News - Council urged to act now and save historic Sheffield lodge

CAMPAIGNERS are urging Sheffield Council to save the last remaining historic building at a former school site.


Grange House, built in Victorian times, was one of two mansions that became part of the original Abbeydale Grange Grammar School, off Abbeydale Road.

The neighbouring Holt House, dating back to Georgian times, suffered neglect and an arson attack and was demolished a decade ago.

John Clarke, who is part of the group which has saved Portland Works little mesters’ workshops, near Bramall Lane, said: “The lodge is boarded up and the roof is in poor condition.

“The council needs to take action to preserve it, or sell it so it can be saved.

“Grange House, with Holt House, were the two mansions that formed part of the original school.

“It appears to have been built for John Rodgers, of the Joseph Rodgers cutlery firm.”

Both properties later passed into the ownership of manufacturer John Firth, before being taken over by Sheffield Education Committee in 1918, to house a school.

Howard Greaves, of Hallamshire Historic Building Society, said: “It would be sacrilege to allow it to deteriorate to the point it has to be knocked down.”

Grange House was due to be sold to the developers of sheltered housing on the site of the former school, which closed in 2010, but was withdrawn from the sale.

A council spokesman said: “The building was going to be demolished as part of the site development, but a case was made to keep it as it was considered a ‘character building’.

“Unfortunately, there has been some vandalism, but we have not refused to sell it and are testing the market to get the best deal.”

From: http://www.thestar.co.uk/community/council-urged-to-act-now-and-save-historic-sheffield-lodge-1-5058700

News - Grant boost for Sheffield museums

MUSEUMS Sheffield has received an extra £650,000 from Sheffield Council on top of its normal funding of £2.4 million a year to help the trust continue its current programme of exhibitions and events.

The trust, which runs the Millennium and Graves galleries, and Weston Park Museum, lost out on a bid for £4.4m from the Arts Council in January for the next three years.

Museums Sheffield is waiting to see if it will receive support in another round of Arts Council funding, to be announced in the next month.

From: http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/grant-boost-for-sheffield-museums-1-4613378

News - Historic building saved for future generations (Sheffield)

A THREE-year campaign to save Sheffield’s historic Portland Works has paid off – and enthusiasts who are buying the building are now calling for Sheffield Council to designate the surrounding area a ‘little mesters’ quarter’.


Portland Works Campaign has agreed a £420,000 deal with John Holland, who owns the Randall Street building, which is being funded through sale of £175,000 of shares plus a £260,000 loan.

The purchase is believed to be one of the biggest community buy-outs of a building in the UK.

But the surrounding streets between London Road and Bramall Lane are home to a total of 11 old industrial buildings housing dozens of workshops and craftsmen, and campaigners are now keen to ensure the rest are also protected from redevelopment.

Julia Udall, a member of the Portland Works Campaign, said: “There are 11 historic works around the area housing a range of incredible, highly-skilled businesses, artists and musicians. It would be great to have the area designated by the council for little mesters’ workshops, similar to the Jewellery Quarter in Birmingham.”

Campaign chairman Derek Morton, a former teacher, said: “The works are of tremendous historical significance being where stainless steel manufacture started in 1913.

“We have had a huge amount of help and support – now we have the cash and loans to rescue the building.”

A total of 300 people have bought shares, 150 just having bought £100 worth but 50 have put in more than £1,000 each.

Portland Works knife maker Stuart Mitchell said: “It’s a great relief that the works are safe. Had the building closed it could have meant the end for some tenants.”

Campaigners are hoping to reopen disused areas of Portland works and attract further businesses and groups.

From: http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/historic-building-saved-for-future-generations-1-4387042

News - Shocking sprees of region’s heritage criminals (South Yorkshire)

INTERNATIONALLY important heritage sites are being ravaged by a rising tide of crime and vandalism, with Yorkshire one of the worst hit areas in the country, according to shocking statistics released today.

English Heritage said the “worrying” rate of attacks on the region’s historical assets had been revealed for the first time after it commissioned the first ever survey of so-called heritage crime across the country.

The study shows that Yorkshire, along with the north east and north west of England, tops the table of destruction, with more than a fifth of historic sites suffering some kind of attack over the last year.

London suffers the lowest level of heritage crime, and English Heritage bosses said their figures showed a “strong link” between the problem and levels of deprivation in communities in the depressed North.

Experts said heritage crime encompassed everything from low-level anti-social behaviour and criminal damage to metal thefts and the deliberate raiding of archaeological sites undergoing painstaking work.

Henry Owen-John, a planning director at English Heritage said: “This is the first time we have carried out a comprehensive analysis of the threat crime poses to our precious and vulnerable heritage.

“The figures for the North are alarming, particularly for metal theft. Damage done to a listed building or an archaeological site can often not be put right and centuries of history will be lost forever.

“These places have an obviously high value to society. Their particular vulnerability warrants every effort to ensure they are still around for future generations to enjoy just as much as we enjoy them now.”

English Heritage’s study forms part of its recently-launched Heritage Crime Initiative, sparked after high-profile vandalism attacks on major Yorkshire assets such as Clifford’s Tower in York.

Councils and other interested bodies are being urged to sign up to the project and attacks on other assets, such as English Heritage-owned Monk Bretton Priory, in Barnsley, have added further urgency.

Staff were forced to close the site last summer. after it was repeatedly targeted by vandals who stole items from the Grade-I listed, 13th century building.

Bishops’ House in Sheffield has also suffered crime, including attempted arson, which led to the installation of CCTV and plans for a fence around the half-timbered structure, which dates to 1500.

Sheffield Council, which owns Bishops’ House, is currently discussing signing up to the Heritage Crime initiative, along with South Yorkshire’s other three councils.

The county’s principal archaeologist, Dinah Saich, said she found the English Heritage figures “surprising and disappointing”.

She added: “These figures show just how important it is to protect these sites. Metal theft is a huge problem, and Sheffield’s old post office in Fitzalan Square has been totally ruined by such attacks.

“But archaeological sites are also under attack from what we call treasure hunters.

“The problem is that a lot of heritage crime currently goes unreported, because people in charge of buildings and sites, and the public who may see it happening, often think that nobody will be interested.

“Until now it has been very difficult to put a figure on it, but now we can see how many sites are damaged and in the case of archaeology, the extent of the loss of items that are totally irreplaceable.”

The Association of Chief Police officers has signed up to the Heritage Crime Initiative and lead officer Richard Crompton, Lincolnshire’s Chief Constable, said it was now being taken “very seriously”.

From: http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/at-a-glance/main-section/shocking-sprees-of-region-s-heritage-criminals-1-4360768

News - Museums in talks to win vital £1.5m arts funding (Sheffield)

MUSEUMS Sheffield could be in line to receive £1.5 million in funding - which would allow it to continue hosting major touring exhibitions and preserve more of its current work.

The Star understands talks were ongoing yesterday about the funding, which would be paid in three £500,000 instalments over three years from September.

The idea is believed to be looked on ‘favourably’ by the Arts Council - which only weeks ago prompted public outcry in Sheffield by rejecting a bid for £1.4m a year over the next three years.

Artist Pete McKee, Chocolat author Joanne Harris, Jon McClure from band Reverend and the Makers and politicians of all parties all spoke out against the decision to give Sheffield the lowest funding of any large city - and a fifth of the sum Leeds will get.

Pete McKee held a ‘Shefftopia’ picnic in the Millennium Gallery to highlight the need for continued funding and to protest over the Art Council decision.

Museums Sheffield chief executive Nick Dodd said today a new grant would be ‘great’ - but added he was ‘cautious’ about any proposed offer.

“It would improve the things we can do for the people of Sheffield,” he said.

“It’s good to know the Arts Council is taking all the protests seriously and prepared to come to the table.

“But because we don’t know the rules, we don’t know whether things like exhibitions, events and programmes will be included.”

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, who last week attended a meeting between the Arts Council and Museums Sheffield to help lobby for funding, added: “I know how important Sheffield’s museums and galleries are, that’s why I made sure we got the Arts Council back round the table with Museums Sheffield last week.

“I wanted to ensure Sheffield is treated fairly in comparison with other cities. We got a very positive reception from the Arts Council and I hope we will see real progress soon.”

Museums Sheffield’s current £800,000 a year Arts Council funding runs out in March, leaving a grant from Sheffield Council as its main income - enough to cover only heating and lighting, and wages of front of house staff, at the Millennium and Graves galleries and Weston Park Museum.

From: http://www.sheffieldtelegraph.co.uk/lifestyle/museums_in_talks_to_win_vital_1_5m_arts_funding_1_4244660

News - Museums Sheffield will keep council funding

Museums Sheffield is set to keep its current level of Sheffield Council funding for the next financial year to help the trust cope after losing out on a bid for £4.2 million of Arts Council cash.

Opposition Lib Dem councillors proposed a motion at this afternoon’s full council meeting that the current annual grant of £2.044 million should stay the same for next year - which was accepted by the authority’s ruling Labour group.

Freezing the council grant for the next three years had been a condition of receiving the Arts Council money but after the bid for funding was lost, the council could have made a cut. Money for other trusts, including Sheffield Theatres, is being reduced.

The boost comes as a redundancy notice was issued for 45 of Museum Sheffield’s 107 staff on account of the Arts Council’s rejection.

Museums Sheffield is bidding for a share of further Arts Council funding to be announced in September.

From: http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/breaking_museums_sheffield_will_keep_council_funding_1_4201577

News - Plaque is unveiled for ‘Women of Steel’ (Sheffield)

WOMEN who worked in Sheffield’s steelworks and factories during the First and Second World Wars were honoured at the weekend as a plaque was unveiled in their memory.

Four women who worked in the city’s factories during wartime were invited to take part in the ceremony, alongside a female apprentice who works in industry today.

Sheffield Council’s leader Julie Dore was also involved in the unveiling, which took place in Barkers Pool, Sheffield, on Saturday afternoon.

Coun Dore said the authority was also working on a longer term project for a Women of Steel statue.

She said following consultation with a group of women who worked in the city’s factories, designs were being drawn up for a figurative statue, probably made of bronze, in the city centre.

Coun Dore said: “The plaque unveiling is just part of our plans to pay our city’s Women of Steel the respect and honour that they deserve.

“Their valiant efforts were a crucial part of the contribution Sheffield’s industry made to the war effort in both world wars.

“We are keen that both the plaque and the statue are seen not just as a memorial to a remarkable group of women but an inspiration for the future and hope people will join us in the celebrations.”

It is hoped that the statue project will be complete by November 2012. Sheffield Council said it had committed £28,000 so far with a fundraising target for a further £120K.

The first stage of the fundraising campaign will be focused on raising money from local businesses, and charitable trusts and foundations.

A public fundraising campaign will be launched next year once the artist’s design is finalised.

A council spokesman said: “The council will appoint an artist before Christmas who will produce a model by the end of April 2012.”

From: http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/around-yorkshire/local-stories/plaque_is_unveiled_for_women_of_steel_1_3945907

Event - In praise of buried treasures (Sheffield General Cemetery)

THE quick as well as the dead will be in Sheffield General Cemetery next month. Stephen McClarence reports. Main picture by Chris Lawton.

andrew Whitham scrolls down a list of the 87,000 long-term residents of Sheffield’s General Cemetery. He’s looking for his great-grandfather, Charles Henry Whitham, file-cutter.

“There’s a whole city of people in here,” says Andrew, who remembers Charles Henry’s grave from childhood – “one of those pink granite crosses; my grandmother always used to say that you could see it when you went past the cemetery on the bus... Ah, Whithams! Loads of them... Here he is. Charles Henry, died 12 July 1915.

“But look at this: Henry Whitham, died 1913. That must be my great great-grandfather. He set up the business, Henry Whitham and Son. So he’s buried here too. Well, I never knew that.”

Everybody who was anybody in Victorian Sheffield was buried in the General Cemetery, along with quite a few who’d have said they were nobody. Spread over a steeply sloping hillside near the city centre, with a grieving angel at every turn, this was one of the first and most important of Britain’s landscaped “garden cemeteries”. It celebrates its 175th anniversary this year with Heritage Open Days tours next month and has landed a grant to explore the future of one of its finest buildings, with Andrew Whitham at the centre of the plan.

Andrew, project development manager with South Yorkshire Buildings Preservation Trust, points out the paths that sweep magisterially up the hill, past catacombs, urns, broken columns, obelisks and acres of human mortality. “It’s pure theatre,” he says. “This is one of the most complete Victorian cemeteries outside London.”

Among the people here who “fell asleep”, “departed this life” or simply died is a survivor of Waterloo, two of Balaclava (one from the Light Brigade; one from the Heavy, nursed by Florence Nightingale), sundry Lord Mayors, 96 paupers somehow squeezed into one plot, an alderman who changed his name to inherit his father-in-law’s fortune, and the baby daughter born to the wife of an African “warrior dancer” touring England in 1902.

Probably the most nationally significant grave is that of Samuel Holberry, a revolutionary Chartist, whose sturdy gravestone, now leaning uncharacteristically to the right, is an eloquent tribute to a man who became a working class martyr and “at the early age of 27 died in York Castle. Some 50,000 people turned out to watch his 1842 funeral procession and his grave still attracts admirers (mainly left-leaning).

The lower part of the cemetery was controversially cleared and turned into parkland by Sheffield Council. Andrew Whitham’s family graves were among those that, as he puts it, “took the wrath of the JCBs”, many of them crushed and used to fill pathways. For many years, poignant fragments of inscriptions – “Peace”, “Memory”, “Beloved” – would catch the evening light. All the inscriptions were transcribed, however, and people now turn up from all over the world to root among the graves that remain “in loving memory” or “in affectionate remembrance” of their ancestors.

Before and during the clearances, I spent many Sunday afternoons photographing it in a slightly obsessive way. Where some saw grim, morbid squalor and potential danger, I saw grand romantic decay. It was an Edgar Allan Poe of a cemetery with a jungle of vegetation threatening to swallow it completely. After the clearance – which thankfully didn’t affect the cemetery’s grandest monuments – a Friends of the General Cemetery campaigning group was set up, and it eventually became a Trust, with an active programme of conservation, tours and talks.

Now, thanks to an Architectural Heritage Fund grant, the South Yorkshire Buildings Preservation Trust has been commissioned to find possible new uses for the most striking and solid of the cemetery’s buildings: a long-disused and bricked-up nonconformist chapel with a bit of an architectural identity crisis.

“I’ve always thought it would be a great exhibition space, or a place for concerts,” says Andrew Whitham. “Some people might like to have civil ceremonies there.” Previous suggestions for new uses have included turning it into a cafe, called Angel Delight.

We’re standing in front of the chapel’s towering portico as Michael (“Spike”) Steadman, the cemetery trust’s landscape co-ordinator, unlocks a small metal door to let us look inside. He turns a key, pulls a metal shield aside and a vile musty smell hits us. “Pigeons,” says Spike. On cue, one of them perching overhead drops a small comment splat on my notebook.

It was other birds that first alerted Spike to the cemetery’s charm. “I moved to Sheffield as a student in the early 1990s and I remember coming in here one evening. There were at least eight owls calling to each other across the park. I thought it was quite a magical place.”

He talks of its present importance as a green space, in an inner-city area lacking them, and as an urban nature reserve with waxwings, greater spotted woodpeckers and three species of bat. The cemetery’s landscape has been listed ( Grade Two starred). “From it being a no-go area in the Seventies, we now have 500 visitors a day and our tours and events attract 5,000 people a year,” he says. “There’s a bullfinch on that branch over there.”

The cemetery – some of which looked stark after the clearances – now has attractive pockets of woodland and, here and there, is dense with blackberry bushes, ash and sycamore saplings, bindweed and rose bay willow herb. The gravestones near the chapel are cloaked in ivy. It’s like an environmental sculpture park.

We walk back to the gate, talking about Robert Marnock, who laid out much of the cemetery. “Marnock would have loved to have seen this landscape now,” says Spike. “He returned to the cemetery before his death and wasn’t too pleased that it was covered with graves. So he decided to be cremated.”

Sheffield General Cemetery Trust: 0114 268 3486 (www.gencem.org). The tours are on Sunday September 11, noon to 4pm.

From: http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/lifestyle/health-and-family/in_praise_of_buried_treasures_1_3684607

News - Help us build our Women of Steel statue (Sheffield)

Our Women of Steel could be honoured with a city centre statue within a year - and Sheffielders are being asked to show their full support.

The Star’s campaign for the women who kept the steelworks running during World War Two received massive backing last year.

The move won recognition from Downing Street, the Ministry of Defence and Buckingham Palace.

Hundreds of families from across the area came forward to add the names of their mums and grandmothers to our roll of honour, thrilled to see action decades after the women were unceremoniously fired when the men returned from the front line.

Sheffield Council pledged to install a permanent monument in the city centre - and today revealed they will launch a fundraising appeal by unveiling a brass plaque, inlaid in the pavement in Barker’s Pool.

A total of £28,000 was earmarked for the statue in a cabinet report last year - but around £150,000 will be needed to pay for the statue.

There are more than 100 surviving Women of Steel, aged between 85 and 101, and campaigners are stressing time is of the essence.

Great-great-grandmother Ruby Gascoigne said: “It is about having a statue there after we have gone and for those who have already gone. We are not getting any younger and we would love to see the statue finished.

“We didn’t work for thanks but now we know what we did was vital to the war.

“We released a lot of men to go into the forces to fight and my whole family, as well as hundreds of other families, feels very strongly that nobody really appreciated what Sheffield women did before The Star’s campaign.

“My life was ruined working 13-hour nights, coming home see to my baby and then spending the rest of the time in the air raid shelter while my husband was away, for four years.”

Council leader Julie Dore said the plaque should be unveiled no later than November, with the statue hopefully arriving in a year’s time.

But she added: “I don’t know how long it will take to raise the money. You’ve got to recommend about three sculptors with a reputation for this kind of work, and ask the women what they want.

“Then you have to go through the process of designing the statue, and also raise awareness among members of the public. That will take at least 10 months just to do that.

“We’ll unveil the plaque and at the same time say we’ve identified a sculptor and launch the appeal. It’s going to be really nice.”

The Star has agreed to support the council’s fundraising campaign and will be urging readers to help make the dream a reality.

The commemorative plaque will be near an oak tree in Barker’s Pool, by the City Hall steps.

Coun Dore revealed the first £5,000 has already been raised for the appeal, adding: “Hopefully it’s not just going to be an appeal for money from the public - we’ve got ideas about how we might get other organisations involved.

“We’re going to have a statue but we can’t produce a statue in three months. We’re in a period of recession and worry about funding, but I feel positively hopeful. All I can commit to is our aim of having a statue.”

Kathleen Roberts, aged 89, sparked The Star’s campaign which won national recognition last year.

She said: “We know the financial situation that everybody is facing but it would be wonderful to see a statue in a year’s time.

“We really want to see this to the end, not just for ourselves but for the thousands of mums, grandmas, sisters and aunts who died before being thanked. When you get to our age you are on borrowed time.”

From: http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/local/barnsley/help_us_build_our_women_of_steel_statue_1_3667430

News - Fly-tippers dump rubble in cemetery (Sheffield)

A HISTORIC Sheffield cemetery where volunteers staged a huge clean-up operation just a few weeks ago has been blighted by more fly-tipping - with five tonnes of builders’ rubble dumped in the graveyard.

Council workers are set to go out tomorrow to remove the huge pile, which included asbestos, from Wardsend Cemetery.

The rubbish has been dumped despite efforts of the Friends of Wardsend Cemetery community group to tidy and look after the burial ground after years of neglect.

And only six weeks ago, volunteers from Sheffield Council’s waste management contractor Veolia donned high-visibility vests, safety shoes and gloves and collected more than three tonnes of waste from around graves.

The new fly-tipping has dismayed visitors to the cemetery, which opened in 1857.

Those buried include victims of both world wars, 240 victims of the great flood in 1864 and old soldiers from nearby former Hillsborough Barracks, who have a commemorative obelisk among the graves.

Wendy Cowley, a retired housewife from Australia visiting Sheffield to see friends, said: “Numerous members of the family I married into are buried in Wardsend Cemetery and, while here, I visited their graves.

“To find landfill dumped in the cemetery is unbelievable. It’s a terrible disrespect of the dead.”

Another visitor to the cemetery, who did not wish to be named, said: “A large area of the cemetery is now under mounds of rubble. Surely the graves of our ancestors are worth more than simply a place to dump household and industrial waste.”

Wardsend Cemetery was last used for a burial in 1977, when the re-interment of remains from a building site close to Sheffield Cathedral took place. The cemetery officially closed in 1988.

In recent years, it has been increasingly neglected, overgrown and blighted by litter, unauthorised dumping and weeds including Japanese knotweed.

A Sheffield Council spokesman said: “There is about five tonnes of rubbish altogether - mostly builders’ rubble - at the cemetery.

“Our Parks and Countryside team were made aware of this fly-tipping last week, but as it was found to contain some material containing asbestos, this had to be removed carefully first. The remainder of the rubbish is to be cleared tomorrow.”

Work was due to have been carried out yesterday but that was delayed due to workmen having to deal with other incidents of fly-tipping in Tongue Gutter and burnt out cars at Longley Park.

From: http://www.thestar.co.uk/community/green-scene/fly_tippers_dump_rubble_in_cemetery_1_3660015

News - Council archives reopen (Sheffield)

A VAST collection of historic records and documents detailing Sheffield’s past is being moved back to the city archives building after a refurbishment project costing hundreds of thousands.

Work is underway to transfer 23,000 items from storage back to the building on Shoreham Street, which has been redecorated to improve light and reduce dust.

It has also had new air conditioning and boilers and replacement shelving.

The collection includes parish registers of births, marriages and deaths, plus nationally-important items such as Wentworth Woodhouse and Wharncliffe Estate records and writings by poet and philosopher Edward Carpenter.

The Shoreham Street building, which closed last year, reopens on Monday, September 5.

In a report to South Yorkshire Joint Committee on Archives, which oversees the facility, Martin Dutch, head of Sheffield Council’s libraries, archives and information, said: “The return of the archives will be a major undertaking. “Over 23,000 barcoded items will have to be transported to Sheffield and given an identifiable location in the strongroom.

“It is unlikely that all items will be in situ by the time of reopening, however, enough material will be back to offer good customer service.”

Only 60 per cent of the collection is being returned due to the need to keep space free for the estimated 700 new boxes of material received each year.

There is a limit to what can be stored there to adhere to preservation standards and regulations.

From: http://www.thestar.co.uk/community/council_archives_reopen_1_3591433

News - Historic building dating back 1,000 years to receive new lease of life (Millhouses)

AN ANCIENT former corn mill on the edge of a Sheffield park is to be rescued from dereliction – after a project to bring the building back into use was granted £50,000 of National Lottery cash.

Millhouses Corn Mill has stood beside the River Sheaf for almost 1,000 years, at the junction of Abbeydale Road South and Archer Road, and the surrounding suburb was named after the building.

It was originally linked to Beauchief Abbey but the dissolution of the monasteries in 1536 saw the mill pass into the ownership of the local Lords of Ecclesall.

The mill ground flour for the next 400 years, originally using water power but changing to steam during the 19th century. New technology replaced the stone-grinding methods in the 1930s and, along with many other mills of its type, it closed and the site fell into disuse.

It was bought by Sheffield Council, which used a neighbouring building for storage, but the site was abandoned six years ago.

John Brighton, secretary of the Friends of Millhouses Park, said: “The Friends took an interest when the council abandoned the site and severe deterioration set in.

“The small corn mill building has not been used for many years.

“Its stone roof is in danger of collapse, the walls bulging badly, and weather has affected the roof and floor timbers so the whole building is in danger.

“A partnership has been forged with Carterknowle and Millhouses Community Group and Sheffield Council to raise funds needed to get it back into use.

“The award of £50,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund allows work to restore the building to start in the autumn.”

Mr Brighton said bids are being made to other sources for £140,000 to improve the interior, so it can be developed for community use – although specific plans for what facilities it will house have not yet been determined.

Fiona Spiers, regional head of the Heritage Lottery Fund, said: “I’m delighted that this award will conserve the mill and highlight the historical significance of the site and how it has shaped the local community.”

The Friends have invited Lord Mayor, Coun Sylvia Dunkley, to officially launch the Small Mill Building Restoration Project at a celebration being held at the site on Tuesday, June 14, from 7pm, which is open to local residents and also includes a performance by band Brick Budgie.

From: http://www.thestar.co.uk/community/green-scene/historic_building_dating_back_1_000_years_to_receive_new_lease_of_life_1_3443474

News - D-Day for museums (Museums Sheffield)

A BUDGET cut which led to opening hours being slashed at Sheffield museums and galleries could be reversed today.

Crunch talks are taking place between Sheffield Council and Museums Sheffield which are set to result in extra funding.

The meeting comes as the trust, which runs the Graves and Millennium Galleries, and Weston Park Museum, revealed it has spent £17,000 on a new website which aims to bring in extra revenue through an online shop and by making it easier for supporters to leave donations.

Today’s meeting will discuss how to implement Labour’s pledge to restore opening hours at Graves Art Gallery – which was threatened with closure but instead had its opening times cut from six to three days. Other museums also had their hours cut.

Eric Hildrew, head of marketing and communications for Museums Sheffield, said: “From our point of view, we’re keen to ensure that any restoration of funding is sustainable and doesn’t lead to the reduced hours situation repeating itself again in nine months’ time.”

Mr Hildrew said the new website was designed to pay for itself and boost the trust’s revenue.

He said: “Our new look website cost £17,000. This was paid for last year, before funding was reduced, and was only possible because we received funding for other marketing costs freed up some core budget to cover it.

“Our digital marketing officer post is now redundant, and I took the business decision a while ago that we needed to invest in an up-to-date website to prepare ourselves for what is clearly going to be a few years of austerity.

“In the long term, online is way cheaper than off-line marketing. Some of the new features – online shop, online donations, better corporate hire promotion, will bring in revenue.

“I’m pleased to say we worked with local start-up business Rckt, so every penny of the website budget has gone back into the local economy.”

Sheffield Council’s old Lib Dem administration reduced the Museums Sheffield’s £2.3 million annual budget by £328,000 during 2011/12 – but the cuts were reduced to £279,000 after a public outcry.

Graves Art Gallery’s reduced hours are 10am to 2pm on Thursday and Friday, and 11am to 3pm on Saturday. It used to open six days a week, for longer hours. Museums Sheffield has also reduced hours at the Millennium Galleries and Weston Park Museum and is making nine of its 105 staff redundant, with others on reduced hours.

 

From: http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/d_day_for_museums_1_3408467

 

Website is at: http://www.museums-sheffield.org.uk/

News - Women of Steel will get lasting memorial (Sheffield)

COUNCIL bosses have allocated funding towards a permanent memorial for Sheffield’s Women of Steel, after a successful campaign by The Star.

Despite funding squeezes, councillors say they have found £28,000 from efficiency savings to pay for a monument in Barker’s Pool.

They are now asking businesses to donate funds to make up the estimated £150,000 total cost of the memorial.

The announcement follows a long Star campaign to win recognition for the hundreds of women who braved Nazi bombing raids to keep the city’s steelworks going during World War Two.

As part of the campaign, last year the women received thanks from former Prime Minister Gordon Brown during a visit to Downing Street, as the Government finally officially recognised their contribution to the war effort.

Kathleen Roberts, Kit Sollitt, Dorothy Slingsby and Ruby Gascoigne, each aged between 87 and 90, were received at Number 10 after working with The Star to give the campaign momentum. The whole campaign was triggered after Kathleen contacted The Star and it met a fantastic response, with hundreds of women calling in to tell of their wartime experiences.

Now Sheffield Council has decided there will be a permanent, lasting monument to their heroic work.

Paul Scriven, Liberal Democrat leader of the council, said: “I’m delighted that through making efficiency savings in-year, we’ve been able to locate these funds for this vital project. We’re confident that the commitment we’ve made will encourage donors to come forward.”

Originally four ideas were proposed for the monument, including an abstract, contemporary sculpture at the top of Howard Street, commemorative plaques as part of the seating on Howard Street, and a garden of remembrance.

But after consultation with the former foundry workers, it was decided a memorial in Barker’s Pool would be the best way of marking the women’s efforts.

Designs have yet to be finalised, but the council has launched a fundraising drive to get the cash together, and hope their initial pot of £28,000 will soon swell to the total amount.

Coun Scriven said: “These women made great sacrifices for the war effort and it’s important that, as a city, we recognise their contribution.”

From: http://www.thestar.co.uk/lifestyle/the-star-says/women_of_steel_will_get_lasting_memorial_1_3301128

 

News - Solar project for museum (Kelham Island)

A COMMUNITY body has paid to install a series of solar panels on a museum in Sheffield.

The energy saving devices have been put on the roof of Kelham Island Museum in an effort to help reduce its carbon footprint.

The museum trust was awarded a climate change grant to look at the impact of the solar panels being used to pre-heat the water tank for the boiler of the mighty 12,000hp River Don Engine, the most powerful working steam engine in the world.

Sheffield Council’s central community assembly voted to pay for the £5,000 project.

John Hamshere, chief executive of the Sheffield Industrial Museums Trust, said: “We asked ourselves how can you make a piece of Edwardian engineering more sustainable? This engine was obviously not designed with energy efficiency in mind!

“This grant enabled us to do just that in an innovative way and has been extremely worthwhile in enabling us to show that the solar panels are effective.”

From: http://www.thestar.co.uk/community/green-scene/solar_project_for_museum_1_3275050

News - Historic site funds pledge (Sheffield)

Sheffield Council is to take over the running of the historic Bishop’s House from MuseumsSheffield.

The authority has pledged to maintain the same budget as it gave MuseumsSheffield to run the building last year.

Coun Roger Davison, cabinet member for culture, said: “We have protected this cultural gem from funding reductions. We are working extremely well with the Friends of Bishops House group and that will continue.”

Suggestions are believed to include the Friends group providing volunteers to help run the building.

From: http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/historic_site_funds_pledge_1_3236407