Better than medicine: Enjoying Sheffield's 'Natural Health Service'

Good afternoon members — and welcome to Thursday’s Tribune.

Sheffield was recently named the greenest city in the UK. The beauty and value of our parks and woodlands have long been one of the city’s major selling points. And evidence shows that during the Covid-19 pandemic, even more of us than ever discovered the joys of spending time in our local green spaces. But how are the places that kept us healthy and sane during lockdown likely to fare as a new era of austerity begins? David Bocking reports.

Editor’s note: This edition of The Tribune is written for our members but non-members are also being sent the first part of the email in the hope of enticing them to become paid subscribers! The Tribune is entirely funded by our members and we still need many more to become a sustainable news source that can serve Sheffield for years to come. We would be delighted if you joined us as a paid member today to get the full story below and all of our members-only journalism.

News round-up

🏗️ A supermarket accused of disregarding Sheffield’s heritage and environment for the sake of “a few spaces in a large car park” has submitted a revised design for their proposed store. As previously reported by The Tribune, earlier this year, Lidl announced plans for a store at St Mary’s Retail Park. However, campaigners say the firm’s revised application does very little to allay their concerns and are urging residents to object again to the new proposal.

🗳️ The Frog and Parrot in Sheffield city centre seems to be becoming the unlikely setting for a series of high profile political interviews. This time it’s Rachel Wearmouth from the New Statesman who is speaking to (yes, you guessed it) Eddie Izzard in the popular Division Street boozer. In the piece, Izzard talks about her “radically moderate” politics, her long links with the city of Sheffield, and her political heroes (Abraham Lincoln and Nelson Mandela).

🎵 A fascinating piece on the Tradfolk website about the Sheffield Carols, a hyperlocal pub singing tradition which begins this month. While festivities won’t be starting for several more weeks across the rest of the country, in a select number of village pubs around the northeast of Sheffield, mid-November (and on into December, obviously), it’s firmly carol season. But don’t expect the usual dreary tunes, these folky, earthy songs are carols as they used to be.

Things to do

🏛️ Sheffield General Cemetery’s beautiful Samuel Worth Chapel has two very different events taking place this weekend. On Friday, music night Into The Trees will play dark 1980s post punk, new wave and synth pop from 8.30pm-1am. And on Saturday, poet Otis Mensah and author Désirée Reynolds will present an immersive exhibition about Dig Where You Stand, an exploration of black and marginalised voices in the Sheffield City Archives (7pm-9pm).

🖼️ Returning for the ninth year in a row on Saturday, 12 November, the Sheffield Print Fair brings together 43 artists working in techniques ranging from intaglio, woodcut, linocut, collagraph, etching, letterpress, screen and digital. The fair will take place in the Millennium Gallery from 10am-4pm and the first 50 people through the door will receive a free Sheffield Print Fair tote bag, designed by Yorkshire artist Laura Slater. The suggested donation is £1.

🌱 This Sunday, 13 November, from 10.30am-4.00pm, dozens of vegan traders will set up stall on The Moor for the Sheffield Vegan Market. The regular event, which is held in over 50 locations nationwide, will feature a huge variety of plant-based street food. On the day there will also be artisan bakers, craft brewers, ethical jewellers, small-batch soapers, sustainable chandlers, local artists, zero-waste champions, environmental charities and loads more.

Better than medicine: Enjoying Sheffield's 'Natural Health Service'

What people want in a park or a woodland amenity is a view, a brew and a loo. Every park and countryside professional knows this adage, and some add extra ‘oo’ elements, such as summat to do, or somewhere to put your dog poo.  

We’ve made good use of the city’s 800 (or so) green spaces over the last two years: the views were always there, although the tea-brewing cafes were shut down for a time during lockdown and the loos were out of action for a while too, before the authorities realised that so many people were using the bushes instead that a better public health measure might be to reopen the toilets. 

Earlier this month, the return of the Ecclesall Woods ‘Feast in the Forest’ jamboree celebrated the return of some kind of normality to the city’s green space facilities, with around 5,000 people sampling artisan coffees, wood fired pizzas and craft soap. Kids in hand knitted jumpers toasted marshmallows and gathered acorns, while their grandparents chatted to axe wielding wood turners and log splitters.