in mosaic style. The ceiling was panelled and finished with specially prepared paper and the walls and pillars - as you might expect - had a lot of yellow, red and blue in them. There were also plenty of downstairs rooms. The wooden forms used in the building were made in London, under the 'Darkest England Scheme'. They were very well made indeed. In short, it was the hall of their dreams. 

Opening Ceremony

The Opening Ceremony on January 27th was marred by a tremendous downpour of rain. The ceremony outside the Citadel, for which a platform had been specially erected, was completely abandoned. A march of 1,100 people had been arranged to parade from the skating rink in Commercial Street with Chinese Lanterns, but the rain made this impossible. Nevertheless, three brass bands and a large number of 'privates' marched all around the city in the pouring rain with undampened spirits. Hundreds gathered outside the hall half an hour before the opening ceremony was due to take place, but the rain fell so heavily it was decided to open the doors informally and let the people in. 

It was from the date of the opening of the this new hall that the corps started to become known as Sheffield Citadel. But then, as now, traditions died hard and many people still referred to it as 'Sheffield 1.' Indeed the corps' own history book sometimes refers to it as Sheffield 1 as late as 1918. 

Details of the very early days of the corps are sketchy. Early corps history books have been lost (the current books start at 1910 but contain references to earlier books.) However,  it appears that after these early momentous events the corps entered upon a period of some degree of settlement numbers-wise, whilst always maintaining a very high standard of service. 

Many Officers

Many fine officers followed each other in splendid succession and the soldiers of the corps gave excellent support. Including the three evangelists who started the work in Sheffield the Corps had fifty sets of officers between 1878 and 1910 - a change of officer every 7 or eight months on average. 

Famous Soldiers

There were some pretty remarkable soldiers of the corps as well. Some of the early day 'trophies' had nicknames matching the colourful history of the corps. There was Mother Wood, Daddy Insby (who painted the signs on the old penitent form.) The Norman Express, Black Pudding Lucy (she used to make dumplings for her husband in a kettle,) a lady called Rocket - so called because she used to shoot up in her seat to give her testimony, a man called Torpedo, Charlie Wright (Philip Daniel's grandfather and both the Citadel's first bandmaster and YPSM,) Bob Carrier, Nudger (was first taught to read at the age of  sixty four by a company guard who taught him to read The Bible,) Billie Blackwell, Bill Booth, mentioned earlier who became CSM, Billie Blackwell and Yorky the Prizefighter. Sam Warrin later told the story that a song was written about Yorky, a local boxer, entitled 'He Died at His Post.'  (How did he die?) Joe Birkinshaw was one of the early converts and was responsible for another whole family starting to attend meetings. He later became an officer and served many years in Australia. Mary Grainger, Ada Yates, Grandma Birkinshaw and Bertha Heald became lifelong Salvationists. But the officers weren't exempt from nicknames either. One of the early Corps Officers, Captain John Wills, was known as Red Hot John.  

Whit Sings

The Juniors didn't sing in the park, they had an early morning breakfast in the junior hall (the present band room) and then marched down to the Wicker. They were then marched back up from the Wicker to the Citadel and used to sing there. This continued into the later Bath Street days. On one of these early morning breakfasts Willie Waddams sat next to Harry Wood and slipped two lemon tarts into Harry's pocket without him knowing. Willie then loudly accused Harry of 'nicking tarts off the plate.' Harry, of course, vehemently denied this and stood up slapping his own pockets to prove his innocence - thus splattering the lemon tarts all over his jacket. 

Sheffield in the Early 20^th Century

The move to Cross Burgess Street may have not seen the hoped-for doubling of congregations materialise, but it certainly saw the stabilisation of a busy and thriving corps, meeting the social, but especially spiritual needs of the vast numbers of people who attended the hall every night of the week. 

Sheffield in the early part of the 20th century was not the city as we know it today. The quickest way to get to the outlying suburbs was by train. They ran from the city towards Hathersage via Heeley, Millhouses, Beauchief, Dore and Totley one way and Brightside, Attercliffe, Darnall and Tinsley in the other direction. Horse drawn trams were the other main means of transport. Many of the city's facilities were very primitive. There were no bathrooms in the majority of Sheffield houses when the Citadel first opened. Only the wealthy had them. Many houses around the turn of the century even had middens outside. 

Most of the houses around the citadel were back-to-backs which had only one room downstairs with a sink in the living room. They had a cellar and a cellar-head, which served as the pantry, one room upstairs and an attic. Toilets, when houses eventually got them, were a walk outside and often shared with another family. It was only in the 1930's that a bye-law was passed in Sheffield which said that every family should have their own toilet. A major re-building programme had to be undertaken in order to comply with the new law. 

Barkers Pool was drained in the late 18th century, but once a month bells were rung to warn people that excess water was about to be let go from Barkers Pool. Water ran down the hills through all the city centre streets to the River Sheaf and all the women who lived on the route of the water ran out with their brushes to push all the dirt from the street into a channel to get it washed away. There wasn't too much dignity in death either. Billy Butler, a soldier of the corps, had his funeral service in the back yard where he lived on Aberdeen Street. 

Mrs. Ching formed the first songster brigade in 1913. 

Empress of Ireland Disaster   

On 28 May 1914 an Army tragedy affected the corps at the Citadel in a small way. Rose Smedley and Edith Fell, were former corps soldiers who had emigrated to Canada two years earlier. They were sailing from Quebec City with Canadian delegates on the liner Empress of Ireland on their way back to England for the 1914 International Congress when in thick fog the ship was struck by a Norwegian steamer.  Within 14 minutes the ship sank in the St Lawrence River, resulting in the loss of more than a thousand lives.  Edith and Rose were drowned. The corps history book records the 'profound sorrow at the wreck of the Empress of Ireland.' Out of 160 Salvationists on board only 20 were saved. Edith and Rose would have been at the Citadel's own meeting on the Sunday night. A Memorial Service was held when 1100 attended the Citadel. The whole congregation was moved to tears. 

All but two of the Canadian Staff Band was lost in the same disaster. At the Congress in the Strand Hall in London all the seats were set out for the visiting band. The band's two survivors sat surrounded by empty seats. It must have been a very moving sight. Hetty Foster (formerly of the Citadel) was due to travel on the same ship but decided to stay in Canada and so was saved. However, she never settled in Canada and later returned to England. 

First World War

War was declared but the Citadel suffered only one loss. Bandsman Broadley who remains the only member of the corps to die in active service. 

The eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918 was a special day in the history of our country. Armistice Day. The corps history book records the 'Town all ablaze.' There was an openair (meeting) outside the Citadel and praise and thanksgiving inside. Five days later there was a special march from the Wicker Arches to the Citadel involving all the local corps in celebration of victory. 

The hall on Cross Burgess Street was designed to be illuminated by gaslight, with two lights hung down over the platform and other parts of the hall, which had to be lit by long poles. But the corps needed to move with the times and electric lighting was installed just after First World War in 1918 - quite a new innovation in those days. 

Harvest Festivals and Star Boys' Teas

Harvest Monday evening meetings were organised by the Concertina Band and sometimes featured the wonderful delicacy of tripe and a cup of tea! Mrs. Dellerman would come onto the platform carrying baskets of eggs and Arthur Brassington would come on dressed as a country squire carrying a gun. Every time he pretended to fire his gun someone was primed to throw feathers down from the balcony on cue. 

The Star Boys Teas were a case in point. It was customary for the corps to host a tea for all boys who delivered the Telegraph and Star. It was a regular thing for up to 200 boys to sit down to the meal. Things wouldn't have been too bad if they had remained sitting down, but some of the lads lacked a little in upbringing and found the band festival which followed as part of the 'treat' to be less than inspiring. On at least one occasion, after they had all gone home, the hall-keeper had to clear up the fat from the ham which they had thrown at the band and each other with a shovel. Perhaps the band didn't play very well? The Army stopped the teas eventually because they became so difficult to handle, even though the Star sent their own men to try to keep control. 

The Move to Bath Street

The corps continued to thrive and meetings were well attended. But this brought its own problems - particularly for the Sunday School. Until 1922 the Young People's Corps met in what is now the band room. Very cramped quarters for over 200 youngsters (there's not much room for forty bandsmen!) 

On Sunday night they had a meeting downstairs - often with many children who had followed the band in from the open-air. In the winter months they even held lantern services down there. Lantern slides were the early version of the overhead projector. Hymns used to be put up on the screen which were rarely from the Army song book. Slides were also used to illustrate Bible stories. The lanterns were lit from an acetylene generator, but there were times when mischievous lads would sneak out in the dark and take the rubber hose off the generator, nearly gassing everyone. Stink bombs were another regular occurrence. 

Strong discipline was needed down in the Young People's meetings in those days as many of the children came from the less-prosperous streets around the hall. Brother Ashley acted as a keeper of the peace and general 'chucker-out' - one of God's bouncers! A big man, always wearing a bowler hat and carrying a walking stick, his particular strong arm skills were often needed. He regularly had to throw out lads who weren't giving their best attention, but that didn't necessarily mean that he had seen the back of them for they would then sometimes hang from the grating outside the bandroom windows chanting at the tops of their voices....

            Sally Army sells fish,
            Three ha'pence a dish,
            Don't buy it,
            It smells when you fry it.

....and other helpful prayer choruses.

This would go on for quite a while and became very monotonous until Brother Ashley would then go out and clear the chanting group away.

From about 1920 various ideas were aired as to how the Citadel could be made more up to date in terms of toilet facilities and rooms for young people's work. At a visit by Bramwell Booth in 1918, during which he went into the Young People's Hall and was disgusted at the conditions in which the children worshipped and declared that it was not a fit place for young people to be. But the Army authorities did nothing about it until, during the officership of Commandant McBride and Ensign Nicholson (two women officers,) the opportunity arose to take over a Mission in Bath Street, close to the present Men's Social Services Hostel, Charter Row.

A bold and innovative move, these premises were first taken over from the control of the St.Andrew's Presbyterean Church in Hanover Street in December 1922 on a five year lease. The building was then bought for £575 in 1926.

The meetings were certainly very popular. The children used to queue outside the hall keen to get in. Entertainment for the young people of the area was very limited. Other than the Bath Street mission there was only one other place to keep them occupied. A hall round the corner in Thomas Lane put on amateur clowns and jugglers. But they charged a penny to get in. The mission, being free, often won the highest number of ‘customers.' If you hadn't got a penny for Thomas Lane you went to Bath Street. 

Some of the Bath Street children were little rogues. They would suddenly stand on their heads when they got bored in class - much to the consternation of their teachers. Sometimes at the Band of Love when they got particularly high-spirited, the younger teachers found them uncontrollable and threw them out. The problem was that the hall had two back exit doors, so they were thrown out of one door, only for them to come back in through the other!

 Bath Street itself no longer exists but the Mission Hall is still there, being the offices of R.D. Shopfitters. It is located just of Headford Street. The next street to it is Thomas Street 

Second World War

The outbreak of the Second World War caused many changes throughout the whole country. But especially in an industrial city like Sheffield. 

Blackout regulations took effect almost immediately. No light must be emitted from any building which might help enemy bombers to be guided to their target. Punishments were severe for any offenders and the Citadel had to comply with the regulations the same as everyone else. This meant putting single sheets of black tarpaulin to all the windows in the building. The door sergeants had to be particularly strict about not allowing light to shine out of the building. The whole city was pitch black at night so much so that it was difficult to find your way home. 

Some of the juniors used to walk down the Moor, linked arm in arm across the full width of the road, singing Army choruses. Their only means of seeing where they were going was to shine torches on the tramlines, which reflected the light. It wasn't all bad though. The dark shop doorways provided good cover for courting couples trying to avoid their parents on the way home from the meetings. But perhaps we'll not delve too deeply there. 

Ironically, whilst the tramlines were a help to our Sunday School members, they were also to lead to Sheffield being Blitzed, as it was believed that the moonlight reflecting off the lines were what eventually led the German bombers to the steelworks. 

The attractions of the cinema have also been a temptation which some have found difficult to resist from time to time. Jack Carr? was once seen coming out of the picture palace (cinema, to the younger readers) in the days when you weren't supposed to go to such evil places. The following Sunday morning he was called into the band office for a dressing down. Herbert Mountain finished up by saying, '....and was there anyone else in there?'

            'Oh yes,' said Jack 'it wa' full!' Bandmaster Mountain, with a smile on his face told him to get out.  

Once the band went to Colne in Lancashire and on the Saturday afternoon they went to Blackpool's Stanley Park. Some of the band went boating on the lake and were messing about so much that Douglas Lockhead and Harry Birkinshaw's boat sank. They were waist deep in the lake wearing the uniforms that they needed for the evening festival. Fortunately, Philip Daniel's aunt had a boarding house on the front in Blackpool and they were able to catch a tram and go there to get dried off and return in time for the festival. 

In the early days of sunglasses all the trombone section bought a pair and took the lenses out and wore them throughout the Saturday night festival on an away weekend 

A love of football has caused several bandsmen problems over the years -

Another bandsman who was a football fan was Joey Maltby. In those days The Star used to go to football matches and take photos of the crowd and put a ring around one face. One week Joey was the 'lucky' man to be ringed - and was put out of the band for it! 

Billy Hewitt used to live across the road from Sheffield United's ground at Bramall Lane. He was very keen that bandsmen should not be allowed to get away with breaking Army regulations by attending this 'sinful' place. He would stand outside the ground keeping an eye on the turnstiles and write down in a little book the name of any bandsman seen going into the match. This done, he would then run up the stairs into his bedroom, which overlooked the ground, and watch the game! 

The afore-mentioned Billy Hewitt was often to be found on the march with the band. He would sometimes walk backwards alongside the march exorting members of the public to follow the band and attend the meetings. 'Come to the Army.' he would shout. On one occasion, whilst walking backwards and on seeing a man smoking he shouted in his best Sheffield slang  'Young man. If God had intended thee to smoke e'd 'ave put a chimney on thee 'ead.' to which the man shouted back. 'Aye. An' if God 'ad intended thee to walk backwards 'e'd a put thee 'ead on t'other way round!' The band had trouble marching straight for a while - let alone playing! 

Big Changes in the Fifties

Major and Mrs. Rhys Dumbleton took command in May 1956 and made an immediate impact, But whilst Major Dumbleton had great respect for the past he also looked closely at the present whilst making plans for the future. 

By August of the same year the Census Board were already considering the future of the Bath Street-based Young People's Corps - and indeed the main building at Cross Burgess Street as well. There was a feeling that perhaps Bath Street had outlived its usefulness and that it was time to bring the whole corps back under the same roof, by refurbishing the Citadel. 

At a Census board meeting it was decided that Bath Street should be sold (if a fair price could be obtained) irrespective of whether or not the Citadel was re-constructed. The feeling being that sufficient space could be found to accommodate the Sunday School somehow. 

The weekend of the 11th to 13th April, 1957 was the final weekend in the Citadel before refurbishment commenced. Meetings were conducted by the Divisional Commander Brigadier and Mrs.A.Renshaw, who reminded the Corps of the great financial effort needed to raise the £25,000 (the same amount as to build the whole complex, including the shops, in 1894) for the building work. 

Homeless Corps

The Corps had been officerless at times in the past, but now things were much worse - they were homeless!  Wandering nomadically around Sheffield to hold their various activities. From May 13th, 1957 to March 2nd, 1958 the Corps was out of the Cross Burgess Street hall. Sunday meetings were held in the Memorial Hall at the back of the City Hall, 

Saturday and Monday meetings were held in the Wolstenholm Hall, the church hall belonging to Sheffield Cathedral. For a while Songster practice, Singing Company practice and Home League were held in the Surrey Street Methodist Chapel, but when this church closed down (nothing to do with our lot apparently) they used the Victoria Hall on Norfolk Street. 

The Young People's Band rehearsed in the basement of the Men's Hostel on Fitzwilliam Street and the Womens Fellowship used the same building on Wednesday evenings. Torchbearers and the Lifesaving Sections met in Sharrow Lane County School. The Senior Band rehearsed in the Transport Department's band rooms in their Shoreham Street and Tenter Street depots. For the very last Sunday out of the Citadel the Corps shared the Blind Institute because the City Hall was being used for the Annual National Coal Board Brass Band Contest and Concert. 

Opening of Refurbished Hall

According to the Corps history book, March 8th, 1958 was '....the greatest day in the Citadel corps since it's opening over 78 years ago in 1894.' Royalty and the General rubbed shoulders on this splendid occasion. 

But after a few years there were problems. There was a building scheme of sorts in the late 1960's and it was requested in a letter to the Divisional Commander from the citadel's commanding Officer that a £1,000 legacy left to the Corps in 1969 be ‘....placed aside for furnishings in the new hall.' But it's taken until now to get moving. 

Help from Home League?

The Home League was started by Mrs.Warrin and Mrs.Owen, (wives of the Treasurer and Secretary respectively,) and became the first locals. 

Home League Secretaries

Mrs.Owen?circa 1912, Mrs.Turner, Mrs.Parkinson circa 1927, Mrs.Lineham circa 1935, (Singers Leader Mrs.Nunn circa 1935,) Mrs.Samuel circa 1941, Mrs.Snape circa retired 1961 or 2 after 33 years as a local officer. Ivy Atkin circa 1980, Dora Short (dates?) 

A Suitable Hall

Despite the major renovations of 1957-58, the building at Cross Burgess Street was starting to show it's age and maintenance was continuously needed.   The early 1970s were marked by discussions as to what should be done.   Several options for alternative premises were considered and rejected.   As well as questions about if we should refurbish or move, the cost of either option was substantial.  

By 1992 the situation was becoming critical and a detailed study was made of the existing building, showing the large amounts of money needed.   Whilst recognising that the building no longer met the future needs, many  were  emotionally attached to this site which had such a significant history.   The dilemma did not abate. 

On 14th/15th November 1992, the nineteen members of the Corps Council met at Whirlow Grange for a weekend Retreat to wait upon God, to consider the practical realities and to come to a decision.  Though prior opinions within the Council appeared to be quite closely balanced, by late Sunday morning the right way forward was clear by a heavy margin.   After some further discussion of the implications, member returned to the evening meeting at Cross Burgess Street where the decision to seek to relocate out of the immediate City Centre was announced by Major Geoff Rowney to the gathered congregation, whilst members of the Corps Council were sitting symbolically behind him to 'own' their decision.  The time that followed was an amazing experience of God at work in people's lives and in His plans for the future work in Sheffield.

 

The practical outworking of this decision was not easy. Few suitable sites  were  available and those that were proved abortive.   It took a further six years before land at Psalter Lane was purchased and planning permission was obtained for a brand new purpose-built place of worship on the present site.    General John Gowans opened the new building on 20 May 2000.

[Further details can be found in Paul Wileman's book "Sheffield's Citadel", published by The Hallamshire Press (1999)]