‘The Night of a Thousand Fuses’ occurred in 1962 when lights went out all over Sheffield. Loxley Park resident Tony Brown was one of the electrical engineers who helped switch them back on.
Gaslight was the only illumination in many Sheffield homes when Tony Brown began work in 1954 as an apprentice engineer with the YEB (Yorkshire Electricity Board). He was 16 and had just left High Storrs Grammar School. Tony trained in all aspects of electrical engineering, and often worked on pylons carrying high-voltage cables.
His early career coincided with the electrification of rural areas around Sheffield. “People were delighted when we linked their homes to the National Grid,” he recalls, “but it took a bit of getting used to for some. A farmer in Oughtibridge asked how he could avoid getting his fingers burnt. He thought he could have only one light bulb, and had been unscrewing it each time he moved to different rooms.”
Tony was born at Walkley in August of 1938. He and his younger brother, Phillip, grew up in a house without electricity. “Our mum used an iron heated by gas, and we were accustomed to the low hissing of gas lighting — it’s a sound I can hear even now.” As Tony’s career with the YEB progressed he became a supervisor responsible for establishing new electrical sub-stations, and planning the routes of cables to new housing developments. “My colleagues and I had one purpose — bring power to the people. But during the 1960s there was an exponential rise in electrical usage that at times blew sub-station fuses. At one point, the use of electric fires in Sheffield had to be banned. Thunderstorms could be particularly exciting in my line of work, and it was not unusual for them to cause outages. In winter, ice six inches deep could form on cables and snap them. Whenever the power went off, we did not go home until it was restored.”
The most dramatic (electrifying) period Tony remembers occurred during Sheffield’s ‘Great Storm’ of mid-February 1962. Homes across the city were devastated, and falling trees brought down power cables. “I nicknamed it the Night of a Thousand Fuses,” says Tony, “because there were multiple power shutdowns across the city.” Tony and his late wife, Gail, married at Wadsley Church in 1963, and their first home was a two-up, two-down house they rented for nine shillings and ten pence a week (about 50p in modern money) that was near a YEB depot at Stocksbridge. They later bought a house at Oughtibridge, where they lived for 42 years, then moved to Stannington. The couple had twin sons, Michel, now resident in South Wales, and Kevin, who lives in Exeter. Gail passed away in 2024, and not long afterwards, Tony had a bad fall, which meant he had to spend time in the hospital.
He came live at Loxley Park eight months ago, bringing with him his collection of several hundred postcards featuring all kinds of interesting scenes. One of them features a photograph taken in July, 1941, showing a shot-down German Messerschmitt ME 109 fighter plane on display in Sheffield’s Barker’s Pool. It is of particular interest to Tony because, as a child, his parents paid sixpence for him to sit in the cockpit. “I love living at Loxley Park,” says Tony. It’s like being part of a big and very happy family. The staff are lovely, and there are always interesting residents to talk with.”
At Loxley Park, we have 75 one and two-bedroom apartments offering long-term residency or a short stay to recover after an operation, or perhaps to give your carers a break.
Our apartments are either fully furnished for short-stays ,or bring your own furniture from home for long-term stays. Staff at Loxley Park are highly trained and caring. As well as providing 24-hour emergency cover, they will work with you to develop a care plan that exactly suits your requirements. We have an activities team on site, which schedules regular excursions and on-site activities seven days a week, ranging from tai chi to sequence dancing and flower arranging.
There is a laundry service, a hairdresser, and an excellent restaurant that serves food three times daily, though meals can be served in residents’ apartments if they wish.
