Hillsborough warehouse goes to the (support) dogs

Good afternoon readers — and welcome to this week’s Monday briefing.

Given the dreary weather, we thought we’d start you off with some good news in today’s big story. A locally-based charity that trains support dogs is about to embarking on its biggest project yet, converting a disused warehouse into a purpose-built training facility so it can double the number of people it helps each year.

Also, the (rock) circus came to town this weekend and a local craft has been revived after decades.

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Catch up

For our weekend read, Carey Davies wrote about an unusual partnership just outside Sheffield: rock climbers and the rare ring ouzel or “mountain blackbird”. For most of the year, these delightful birds can be found in Morocco, but they migrate to remote locations in northern Europe every summer to breed. Those that nest in the Peak District have even been found by scientists to have slight Derbyshire accents! You can read that piece here.

Last week, Dan tried to answer the question on everyone’s lips — is Sheffield’s local Conservative group okay? — after its chair has been posting some fairly alarming things online. You can read an excerpt of that piece below.

The next one expresses admiration for Andrew Tate, who is currently in Romania awaiting trial on rape and human trafficking charges. “I don’t agree with him but I am not closed minded,” he says. “He says things like don’t drink alcohol and be respectful to your parents and work out. How can you tell me anything there isn’t sensible?” He also says things like it’s okay to beat women, I reply. “I have never heard him say that but if he had said that I wouldn't approve of it, would I,” he adds. Similarly, in the post saying Donald Trump and Big Pharma, he claims he wasn’t endorsing the President’s view that pharmaceutical firms have caused autism and other illnesses, but merely saying he was brave for saying so. “I didn’t endorse it,” he says. “This is desperate reaching.”

The big picture: Rock N Roll Circus 🎪

Over the weekend, the (rock n roll) circus came to town, for a three-day festival at Don Valley Bowl, headlined by Richard Hawley, Becky Hill and Milburn. The Steel City Snapper (@steelcitysnaps on X) took the above photo of local legend Hawley during his set.

The big story: Hillsborough warehouse goes to the (support) dogs

Top line: A locally-based charity that trains support dogs is embarking on the “most ambitious project” in its more than 30-year history, after receiving permission from the council to convert an empty warehouse into its new headquarters.

Who? Support Dogs, currently based near Meadowhall, is a national charity that offers its services entirely for free, despite receiving no government funding.

Doggy design: The charity is planning to convert Elsworth House, an empty warehouse near the Hillsborough stadium, into a new office and training space so that it can more than double the number of people it helps each year. Over the last few years, the charity has seen a “significant increase” in the number of people who need a support dog and currently has to train its students in local parks, which makes the process take longer. With a specially-designed training facility, it believes it can go from training 20 dogs a year to training 50.

Unanimous support: Unsurprisingly, of the 15 comments submitted by the public on the charity’s planning application, every single one of them was entirely positive. One local resident wrote:

A lady who lives around the corner from myself has a Registered Assistance Dog that has been trained by this wonderful Sheffield-based charity and I see the difference that it has made to her everyday life. The building has been vacant for a very long time and it would make an excellent new training facility… Staff and visiting clients and their families would also help boost the local economy and support local jobs.

Working like a dog: The charity’s canine alumni — around a quarter of which are unwanted pets or come from rescues — embark on one of three training pathways:

• Autism assistance dogs, like labrador Peggy, are trained to support autistic children, calming them down in overwhelming environments and keeping them safe. Thanks to Peggy, eight-year-old Noah is far more comfortable leaving the house and trying new things, since he knows he can rely on her when he gets stressed in social situations.

• Seizure alert dogs, like Cobbie, are potentially life-saving for people with conditions like epilepsy. Nicola, a former police officer, began having around eight major seizures every week after suffering from a head injury and sometimes seriously injured herself when she collapsed while cooking or going down the stairs. Now, Cobbie warns her around 40 minutes before a seizure strikes, allowing her to lie down and ensure she is safe.

  

• Disability assistance dogs — like Chorizo, the UK’s first ever daschund assistance dog — help people with physical disabilities to complete tasks. Chorizo’s owner was diagnosed with multiple schlerosis in 2016 and, a year later, used a wheelchair and suffered from severe nerve damage in her leg. Chorizo can open and close doors, pick up small items she has dropped and, when they’re out and about, walk next to her damaged leg to prevent people accidentally bumping into it.

What’s next? The charity’s long-term plan is to purchase the building, although this will be no small feat, given it relies wholly on donations. Fundraising manager Danny Anderson told the BBC the charity was planning a number of phased appeals to make the project work, allowing Support Dogs “to turn this disused warehouse into something really special so we can help many more lives”.

Coming up

This week, we’ll be sending out two more editions of The Tribune to our thousands of paying subscribers. For the first, Dan spoke to a man fighting to hold his former church to account, after alleging he suffered a horrific experience at its hands. In the second, Dan visits Ecclesall Road, once called Sheffield’s “golden mile”, to found out why the formerly bustling shopping street is now struggling. To enjoy those, become a full-fledged Tribune subscriber today — it costs just £1.71 a week or a mere 24p a day (about one sip’s worth of a decent coffee) if you pay for 12 months up front.

This week’s weather 🌦️

Our weather forecast comes from dedicated Sheffield weather service Steel City Skies, who say this will be a humid week, with bright spells, isolated showers and fairly average temperatures.

Monday ☁ Humid with extensive cloud and murk, along with patches of drizzle. Isolated downpours developing later. Highs of 21°C.

Tuesday 🌦 A few showers early on, but cloud should break to brighter spells with a trend to drier conditions for all. Light winds, highs of 20°C.

Wednesday ⛅ Bright and generally dry everywhere, with some sunshine. Winds turning more northerly, with showers isolated. Highs of 20°C.

Thursday 🌥 Keens winds from the northeast may usher in more cloud off the North Sea, but many places should stay dry. Fresher with highs of 19°C.

Friday 🌥 Risk of a shower, but otherwise good spells of dry and brighter weather are expected after a dull and damp start. Winds from the northeast; 21°C.

Weekend: Low pressure to the south will threaten a few showers, but the weekend should also feature some pleasantly warm and brighter spells, too. Humid.

To see the full forecast and keep up to date with any changes to the outlook, follow Steel City Skies on Facebook.

Our media picks 🔗

Nigerian fintech chief fined $250m after holdings described as a ‘fiction’ ⚽ The Nigerian fraudster who attempted to buy Sheffield United last year has been fined $250m, the Financial Times reports, after it was revealed that the success of his business empire was “virtually entirely fabricated”. Dozy Mmobuosi lied about the performance of his companies — for example, claiming one has assets of more than $460m in 2022 when its balance was less than $50 — in order to defraud potential investors. Now, it appears that the Blades will be sold to a group of US-based investors, although so far negotiations have dragged on for months with little sign of progress.

Axe to grind: toolmaking father and daughter revive lost Sheffield tradition 🪓 Axes are being forged in the city for the first time in decades, the Guardian reports, thanks to a father-daughter duo frustrated by a market flooded with cheap, poor-quality tools. Robin and JoJo Wood are the co-founders of Wood Tools and decided to branch out into axes because they are required for traditional spoon carving, which the pair also teach courses in. All their tools are finished by 28-year-old grinder Zak Wolstenholme, who trained with and inherited the workshop of the city’s last jobbing grinder, Brian Alcock, after he died last year.

Fraudster songwriter captured when he returned for daughter’s wedding 🎤 The Sunday Times reports that a successful Sheffield-based songwriter, who fled the country after leading a £40 million tax fraud scheme, was captured by chance after returning to the UK for his daughter’s wedding in 2019, when he was stopped by an officer over an unrelated matter. Stephen Pigott — who wrote and produced for artists like Pet Shop Boys, Rod Stewart and Céline Dion — was first jailed in 2005 and fled the country after his release, since it was ruled in 2009 that he would return to prison unless he repaid the £1.54 million he still owed. Pigott had led a scheme to buy mobile phones in the EU and sell them in the UK, without paying the necessary import taxes, even applying for a passport in the name of a dead child.

Home of the week 🏡

A one-bedroom flat in a Grade II-listed warehouse conversion in Victoria Quays is now available, featuring a spacious living room with exposed brick walls and a mezzanine bedroom. It could be yours for as little as £140,000 — find out more here.

Tribune tips: If you want to tell us about a story or give us some information, please email editor@sheffieldtribune.co.uk. We are always happy to speak to people off the record, and we will treat your information with confidence and sensitivity.

Things to do 📆

Art 🖼️ On Wednesday, enjoy a special evening of performances inspired by the exhibition We Are Monument exhibition at Graves Gallery. As part of the exhibition, curator Yuen Fong Ling has created newly commissioned work Monumentalise, a series of short films featuring performers interacting with artworks and objects from Sheffield’s collections. Tickets are £20, and doors open at 6.30pm.

Film 🇨🇱 Pablo Navarrete's parents were forced to leave Chile after a military coup in 1973 and made a new home for themselves in London. Filmed over more than three years, Mother, Country is a deeply personal film that follows the director as he travels back to Chile with his parents in 2020 to witness a people’s uprising and finally confront their past. Given Sheffield’s sizable community of Chileans who fled the coup, the film will be shown at The Lescar on Thursday, followed by a Q&A with the director and his mother. Tickets are priced £5-£11 and doors open 6:30pm.

Music 🎸 Performing on Tuesday night at The Leadmill are the Bootleg Beatles, the world’s most legendary tribute to arguably the world’s greatest band. Formed in 1980, the band have now played more than 4,000 shows at venues including the Royal Albert Hall, Glastonbury and as far afield as the US and India. Tickets £25. Doors open at 7.30pm.