All posts tagged the moor

Sheffield 365 project and Sheffield craft city

Upcoming Sheffield photo and craft exhibitions

Two exhibitions launch next month, one marking the end of a great photography project and the other heralding the start of a new arts and craft showcase.

The Sheffield 365 project saw photographer Luke Avery taking portraits of Sheffield people at different locations around the city on each day in 2010. You can read more about the project in this interview with Luke that I did after the project had come to an end.

You may have seen some of the photos on display in one of the empty shops on the Moor earlier on this year. The good news is that all 365 photos are to be displayed at the Workstation on Paternoster row in an exhibition next month.

The free Sheffield 365 project exhibition launches on Wednesday 4 May (6-9pm) and runs until 31 May.

And the night after, on Thursday 5 May, Sheffield craft city launches its first exhibition at PJ Taste on Glossop road. It has been set up as a rolling showcase for work from the local arts and craft scene.

The opening exhibition includes contributions from:

  • James Green, linocut and etching print specialist
  • Lianne Mellor, tea ware with a contemporary feel
  • Jessica Flinn, maker of handmade modern jewellery using traditional metalwork techniques
  • PJ taste, providing support, sustenance and creativity with locally sourced food

The artists’ work will be on show at PJ taste from the 6 May, with a launch party from 6pm on the 5 May. The event is free but ticketed.

Tickets for Sheffield craft city launch

Sheffield craft city launch

Sheffield craft city launch

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by Sheffield blog on 18 April, 2011  •  Permalink
Posted in arts, events, exhibitions, food, photography, photos, sheffield
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Posted by Sheffield blog on 18 April, 2011

http://sheffieldblog.com/2011/04/18/sheffield-365-project-and-sheffield-craft-city/

Escape from the Moor print

Final print completes the set of six

Looking for a last minute Christmas present? Escape from the Moor, the final Jim Connolly print from his excellent set of six Sheffield-themed posters is now available.

Jim explains:

Escape from the Moor is a look at the Moor’s current mid-regeneration status. I’ve compared it to John Carpenter’s burnt out looking Manhatten in the 80s Kurt Russell classic, although my gangs are mainly comprised of unruly OAPs and post-apocalyptic pound shops dominate the skyline

The teaser trailer is here:

Most of the other prints from the series are also still available.

Escape From the Moor by Jim Connolly

Escape From the Moor by Jim Connolly

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by Sheffield blog on 16 December, 2010  •  Permalink
Posted in arts, regeneration, sheffield, videos
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Posted by Sheffield blog on 16 December, 2010

http://sheffieldblog.com/2010/12/16/escape-from-the-moor-print/

Wildlife photographer of the year exhibition on the Moor, Sheffield

Spectacular wildlife photos – for free

Coming soon to the Moor shopping area is Wild planet, a selection of 80 pictures from the famous Wildlife photographer of the year exhibition.

I’ve been a big fan of the annual photography exhibition which usually runs at the Natural history museum in London and have made a point of visiting each year since 2005. It collects the year’s best wildlife photos as submitted to the competition and is basically easy culture – amazing photos that anyone can appreciate.

The free Wild planet exhibition in Sheffield looks to be a best-of selection of images from past years of the competition, which has been running since 1964. It is based on the Moor and runs from 6 October to 27 March 2011.

Sheffield-based wildlife photographer Paul Hobson was highly commended in the 2008 exhibition for his Osprey catch image, below. He has also just won a category in European wildlife photographer of the year competition.

Osprey catch by Sheffield photographer Paul Hobson, Highly commended in the 2010 Wildlife photographer of the year competition

Osprey catch by Sheffield photographer Paul Hobson, highly commended in the 2010 Wildlife photographer of the year competition and used with permission

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by Sheffield blog on 25 September, 2010  •  Permalink
Posted in arts, events, photography, photos, sheffield, shopping, wildlife
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Posted by Sheffield blog on 25 September, 2010

http://sheffieldblog.com/2010/09/25/wildlife-photographer-of-the-year-exhibition-on-the-moor-sheffield/

Art Sheffield 2010 – Life: a user’s manual

Sheffield’s city-wide contemporary art event

This weekend sees the launch of Life: a user’s manual, another major art event that spreads across many of Sheffield’s galleries and artspaces. It follows the success of previous city-wide events like Yes, no, other options in 2008 and Spectator T in 2005.

The main launch event is on Friday at the Millennium galleries from 5.45pm (rsvp@artsheffield.org if you want to attend), although the actual exhibitions are running until May. More details are at artsheffield.org/artsheffield2010.

To coincide with the main launch, there is also a fringe event taking place. There is no solution because there is no problem includes a presentation by Thirbjorn Andersen at Unit 3B artspace, a group show at 18 the Moor and an evening of artists’ film and sound.

Art Sheffield 2010: Life: a user's manual

Art Sheffield 2010: Life: a user's manual

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by Sheffield blog on 4 March, 2010  •  Permalink
Posted in arts, sheffield
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Posted by Sheffield blog on 4 March, 2010

http://sheffieldblog.com/2010/03/04/art-sheffield-2010-life-a-users-manual/

Threads

Sheffield, as devastated by a nuclear attack

A few weeks ago I finally got round to watching Threads. If, like me, you are too young to remember it from when originally broadcast, it is a 1984 TV play that depicts the effect of a nuclear attack on the country, and in particular Sheffield.

Given the subject matter it is unsurprising that Threads makes for as grim viewing today as I expect it did 25 years ago when cold war paranoia was perhaps at its greatest. The extended synopsis is on Wikipedia.

If you can see past the bleak story, then the fact that it is set in Sheffield also adds a level of interest. There are plenty of landmarks to pick out including the eggbox town hall extension, the city hall, the Moor, Finningly in its days as a RAF base and the Nottingham house pub in Broomhill.

After the explosion hits Sheffield, there are shots of a devastated city centre that don’t look too dissimilar to the Moor in recent times.

However, it would be a mistake to watch the film and expect to come away warmed by the rose-tinted glow of nostalgia. Judging by the reviews on Amazon, it seems that Threads had quite an effect on the people watching it back then.

Memories of Threads and its association with Sheffield seem to live on. In the recent edition of Fighting talk recorded down at Ponds forge, one of presenter Colin Murray’s opening quips was ‘I thought I’d driven through the post-nuclear set of Threads 2 last night until somebody told me it was Manor council estate’.

Someone has uploaded the whole thing to Google video, so you can watch Threads online now. Be warned that parts of it are quite harrowing though and may not be suitable for young children.

Do you remember watching it on TV in the mid-80s, or have you watched it since? How shocked were you?

5 Comments
by Sheffield blog on 26 January, 2010  •  Permalink
Posted in architecture, film, history, regeneration, sheffield, shopping, television, videos
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Posted by Sheffield blog on 26 January, 2010

http://sheffieldblog.com/2010/01/26/threads/

Sheffield and Meadowhall Christmas TV ads

Selling shopping

The council and Meadowhall have made adverts for the Christmas season.

Brace yourselves for the coach-loads of Londoners descending on the Moor to finish their Christmas shopping.

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by Sheffield blog on 2 December, 2009  •  Permalink
Posted in council, development, festivals, marketing, regeneration, sheffield, shopping, videos
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Posted by Sheffield blog on 2 December, 2009

http://sheffieldblog.com/2009/12/02/sheffield-and-meadowhall-christmas-tv-ads/

Top posts on sheffieldblog.com

One year on, which are the most popular posts?

I thought I’d do a quick round-up of the most viewed posts during the first year of this blog.

According to WordPress, this is the 83rd post, which makes an average of about 1.5 a week. I’d like to write more often but don’t always have the time. Thankfully now that this blog is on Twitter it is easy to put something out there quickly without having to draft a full post.

Anyway, here are the top ten posts according to number of views:

  1. From Runaway Girl to Silversmiths
    Written one week after Gordon Ramsay recorded the TV programme (but five months before it was broadcast)
  2. Free wi-fi hotspots in Sheffield city centre
    I started logging free wi-fi locations in the city last year, although the launch of wifi-in-sheffield.co.uk in January has probably already superceded this
  3. City of Sheffield walkabout – a photo tour
    Photographs comparing Sheffield in 2008 to the city as featured in a 1970s council brochure
  4. Cocoa chocolate shop
    Documenting a visit to this Eccy Road treasure
  5. Sheffield Twitter users
    Ever-expanding list of organisations, groups and companies from Sheffield on Twitter
  6. Date for cooling towers demolition confirmed
    In terms of page views, August was one of the most popular months on this blog, no doubt in part due to the passing of the cooling towers
  7. Sheffield City on the move video from The Fully Monty
    The full version of the 1970s promotional film used at the start of the hit movie appears online
  8. The day Sheffield stood still
    Report and videos from Sheffield’s first-ever large-scale flash mob
  9. Sheffield to London by train
    Some thoughts on a journey that I have had the joy of completing many a time, written a few months after Midland Mainline handed over the franchise to East Midlands Trains
  10. The Moor, Sheffield
    A look at the long-overdue and continued redevelopment of one of Sheffield’s pedestrianised shopping streets

What does the next year hold for this blog? Luckily there is still more going on in Sheffield than could ever be covered here, so I don’t see any reason why there shouldn’t be plenty more posting, tweeting and perhaps some more videos.

As I mentioned above the bigger issue is making time to create the content, so if anyone would anyone be interested in contributing posts then let me know. I’ve also got one or two other ideas for directions that it could go in, so watch this space.

In the meantime, if you have got any comments or suggestions then get in touch.

2 Comments
by Sheffield blog on 12 March, 2009  •  Permalink
Posted in arts, blogs, celebrities, cooling towers, digital industries, drink, ecclesall road, flash mobs, food, history, photos, regeneration, restaurants, sheffield, shopping, videos, websites, wifi
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Posted by Sheffield blog on 12 March, 2009

http://sheffieldblog.com/2009/03/12/top-posts-on-sheffieldblogcom/

New Sheffield city centre shopping website

Town battles on as it awaits the arrival of Sevenstone

It is a difficult time for the city centre at the moment. While the promise of the new retail quarter has raised hopes that town will once again become a significant northern shopping destination, walking past the empty shops on the Moor and Pinstone Street is presently quite depressing.

Although it was reported last week that footfall in town has increased by 17,000 people a month, for me the city centre still needs all the help it can get to encourage shoppers.

Seemingly, the council has recognised this and is making some effort to give town its best chance of success before the arrival of Sevenstone, with hoardings displaying images of Sheffield being erected around derelict buildings marked for demolition.

And according to this council email, a new website promoting shopping in the city is in the pipeline:

A new website will be launched in April that shows just what’s on offer for shopping in the city centre. It will show potential shoppers what shops are here, where they are, and what they sell. Retailers will be able to update special offers and events, and talk to other retailers through the site. The aim of the site is to promote Sheffield as a competitive retail destination. It’s a joint initiative between the council, Creative Sheffield and the Chamber of Commerce.

So if these initiatives work, what will people think when they arrive in the town? Some visitors from London commented to me that as an urban environment, parts of the city centre look great (I did take them on a selective route of the city). But some areas look very run-down and we know that for shopping, it still has a long way to go.

With current economic conditions causing more retailers to fold and further shop units to stand empty, I can’t help but feel that it will get worse before it gets better. However, I am also sure that in due course we will once again have a shopping destination of which to be proud.

5 Comments
by Sheffield blog on 9 January, 2009  •  Permalink
Posted in city centre masterplan, council, development, marketing, planning, promotions, regeneration, sheffield, shopping, websites
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Posted by Sheffield blog on 9 January, 2009

http://sheffieldblog.com/2009/01/09/new-sheffield-city-centre-shopping-website/

View from the Moor

See the hills from the Moor

Work continues apace on redevelopment of the Moor, and now that the buildings at the bottom have been almost cleared on the east side, you get a clear view of St Mary’s church and the hills behind:

Photos like this must be reminiscent of how the Moor looked after the devastation of air raids in the Second World War.

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by Sheffield blog on 9 August, 2008  •  Permalink
Posted in city centre masterplan, development, planning, regeneration, sheffield
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Posted by Sheffield blog on 9 August, 2008

http://sheffieldblog.com/2008/08/09/view-from-the-moor/

The Moor, Sheffield

The long-overdue and continued redevelopment of one of Sheffield’s pedestrianised shopping streets

As a child and teenager embarking on a shopping trip in town I would always get off the bus outside Sharps fruit shop, walk past Dempsey’s and the Moorfoot government building before turning right up the Moor.

Despite rebranding attempts over the years, the Moor has always been somewhat rundown, with an above-average proportion of pound shops and boarded-up shop fronts. It is amazing to think that in the 1980s Hamleys chose to open a store here (one of the first outside London). Unfortunately it didn’t hang around for long – and people speculate that it perhaps took Redgates down with it.

Walking up the Moor today presents you with contrasting impressions of deprivation mixed with the green shoots of renewal. More shops than ever are boarded up, market stalls stand eerily empty and the businesses that remain trading are quiet. However, the dated post-war buildings are being bulldozed, cranes are moving in and the area is set to be redeveloped into a shopping destination and home for the relocated Castle markets.

The city centre masterplan defines the Moor as “a retail area catering mainly for the ‘value goods’ end of the market but with several major anchor stores” and it seems that planners are content to position the precinct in this sector of the market.

Hopefully the new and improved Moor will be able to cater for this while fitting in properly with the rest of the developments taking place in neighbouring quarters.

Contrasting impressions of deprivation mixed with the green shoots of renewal

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by Sheffield blog on 7 May, 2008  •  Permalink
Posted in city centre masterplan, development, history, planning, regeneration, sheffield
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Posted by Sheffield blog on 7 May, 2008

http://sheffieldblog.com/2008/05/07/the-moor-sheffield/

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