All posts tagged peace gardens

Five festivals not to miss this autumn in Sheffield

I love the summer in Sheffield but apart from during big events like Tramlines, the city can seem quiet during July and August. Then the holidays come to an end, the students return and before you know it, Sheffield has become home to a run of festivals stretching well into November. Here’s a round up of what’s going on:

Sheffield Food Festival

14-16 September |  sheffieldfoodfestival.org

This three-day festival has moved from July and is now slimmed down from a full week in 2011. There is still lots going on this year, with a themed menu of city centre events for all the family including demonstrations, tastings, workshops and of course an opportunity to gorge on lots of delicious local food and drink.

Don’t miss: The Sheffield Breweries Co-operative (Peace Gardens, Friday 14-Sunday 16 September) Your chance to meet the brewers and drink the beer from nine of our local breweries in a Peace Gardens marquee. Have all our best-loved Sheffield beers ever been available under one roof before?

Festival of the Mind

20-30 September | sheffield.ac.uk/fotm

This new festival hosted by the University of Sheffield could prove to be one of the stand-out events of the year (I should mention that I have some involvement with it though so I am probably a bit biased.) Sheffield’s creative community and academics from the University are coming together to put on over 50 events. There are some intriguing and wonderful collaborations, including Do It Thissen, a celebration of Sheffield’s post-punk music scene, 50 Ideas for Sheffield and virtual art gallery Computer Love.

Don’t miss: The Arrivals Zone. The brilliant Sheffield Publicity Department hosts a dream tourist information kiosk outside the train station in Sheaf square. Expect more than just leaflets about our galleries and museums.

The Last Laugh Comedy Festival

2-30 October | lastlaughcomedyfestival.co.uk

Toby Foster is going solo with this year’s comedy festival and it is now known as the Last Laugh Comedy Festival instead of Grin Up North. You probably won’t notice too much difference though: it’s the usual programme of comedy, from performances fresh from Edinburgh to full-blown arena shows.

Don’t miss: My friend who went to Edinburgh this year recommends Pappy’s sketch troupe, nominated for the Edinburgh Comedy Award this year (12 October, The Greystones) and the excellent storytelling standup Elis James who is charming, engaging and above all, hilarious (19 October, The Lescar).

Octoberfest

11-13 October | bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2012/200811octoberfest.html

South Yorkshire seems to be getting its fair share of BBC events this year, what with The One Show in a very wet Endcliffe park last month, Richard Hawley’s Magna show on 6 Music this weekend and now Radio Five Live is popping over the Pennines for a weekend of events and live broadcasts. Radio Sheffield is involved and the press release says we can expect ‘an eclectic mix of news and sport programming, audience debates and interactive activities in venues across the city’.

Don’t miss: A live audience broadcast of Fighting Talk.

Off the Shelf

13 October-3 November | offtheshelf.org.uk

At 21 years old, is this the oldest festival in Sheffield that is still running? This festival of words includes the usual mix of more well-known faces (Richard Wilson, Benjamin Zephaniah, Stuart Maconie, Peter Hook and Simon Armitage) and topics closer to home (Tracing the Sheffield Jungle, A Sheffield A-Z, Sheffield Stories, Big Sky – Stories from the Edge).

Don’t miss: Praise or Grumble with SRSB. Did you know the radio football phone-in was invented in Sheffield? Or more accurately, by legendary former Radio Sheffield sports editor Bob Jackson, as he lay sunbathing one summer in Cyprus? The Sheffield Royal Society for the Blind’s Mappin Writers host this event with Bob as guest speaker (Saturday 27 October, 2pm, 5 Mappin Street).

And there’s more

There are also some other festivals taking place over the next couple of months in Sheffield including the fourth Celluloid Screams horror film weekend at the Showroom (26-28 October) and the MADE Entrepreneur Festival (19-21 September).

Although there isn’t too much overlap between the festivals I’ve mentioned, they do seem to be tightly packed over a few weeks. Would it be better to move one or two of them to the spring instead?

1 Comment
by Sheffield blog on 4 September, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in beer, comedy, drink, events, festivals, film, food, live, radio, sheffield, university
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Posted by Sheffield blog on 4 September, 2012

http://sheffieldblog.com/2012/09/04/five-festivals-not-to-miss-this-autumn-in-sheffield/

Aerial photos of 1920s Sheffield

Our city nearly a century ago

The Britain from Above photo archive has some great photos of Sheffield take in the 1920s.

Under the terms of the license I can’t publishing them here, so instead I’ve linked to some of the highlights:

Not in Sheffield, but the archive also contains pictures of Sheffield Wednesday United v Cardiff City at Wembley Stadium.

There are also several shots of suburbs, where some of the housing hasn’t yet been built. Areas featured include Millhouses, Beachief, Meadowhead, the Manor, Whirlow, Totley, Coal Aston, Middlewood, Handsworth, Oughtibridge, Attercliffe, Neepsend, Highfield, Sharrow and Firth Park.

Britain from above Sheffield photos

1 Comment
by Sheffield blog on 2 July, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in history, photos, sheffield
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Posted by Sheffield blog on 2 July, 2012

http://sheffieldblog.com/2012/07/02/aerial-photos-of-1920s-sheffield/

Sheffield Christmas market: your opinions wanted

Where is there room for improvement?

Were you one of the 250,000 people that visited the Peace gardens over the festive season for Sheffield Christmas market?

I’ve been asked to gather some opinions of the Christmas market on behalf of the people behind it. What did you think? I’ve put a few thoughts here – feel free to add your own by commenting below.

Last year’s Christmas market felt a bit underwhelming but this year’s was a definite improvement. There were better quality stalls and the ice rink made it feel more like a destination as opposed to just another market.

When passing, the ice rink never looked that busy and felt a bit expensive for Sheffield at £8 for an adult. The price was slashed to £6 for the final few days so perhaps this is a more realistic price to aim for.

It would be great if there were more Christmassy stalls. This would help further differentiate it from some of the other markets we have in Sheffield through the year.

It would also benefit from more local suppliers selling more local products. Sheffield people love buying Sheffield stuff, so to get some of our local food, arts, crafts on sale would be great. It would also make it more uniquely Sheffield instead of a generic Christmas market that you could find a bigger and currently better version of elsewhere, for example in Manchester and Leeds.

One problem with these events in Sheffield is that we don’t seem to have a perfect location for them. The Peace gardens is very prominent, but it does seem a bit cramped in there. The same goes for Fargate – probably our busiest shopping street, but gets horrible bottlenecks when the continental market is on.

One thought would be to host it in the big area they have just flattened where the fire station was. This may a better use of space than another car park until Sevenstone arrives.

There’s no doubt that the current market can be improved. A great Christmas market for Sheffield will take time to establish; we obviously aren’t going to go from nothing to one rivalling others in a couple of years.

What do you think? Has it been a success? Is it the sort of place you would take visitors? And what is it missing? Comment below and your thoughts will be fed back to the organisers.

21 Comments
by Sheffield blog on 4 January, 2011  •  Permalink
Posted in council, markets, sheffield, shopping
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Posted by Sheffield blog on 4 January, 2011

http://sheffieldblog.com/2011/01/04/sheffield-christmas-market-your-opinions-wanted/

Looking back on Tramlines 2010

Sheffield’s urban music festival returns for a second year

So once again the hordes descended on the city centre for the second year of the Tramlines festival. This time it was much bigger than 2009, with an estimated 125,000 people creating an amazing atmosphere around town.

Following feedback from last year, there were some changes for 2010. The problematic ticketing system for the main stage was scrapped in favour of a one-in, one-out policy. This meant that there was queuing down Devonshire street, particularly on the Saturday, but on the whole I think it worked much better and led to the main arena being much fuller for more of the day.

Devonshire street queues

Devonshire street queues

The capacity for Devonshire green was increased to around 8,000, with a bigger area fenced off.  This meant that the spontaneous barbecues and gatherings that took place along the Rare’n'racy stretch of Devonshire street didn’t occur, which was a shame. Most of the businesses along there were inside the enclosure. I understand that the intention was for there to be public access to it via the side gates, but this didn’t seem to happen.

It was good that you were allowed to drink anywhere inside the main stage area, Food wise, I think there is room for more outlets offering a bigger variety of cuisine than we saw this year.

If you wanted to see a particular band then you needed to get there early, allowing time to queue to get in the different venues. Some people seemed annoyed at this but as it is a free festival, I don’t think that much can be done about it. I found that when one band finished playing there was the opportunity to move inside and get a good spot for the next one.

It was possible to avoid the queues if you chose your venues carefully. Drifting between the new music stage in Barker’s pool and also the world stage in the Peace gardens was easy. And I had no problem walking straight in to the Leadmill, Frog and parrot and Soyo at various times over the weekend.

If you didn’t go on the Busker line bus, then you missed out. As well as a practical means of getting around, it became a venue in itself. I overheard one old couple sat behind me on there discussing whether they should go round again. It sounds like they had been on it a while.

Buskerline bus

Buskerline bus

The organisers have said they’d like to make Tramlines even bigger if it returns in 2011. It will be interesting to see how they go about this. I can’t see how the main stage can increase its capacity, although they could also open it on the Friday night.

I also get the feeling that there is a limit on the size of the headliner that Tramlines can accommodate on Devonshire green. Echo and the bunnymen was a perfect fit: an established band that appeals to different generations and has at least a few songs that most people will recognise. If the main band was were really big then although that in some ways would be brilliant, it would also bring with it a whole new level of logistical and security issues.

Echo and the bunnymen

Echo and the bunnymen

There isn’t another obvious city centre location for a bigger stage than Devonshire green. They could look to using the Don valley bowl, but part of the appeal of the festival is its compactness and the atmosphere that is generated in town because of this.

Also, at the moment I don’t think Tramlines is just about getting big names to play. Although having very well known bands playing where you know the songs is great, the festival is as much for me about soaking up the atmosphere around town, checking out some new music and supporting local artists and businesses at the same time.

The organisers have acknowledged that some elements of this year’s festival could have been run better and are still looking for feedback (they have over 500 points on the list already). You can get in touch via Facebook.

And if you want to increase the chances of Tramlines happening again next year, they have also set up a voluntary donation scheme.

All in all it was another great weekend, I think the most exciting of the year to be hanging out in the city centre.

Flickr photos

Tramlines TV videos

Shake aletti Activity Sheffield dancers

Shake aletti Activity Sheffield dancers

Solar disco

Solar disco, Devonshire green

Live art in Soyo

Live art in Soyo

1 Comment
by Sheffield blog on 2 August, 2010  •  Permalink
Posted in arts, bands, beer, festivals, food, live, music, photos, pubs, sheffield, shopping, videos
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Posted by Sheffield blog on 2 August, 2010

http://sheffieldblog.com/2010/08/02/looking-back-on-tramlines-2010/

Sheffield earth hour

Join one billion people switching off their lights

Tomorrow is Sheffield earth hour where local people can join in the largest global demonstration against climate change.

Sheffield town hall, the Peace gardens, Winter garden, Sheffield wheel and Meadowhall’s dome will join one billion people around the world switching of their lights for one hour on March 27 at 8:30pm.

Earth hour is being organised by the World wildlife fund and the council’s sheffieldismyplanet.co.uk campaign is getting behind the city’s involvement.

You can see some of the Sheffield residents, businesses and celebrities that have signed up to support the event in this short promotional video featuring Lords of flatbush’s Steve Edwards, Pete McKee and entrepreneur Julia Gash:

1 Comment
by Sheffield blog on 26 March, 2010  •  Permalink
Posted in arts, bands, council, environment, sheffield
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Posted by Sheffield blog on 26 March, 2010

http://sheffieldblog.com/2010/03/26/sheffield-earth-hour/

Tramlines 2009 – looking back

A few thoughts on Sheffield music city

So the dust has settled on the first Tramlines festival and the general consensus seems to be that it was one of the best all-round weekends that Sheffield has seen for many years.

The atmosphere around town was electric, particularly in the Devonshire quarter where the pubs were heaving and there was stuff going on wherever you looked. On top of all the live music there was also the big wheel, the Fargate continental market and events in Barker’s pool that added to the feel-good factor around the city.

The fine weather on Friday and Saturday certainly helped things get off to a good start, and you were spoilt for choice with regards to what to see. As well as the main stage on Devonshire green, the world stage in the Peace gardens seemed to go down very well and it was great fun to wander in and out of the other city pubs and venues to explore the eclectic line-ups of bands, DJs and performers.

According to @talkelectric, there were an estimated 10-15,000 people in town for the festival and takings for local businesses quadrupled.

Further out of town there was plenty going on too, with the fun carrying on at the Cremorne, Shakespeare and Earl, the BBQ and DJs up at the university and of course the wonderful Rude shipyard on Abbeydale road. This place continued to show the world how a good coffee shop should be run with its own intimate, unamplified live music sessions in the upstairs room accompanied by pints of local cask ale from the Brew company.

There were one or two things that could have been better. The debate continues on Sheffield forum regarding the Devonshire green ticketing arrangements for Saturday and Sunday, where many people were annoyed at either not getting a ticket or not being able to return after leaving the enclosure. It was a bit frustrating being stuck by the main stage all day on Saturday when there were so many other things going on that would have been good to pop out and see.

Some people have grumbled that they were unable to get tickets, but I have to say that after going along at the published time both days, I queued for under an hour and each time came away with tickets with no fuss. There have also been objections to people taking two tickets and keeping both so they could leave and then re-enter Devonshire green, as well as some people getting cross that some ticket holders chose to not enter the main stage area until the evening.

I don’t see why the organisers couldn’t do away with the tickets completely and simply count 5,000 people in and then operate a one-out, one-in policy? I think you would get a natural flow of people leaving to check out the other venues and what’s more, the main stage would have more chance of being at capacity almost all day, which I don’t think was the case this time – almost certainly due to the ticketing.

It would also have been nice to be able to buy a beer and lie back and watch the bands (even if it was a £3.50 can of Red stripe), but with the bar area away from the main stage this was impossible. I guess it was put in place to stop people getting really drunk in the main family area and in that sense it seemed to work.

The people that didn’t get tickets were forced to drink and dance in the streets on the other side of the fences, which by the looks of things actually looked as least as much fun as being in the pen.

The rain on Sunday was a bit of a downer and after seeing a tweet that said the main stage looked dead I was wondering whether the showers had put people off. But there were plenty of people who were still determined to make the best of it and by the evening it had filled up.

The La’s pulling out was a blow and I had also been looking forward to seeing the Noisettes on the Saturday. If anyone is wondering where the Noisettes got to, I did hear that they had been interviewed on Radio 1 on Sunday ‘poolside from LA’ so I guess that explains their no-show. I can’t imagine why you would you choose California over Sheffield…

One other small gripe was the music that Hallam FM kindly pumped at the crowd on the main stage between performers on Saturday. It was the same set of songs on repeat all day (as @designsheffield pointed out, actually pretty similar to the approach they take with their playlist) which was annoying for anyone on the green for more than about 45 minutes.

After putting on a decent pop line-up, I felt it was a chance for the radio station to enhance its credibility with people that may not normally listen but to be honest it confirmed my doubts about how in touch they are with listeners’ needs. If it was intentional then it was a bad idea and if not, did no-one backstage or on the sound desk consider sticking on a few different tunes from their iPod or phone? Nickelback’s Rock star should not be inflicted on anyone ten times in a single day.

Encouragingly, the main festival organisers seem to be responding to feedback regarding this year’s event so hopefully if Tramlines happens again next year it will be even better. Does anyone have any other thoughts or suggestions for how it could be further improved? Perhaps an idea for allocating tickets? Or how about closing off more roads in the Devonshire quarter?

Now is the time to air your views to ensure that Sheffield music city/Tramlines 2010 further builds on the heart-warming success of this year’s event.

There are plenty of photos online, including sets from @arepeejee (here) @dansumption (here) and @robinbyles (here).

caption

The main stage on Devonshire green

7 Comments
by Sheffield blog on 1 August, 2009  •  Permalink
Posted in arts, bands, beer, council, dance, drink, festivals, live, marketing, media, music, photos, promotions, pubs, radio, regeneration, sheffield, university
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Posted by Sheffield blog on 1 August, 2009

http://sheffieldblog.com/2009/08/01/tramlines-2009-looking-back/

How to fill your lunch break in Sheffield

Lyrical streets or a lunchtime pint

A few weeks ago a Guardian journalist got in touch and asked whether I would contribute to a feature about what someone should do with an hour to fill over lunchtime in different cities around Britain.

They were after ideas for what to do in the centre of Sheffield, so I asked a couple of friends and we came up with – and dismissed – several possibilities:

In the end I submitted the suggestion of a stroll around town to take in the poetry that can be found on various buildings. This is what appeared in Saturday’s paper:

Sheffield: lyrical streets
You don’t need your head buried in a book to appreciate poetry on a lunchtime wander through Sheffield. Visitors are welcomed with Andrew Motion’s What If? … on the side of Sheffield Hallam University’s Owen building (Howard Street). Emblazoned inside the Winter Garden (90 Surrey Street) is Roger McGough’s affectionate ode to a revitalised city. There are three pieces by Benjamin Zephaniah on the metal plates of Rockingham Street student residences. Slightly further away, in brushed steel on the side of the Forge building off Boston Street, are Jarvis Cocker’s musings on student life.

I also sent them another option, which was the (perhaps slightly less culturally stimulating) idea to go down to the Kelham Island Tavern for a pint:

Sheffield: a lunchtime pint in Kelham Island
The idea of a lunchtime pint after a morning’s work might seem unremarkable but when you’re drinking local ale in the sunny beer garden of CAMRA’s national pub of the year you know it will be special. Sheffield is home to several independent breweries that proudly keep the pubs all over the city well stocked with award-winning beer, and there is always a fine range to be found at the Kelham Island Tavern. Located in Sheffield’s part-industrial real ale heartland, this lively pub is worth the 15 minute walk from town for its wonderful beer garden, good food and most importantly, a changing selection of excellent beers and ciders. Just don’t forget to go back to work later.

What would you suggest as a good idea for a lunchtime activity? Did I miss something really obvious that would have been much better?

4 Comments
by Sheffield blog on 1 July, 2009  •  Permalink
Posted in architecture, beer, drink, food, gardens, media, pubs, restaurants, sheffield, walking
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Posted by Sheffield blog on 1 July, 2009

http://sheffieldblog.com/2009/07/01/how-to-fill-your-lunch-break-in-sheffield/

The day that Sheffield moved

Last weekend’s flash mob/fitness event in Sheffield

On Saturday people gathered in Barker’s pool for another flash mob-style event, this time with aim of getting the people of Sheffield moving.

It was the unofficial follow-up to The day Sheffield stood still, where over 1,000 people stood motionless in the Peace gardens for five minutes back in January.

Inspired by the success of this and also a flash mob in Lincoln, the organisers of Saturday’s event did their best to galvanise support with Facebook promotion, a Twitter account and coverage in the local media.

This video shows how the action unfolded:

Judging by the number of people that turned up (about 100), it seems that the public didn’t take to this event quite as well as the previous flash mob in the Peace gardens – possibly because of the extra effort required to participate.

The video shows an instructor with a microphone calling the moves from the front, which doesn’t make it look very spontaneous. In fact, it looks less like a flash mob and more like a public fitness event, and having looked again at the Facebook page, it turns out that The day Sheffield moved was indeed organised by Sheffield International Venues.

Perhaps using this type of event as a publicity stunt isn’t in the true spirit of flash mobbing, but you have to admit that events organised by marketing teams and PR firms can still look impressive, as demonstrated by T-mobile with their dance in Liverpool Street train station:

There is more coverage of The day Sheffield moved in The Star, on the Real Radio website and also a set of photos on Flickr.

2 Comments
by Sheffield blog on 23 April, 2009  •  Permalink
Posted in arts, dance, flash mobs, marketing, music, photos, promotions, radio, sheffield, videos
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Posted by Sheffield blog on 23 April, 2009

http://sheffieldblog.com/2009/04/23/the-day-that-sheffield-moved/

Pirates flash mob in Sheffield

Buccaneers descend on town for fake Fargate fighting

Following the success of the day Sheffield stood still in January, the city centre played host to another flash mob yesterday afternoon.

The theme this time was pirates, with instructions issued to meet outside the empty Zavvi shop on Fargate at 2:00pm for an invisible two-to-three minute cutlass fight. At the end of the fight all participants were requested to drop dead and then carry on their business as normal.

It was on a much smaller scale than the previous flash mob in the Peace gardens but still succeeded in making an impact, with plenty of bemused onlookers. The fact that fewer people were involved also meant that participants could disperse much more quickly which added to the effect.

What will the next Sheffield flash mob consist of? Yesterday’s looked good fun but if organisers intend to top the scale of the day Sheffield stood still then they will need to further exploit social media to increase participation and interest.

Pirates flash mob in Sheffield

Pirates flash mob in Sheffield

Pirates flash mob in Sheffield

2 Comments
by Sheffield blog on 1 March, 2009  •  Permalink
Posted in arts, flash mobs, photos, sheffield
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Posted by Sheffield blog on 1 March, 2009

http://sheffieldblog.com/2009/03/01/pirates-flash-mob-in-sheffield/

The day Sheffield stood still

Big turnout for Sheffield’s first major flash mob

Time stood still yesterday in the Peace gardens as people gathered for what is believed to be Sheffield’s first large-scale foray into the world of flash mobbing.

As the town hall clock struck 12, people taking part froze for 5 minutes in a set pose, causing bewilderment and confusion to passing shoppers.

A similar event took place in Trafalgar Square last year, with hundreds of people participating. The aim was to exceed this and I estimate that there were well over 1,000 in the Peace gardens yesterday.

It was perhaps even too packed, as people who had prepared some creative poses – playing cards, picnicking, braving the  fountain and firing an oversized paper aeroplane – were partly hidden away.

One group held up ‘Who’s to blame?’ banners which I thought was a political protest until I realised that they were to help point out Kevin Hailes, who organised the event using Facebook.

There are some photos online, although I opted to record it on video as thought it might be hard to capture the full effect using still images. This is the rather shaky footage I recorded – I also would have liked to get some more close-ups of poses but didn’t want to spoil the spectacle:

And here is the official film:

The event was a definate success, and with a bit of tweaking a future flash mob could have even more impact. If you want to hear about upcoming flash mob events in Sheffield then this Facebook group will point you in the right direction.

2 Comments
by Sheffield blog on 1 February, 2009  •  Permalink
Posted in arts, flash mobs, history, live, photos, sheffield, videos
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Posted by Sheffield blog on 1 February, 2009

http://sheffieldblog.com/2009/02/01/the-day-sheffield-stood-still/

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