Heritage Detectives!

There was a mystery to be solved at Heeley City Farm this summer as twelve young Heritage investigators came together for an exciting week of hands on history, mystery and story!

Helped by the project organisers, Andy Messer a local storyteller, Lauren Heart a teacher, actor and Heeley Explore volunteer, and Sally Rodgers the Heeley City Farm Community Heritage Officer, the group set about solving the mystery which gradually unfolded over 5 days.

On the first day the group met a mysterious man, who thought his name was ‘Mickey’, and that the date was December 15^th 1940 (the date of the Sheffield Blitz and the night Heeley was bombed!) Mickey said he lived on the Farm site (which was Victorian terraced houses until the 1970’s). The group had to help him get his memory back using clues each day.

'Mickey' - the mystery man!

The group found all sorts of different clues in different places during the week. On the first day they visited the Heeley History Group to find out more about Heeley during the 1940’s and to speak to people who had lived through the Sheffield Blitz. 

Playing a 1940's game with the Heeley History Group

A visit to Weston Park Museum helped the group find out about Sheffield in the past.  Clara Morgan (Curator of Social History) kindly showed the group a real incendiary bomb that had dropped on Sheffield. 

Museum Sheffield staff demonstrate the bomb!

They also visited The Hawley Collection at Kelham Island Museum where Mr Ken Hawley himself answered lots of questions about the mystery man and what his job might have been. 

Looking at the Hawley Collection at Kelham Island

One Day 4 the group had a extra special behind the scenes tour of the Sheffield Archives where they got to move the massive shelves by turning big wheels and they were shown Sheffield Medieval Market charter – one of the oldest documents Sheffield has!.Cheryl Bailey the Senior Archivist had laid out lots of documents in the reading room for the group to look at and finally answer all the questions about who this mystery man was and how he had ended up in 2012.

Getting to the bottom of the mystery at Sheffield Archives

The final day saw Mickey (who turned out really to be Willie) re-united with his grand daughter and safely send back through time to 1940.

Solved!

A huge thank you to Kelham Island Museum, Sheffield Archives and The Heeley History group for all working together to create this adventure and to Sheffield Museums Trust and The Council for British Archaeology who funded the project. It was a fantastic week enjoyed equally by all the staff and the young people, who managed to achieve a very impressive total of 205 hours between them for their Children’s University Passports.