Roland Roberts Autobiography
My name is Roland Roberts, I am 77 and I have lived here on this street for over 35, almost 40 years now. I was born in Sheffield but mainly stayed in the centre and only moved out to this street when my wife June's job took us here. I was born in 1884 on the 31st March and my brother Graham was born in 1905 on the 15th October. I lived with my mother Gracie Roberts (1854-1916) , my father Malcolm Roberts (1851-1917) and my brother Graham a tersest house till I moved out with my gorgeous wife June in 1907 to take over my father's butchers shop and to give me and my wife more space and chance to think about building our own family. Both me and my brother went to Sheffield Grammar School, which is where I met June; we shared Mathematics, Latin and Latin History classes where I made her laugh and sat next to her so that she could help me understand better, my footballing and cricketing skills impressed her as well and we've been happy ever since. I attended Grammar School until I was 15 when I started working with my father in the family butchers shop, which I then took over when his hands couldn't handle the meat anymore and his age slowed him down, but he liked to stay around the shop as he inherited it from his father and my grandfather Jeffery Roberts (1818-1870). In my youth and junior years I would go to the park with my friends and we'd play sports such as Cricket and Football, I always played goalie (I was better than Sam Hardy or a modern day Gordon Banks or Lev Yashin) but my friends always wanted to be a Daniel Shea or a modern day Bobby Charleton or Denis Law and impress the girls with great goals. When we weren't playing football we spent days in the sun by the lake skimming rocks, climbing trees, swimming, catching fish and frogs.
I married my wife June in 1909 at our local church and by our local priest and we had a beautiful baby daughter who we named Helen. The three of us lived in our cosy detached house together until Helen past her 11-plus and went to an all-new Secondary Modern School and she trained to be an Estate Agent. Helen contacted Estate Agencies across the UK and was given a place in an Agency in London where she moved to and met her husband James to who she married and gave me and June to beautiful baby grandsons William and Thomas. Me and June stayed in our detached house for quite a while before June's work (as a midwife) resulted in us having to move house as she'd been offered a high position and ultimately a higher wage at a midwifery outside of Sheffield's centre, so we sold our house and bought a new one on this cosy street where I live now. I suppose the hardest part of moving was saying goodbye to the area that I'd lived in for 30 years and having to hand over the family business to another manager...who unfortunately was outside of the family but I'm sure will do Roberts Butchers proud, well Roberts Butchers & Co now I suppose it's called.
I live alone now as my beautiful wife June sadly past, my brother is part of the navy and lives in Portsmouth whilst my daughter lives with her husband and family down in London. I would say it would get lonely up here in Sheffield if it weren't for the community family I have here on the street. When we moved to the street I set up a local shop and this shop has become the heart of the street and I guess has kind of made me the Grandpa of the street; knowing everybody and seeing smiles coming in and out of my shop. My shop has become a sort of passion for me and working there everyday has become something I thoroughly enjoy- it makes waking up in the morning worth it, I do love my shop. Overtime working in a shop like mine, you grow close bonds with familiar customers- there's of course Bonnie who's a lovely, sweet girl with the world at her feet whether the world is ready for a girl like that is my only concern, and of course the peculiar London chap from the next street who always has a story to tell; it's as if he notices and narrates our lives, and of course Leighton who I'd say I've grown very close to and adopted him as my third grandson if you will. He's a hard worker who will both deliver papers, stack shelves and even work the till if my back is giving me trouble, he's a quite boy but comes out of his shell more around me and is another one who came up from London, something to do with an 'accident' or 'situation' but he won't tell me what exactly. It's been one of my rules that I will always make people feel welcome and part of the community whilst I'm here as our sense of community here is what makes this street one of the best in the Queen's Britain let alone Sheffield.
Although I did say that I'm passionate about my shop, I do have huge a passion for the British sports too! Especially the cricket and football which I try to always either listen to it on the radio or go to see; I usually have it on in the shop but I find myself trying to explain the rules to Leighton more than I do actually following the events of the game. My love for the sports has stemmed from Grammar School when I represented my school in both our football and cricket team- in fact I captained our cricket team and we won both the football and cricket cup of 1899. I was the quite the sportsman I must say back in the day, I even got scouted to play for Huddersfield Town however I wasn't allowed to play for them as my dad told me that it would stop me from working in the butchers, although I still like to dream of what it would be like if I were playing along the side the likes of Billy Walker and Ernest Simms.
I believe people see me as a very caring and approachable man (which I am) who everyone can trust as he always wears his happy and jolly smile. I'd say I'm quite well-known on this street thanks to my shop and at the fact that I'm always up for conversation and happy to meet new faces and make new friends. And vice versa, I like and get along best with those who are friendly, polite and will stop for conversation, it's people like these you see who keep the sense of community and this street and bring us all together. Back at Grammar School and in my Latin History class I was well-known for my sense of humour and tendency to be mischievous, however nowadays my humour seems to be outdated, Bonnie especially tells me that she doesn't get my jokes. I do enjoy living on this street and I'm a very happy person, however what I do dislike is the state of crime and protests in our day and age, I hate the unnecessary amount of crime and these protests all of a sudden; June never complaint over Women's Rights so I don't understand why they're's suddenly so many protests, and as for immigration well, I just hope we don't let too many of 'em in otherwise we'll lose our British handiwork and what makes us British, and then all of this Gay Right malarkey too! They know it is a crime or that they're just ill and I don't know what they can complain about-I try telling Leighton about it whenever it comes on but he must be too young to understand or that I talk about it too much, that's one of my worst traits I'll admit, talking about my complaints too much.
I think my plans for the future I pretty simple and perfect to me, I've not really got long left in my corner shop and retirement is coming very soon, so I plan to retire and hand my shop over to Leighton because I know he'd do wonders with it. After retiring I may stay on the street or perhaps travel down to London to be with my family and be a grandpa for William and Thomas and helping Helen and James out with their busy lives. And then when my time comes I'll go up to join June and my old pal Jim from Grammar School who I used to write to until he died 7 years ago. That'd be my ideal retirement, I'd also write to Leighton asking how the shop is going and hopefully write to Bonnie making sure she's making the best of her life.
I married my wife June in 1909 at our local church and by our local priest and we had a beautiful baby daughter who we named Helen. The three of us lived in our cosy detached house together until Helen past her 11-plus and went to an all-new Secondary Modern School and she trained to be an Estate Agent. Helen contacted Estate Agencies across the UK and was given a place in an Agency in London where she moved to and met her husband James to who she married and gave me and June to beautiful baby grandsons William and Thomas. Me and June stayed in our detached house for quite a while before June's work (as a midwife) resulted in us having to move house as she'd been offered a high position and ultimately a higher wage at a midwifery outside of Sheffield's centre, so we sold our house and bought a new one on this cosy street where I live now. I suppose the hardest part of moving was saying goodbye to the area that I'd lived in for 30 years and having to hand over the family business to another manager...who unfortunately was outside of the family but I'm sure will do Roberts Butchers proud, well Roberts Butchers & Co now I suppose it's called.
I live alone now as my beautiful wife June sadly past, my brother is part of the navy and lives in Portsmouth whilst my daughter lives with her husband and family down in London. I would say it would get lonely up here in Sheffield if it weren't for the community family I have here on the street. When we moved to the street I set up a local shop and this shop has become the heart of the street and I guess has kind of made me the Grandpa of the street; knowing everybody and seeing smiles coming in and out of my shop. My shop has become a sort of passion for me and working there everyday has become something I thoroughly enjoy- it makes waking up in the morning worth it, I do love my shop. Overtime working in a shop like mine, you grow close bonds with familiar customers- there's of course Bonnie who's a lovely, sweet girl with the world at her feet whether the world is ready for a girl like that is my only concern, and of course the peculiar London chap from the next street who always has a story to tell; it's as if he notices and narrates our lives, and of course Leighton who I'd say I've grown very close to and adopted him as my third grandson if you will. He's a hard worker who will both deliver papers, stack shelves and even work the till if my back is giving me trouble, he's a quite boy but comes out of his shell more around me and is another one who came up from London, something to do with an 'accident' or 'situation' but he won't tell me what exactly. It's been one of my rules that I will always make people feel welcome and part of the community whilst I'm here as our sense of community here is what makes this street one of the best in the Queen's Britain let alone Sheffield.
Although I did say that I'm passionate about my shop, I do have huge a passion for the British sports too! Especially the cricket and football which I try to always either listen to it on the radio or go to see; I usually have it on in the shop but I find myself trying to explain the rules to Leighton more than I do actually following the events of the game. My love for the sports has stemmed from Grammar School when I represented my school in both our football and cricket team- in fact I captained our cricket team and we won both the football and cricket cup of 1899. I was the quite the sportsman I must say back in the day, I even got scouted to play for Huddersfield Town however I wasn't allowed to play for them as my dad told me that it would stop me from working in the butchers, although I still like to dream of what it would be like if I were playing along the side the likes of Billy Walker and Ernest Simms.
I believe people see me as a very caring and approachable man (which I am) who everyone can trust as he always wears his happy and jolly smile. I'd say I'm quite well-known on this street thanks to my shop and at the fact that I'm always up for conversation and happy to meet new faces and make new friends. And vice versa, I like and get along best with those who are friendly, polite and will stop for conversation, it's people like these you see who keep the sense of community and this street and bring us all together. Back at Grammar School and in my Latin History class I was well-known for my sense of humour and tendency to be mischievous, however nowadays my humour seems to be outdated, Bonnie especially tells me that she doesn't get my jokes. I do enjoy living on this street and I'm a very happy person, however what I do dislike is the state of crime and protests in our day and age, I hate the unnecessary amount of crime and these protests all of a sudden; June never complaint over Women's Rights so I don't understand why they're's suddenly so many protests, and as for immigration well, I just hope we don't let too many of 'em in otherwise we'll lose our British handiwork and what makes us British, and then all of this Gay Right malarkey too! They know it is a crime or that they're just ill and I don't know what they can complain about-I try telling Leighton about it whenever it comes on but he must be too young to understand or that I talk about it too much, that's one of my worst traits I'll admit, talking about my complaints too much.
I think my plans for the future I pretty simple and perfect to me, I've not really got long left in my corner shop and retirement is coming very soon, so I plan to retire and hand my shop over to Leighton because I know he'd do wonders with it. After retiring I may stay on the street or perhaps travel down to London to be with my family and be a grandpa for William and Thomas and helping Helen and James out with their busy lives. And then when my time comes I'll go up to join June and my old pal Jim from Grammar School who I used to write to until he died 7 years ago. That'd be my ideal retirement, I'd also write to Leighton asking how the shop is going and hopefully write to Bonnie making sure she's making the best of her life.
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