Fairthorn Convalescent Home 

 

The Fairthorn Home began life at Redmires, by the Redmires Dam and reservoir west of Sheffield. Sources held in Aheffield Archive suggest that the home moved from Redmires to 

Townhead Road in

 

In 1964, it was registered as a charity with the following aims:

1) TO PROVIDE FREE HOLIDAYS FOR POOR OR NECESSITOUS CHILDREN

2) TO PROVIDE A CONVALESCENT HOME OR HOUSES FOR SICK OR AILING CHILDREN.

 

The Sheffield Forum has hosted a great discussion about the home in recent years. One person contributed this verse that they remember:

 

"I spent a week at Fairthorn in the early 1930s From what I remember of it, it was then at Redmires,right next to the moors I still remember a song we sang -Fairthorn by the seaFairthorn by the seaIts lovely in the sunshinejust the place for meBeware of Mr ClementsBeware of matron toothey will lock you in the garage and slap your how do you do

It must have done me some good as my health wasn’t very good those days am now 81 and fit as a fiddle."

 

Another Forum contributor remembers some of the details of the home:

 

"I went there in the 1960s, the rooms were colour coded pink, green, yellow and blue. I remember being in the green roomall the walls and bedding were green, then when we went to the dining room my group had green crockery and cutlery. I loved the fresh air and the long walks that we went on.Sometimes we could hear the fox hunters bugling and the hounds braying and we would run inside thinking that they were going to come into the playground. I also remember our parents coming to visit us they would leave us a postal order then we were taken to the post office to cash them, we could buy presents and sweets with the money. I have very happy memories of Fairthorn."

 

Fairthorn was changed into a facility for adults in 1972 and then demolished in around 2006.

 

A photograph of the Home at Dore can be found here.

 

 

 
Dore sometime after 1933 - probably in the 1940s. According to the Dore Village website "originally the building was used by a charity called the Fairthorn Association to provide short breaks in the clean air of Dore for children suffering from the effects of Sheffield smog".

 

LOOKING FOR MORE INFORMATION?

 

Sheffield Archives have some documents and records relating to Fairthorn covering the years 1944 to 1971.

 

Sheffield Archives:

52 Shoreham Street

Sheffield S1 4SP

0114 203 9395

 

archives@sheffield.gov.uk