Sheffield pays its respects

Good afternoon readers — and welcome to our Monday briefing.

“There are decades where nothing happens, and there are weeks where decades happen.” Lenin wrote that before the Russian revolution, but it could equally apply to the UK over the last seven days. A new Prime Minister on Tuesday was swiftly followed by the death of Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday. Today we look at how our region reacted to the Queen’s death and what’s going to take place over the next week until her funeral next Monday.

As well as that, we have an interesting piece about the much-maligned Sheffield suburb of Page Hall, a look back at the Chilean coup of 1973, and details of the University of Sheffield’s Festival of the Mind, which starts on Thursday. 

Catch up and coming up

A huge thanks to everyone who spoke to us for our weekend read about the Queen, her death, and how Sheffield has changed in the last 70 years. You can still read that piece here.

Last week we sent out two great newsletters to our 782 paying members. The first was a lovely piece about a new Ukrainian cafe which is staffed by refugees who have fled the war torn country. And the second was a look at seven questions our new PM Liz Truss has to answer for our region from levelling up to fracking. An extract from that first piece is below:

On the counter, baskets of sunflower-shaped cookies and idyllic paintings of cloudless skies and golden corn hang from the walls. A chalkboard coffee menu written in Ukrainian sits above the coffee machine while community notices promoting local football clubs are pinned to the walls.

This week we’ll send out two more newsletters full of original journalism and great recommendations. To get both and help fund a new way of doing journalism in Sheffield, please consider subscribing using the button below. It costs just £1.34 a week if you pay upfront for a year.

Editor’s note: Thank you for all your support over the last 18 months — there is no way The Tribune could have grown as fast as it has without your help. We really rely on word of mouth to publicise what we’re trying to do, so if you’re enjoying our journalism, please tell your friends and family about us too. The more members we get the bigger and better our stories will be. Thank you.

The big picture: Looking back 😎

Queen Elizabeth II wears 3D glasses to watch a display and pilot a digger during a visit to the University of Sheffield’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre in Rotherham in November 2010. (Photo: John Giles/PA Images via Getty Images).

This week’s weather 🌦

Our weather forecast comes from dedicated Sheffield weather service Steel City Skies, who say low pressure initially brings a warm and muggy mix with rain, however we'll soon see fresher and sunnier weather establish as high pressure builds to the west.

Monday 🌦 A very changeable day with weather fronts bringing showers or longer spells of rain with only brief brighter spells. Warm and muggy with highs of 22°C.

Tuesday ☀️ A much better day with long spells of warm sunshine as we begin to lose the tropical air. Highs of 20°C.

Wednesday 🌤 Fresher air continues to push southwards, with cooler nights especially rurally. Another dry and fine day expected with highs of 18°C.

Thursday 🌤 Barring an isolated shower, many places should see another good day with patchy cloud and good spells of sunshine. Staying fresh with highs of 17°C.

Friday 🌤 Again, with high pressure influential to the west and a clear but gentle feed of cooler air from the north, it's often sunny and fresh with 16°C the high. Chilly overnight.

Outlook: Not a lot of change expected for the weekend with a lot of dry and fine weather expected with average temperatures and chilly nights with mist patches.

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

The big story: Sheffield pays its respects 💐

Top line: Sheffield has been paying its respects to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, who died last Thursday at the age of 96. An 11-day period of national mourning will end with her funeral on Monday, 19 September.

Touching tributes: As our weekend read made clear, while unquestioned deference may be a thing of the past, a sense of respect remains, especially for the Queen herself. Since her death, flowers have been laid at the Peace Gardens and outside the cathedral.

• Books of condolence were also opened at several places across the city including Sheffield Town Hall and Sheffield Cathedral.
• The local democracy reporting service said that on Sunday, queues stretched around the Town Hall as people waited in line to sign.

Event cancellations: Dozens of sporting events were cancelled across the region — although many others were allowed to continue. Some have questioned why all football (including grassroots football) was called off when cricket, rugby and horse racing were not.

A good piece in The Star by Chris Holt questioned why the football authorities had taken a decision that most other sports didn’t feel was necessary. He wrote:

The biggest tribute huge swathes of the country could muster is to collectively gather and pay their respects at a football ground. That opportunity has been taken away and now football’s fans and players and staff are expected to just be miserable for a few days. There’s no respect in forced mourning.

A new king: Several hundred people attended Barker’s Pool on Sunday to witness the formal proclamation of King Charles III. Sheffield’s Lord Mayor, city councillors and MPs, and South Yorkshire’s Mayor all attended the ceremony, at which the High Sheriff of South Yorkshire read out the proclamation before the crowd sang God Save The King.

Republican sentiment: Not everybody in our region wanted to join in the outpouring of emotion for the late Queen. Some pointed out the irony of a proudly anti-establishment city swearing allegiance to the crown while others complained about the level of news coverage the Queen’s death was being given in comparison to the cost of living and energy crises and the war in Ukraine. After we sent our weekend story out, one person wrote to us: “As you have joined the sycophantic arse kissing, I am no longer interested in receiving your emails.”

Funeral plans: The Queen’s final journey back to London has already begun. However, an original plan to transport her coffin by rail through South Yorkshire via the East Coast main line has been shelved due to safety and security concerns and she will now be flown back to London instead.

• Her funeral will take place on Monday, September 19 — which will be both a national day of mourning and a bank holiday.
• While there is no legal requirement to give staff time off, employers have been asked to “respond sensitively” to requests.

A Sheffield connection: As it happens, the person in charge of the Queen’s funeral is someone with strong links to our city. The Dukes of Norfolk have been associated with Sheffield since the 14th century when Richard II made Thomas Mowbray the first duke, giving him land, offices and grants. Norfolks have organised royal funerals since 1672, with the Queen’s being overseen by the 18th Duke, Edward William Fitzalan-Howard.

Bottom line: Whether you’re a monarchist or a republican, the events of the last week are a significant moment in our national life. Queen Elizabeth II visited Sheffield for the first time in 1954 and returned to the city many times during her reign. She was also one of the last links we have to a past which is rapidly fading from living memory. It’s understandable that many people in our region (although obviously not all) want to see that marked in an appropriate way.

Home of the week 🏡

This two-bedroom townhouse on the former Nether Edge Hospital site is in the original part of the building and has access to a leisure centre and pool. It is on the market for £360,000.

Our media picks 🎧

Page Hall has its problems — but there are reasons to move there 🏡 An interesting story by David Walsh in The Star about the much-maligned Sheffield suburb of Page Hall. The piece is honest and doesn't gloss over the area's many problems, but it also includes an interview with one woman who has lived there for more than 30 years who says she loves it. “I would recommend Page Hall and property is cheap,” she tells him. “Don’t believe the hype.”

Pubs “plagued” by people who want quiet life of Covid says businessman 🍻 An Oktoberfest event at the the Horse and Jockey pub in Hillsborough has been given the go-ahead despite complaints. Residents had raised concerns about potential noise coming from an oompah band that had been booked for the German-themed event, which they said is “by definition and tradition, a bawdy affair”. It will now go ahead on Saturday, 17 September from 6-9pm.

Johny Pitts debuts beautifully evocative exhibition at Graves Gallery 📸 A nice review in Now Then of Home is Not a Place, Firth Park-born Johny Pitts photography exhibition at the Graves Gallery. Writer Maryam Jameela says some of the exhibition has a more formal “pictures on walls” feel. However, it also has parts which function more as art installations, including beaded curtains between rooms and a lounge where you can sit on the couch.

‘The other 9/11’ 🇨🇱

Chilean refugees and their supporters gathered in Barker’s Pool on Saturday to commemorate the 49th anniversary of what they call “the other 9/11” — the overthrow of the democratically elected leader Salvador Allende in 1973.

The coup, which was backed by the United States, led to Allende’s death and widespread persecution and killing of political dissidents in the South American country under the leadership of military dictator General Augusto Pinochet.

During the 1970s and 1980s, around 300 Chilean refugees were welcomed to Sheffield and a road was even named after Allende in Darnall. To find out more about the Chileans who came to Sheffield, see this piece from last year.

Things to do 📆 

Music 🎤 Talking Gigs host unique live events in Sheffield, mixing conversation and music to both inspire and inform their audiences. This Tuesday, 13 September, they will bring the Tanga Pasi Trio to St Andrew’s Church in Nether Edge. The evening will explore Zimbabwe’s musical roots and energetic rhythms, with sweet vocal harmonies in languages including TjiKalanga, Zulu and English. Doors open at 7pm and full-priced tickets are £12.

Heritage 🏭 On Wednesday, 14 September, as part of Sheffield Heritage Open Days 2022, history fans can get a rare chance to peek behind the scenes of Kelham Island Museum’s industrial collection and get a little bit closer to the fascinating objects that aren’t currently on display. On the free tour you will discover more about the industrial collection and how staff look after the many objects in the museum's care. Places are limited so booking is essential.

Festival 🧠 Returning this Thursday, 15 September, the biennial Festival of the Mind, sees the brightest minds from the University of Sheffield collaborate with the city’s cultural and creative industries, to help bring their research to life in exciting, entertaining and innovative ways. Spread over three spaces (the Millennium Gallery, Barker’s Pool and Event Central on Fargate) the festival runs until Sunday, September 25. For a full list of all events click here.