Do you want to know more about the initiatives that are shaping the vibrant communities of Netherthorpe, Upperthorpe, and Neepsend? NUN Local, Sheffield’s first hyper-local podcast, is set to become your go-to source for everything that matters in these neighbourhoods.
In its inaugural episode, NUN Local dives deep into the rich tapestry of community life, featuring interviews with local residents who are driving change through various initiatives.
One project highlighted is the Ponderosa Nature Group, dedicated to enhancing the natural beauty of the Ponderosa Park, full of rich biodiversity that not enough people know about. The group is on a mission to raise awareness and get more people involved, organising events like the Ponderosa Harvest Festival to engage the community and recruit much-needed volunteers.
This episode also shines a light on other exciting environmental projects in the area. From colourful planters to flourishing wildflower meadows, we talk to KINCA and Sheffield Museums about an upcoming nature-themed event, the Kelham Nature Day and an art competition that celebrates the beauty of local nature.
Finally, there’s an interview with Dr Camilla Allen about her research into the World War One memorial street trees planted on Tay Street and Oxford Street by the Ponderosa, and elsewhere. We look at their history, and what happened during the infamous street tree debacle that led to the emergence of the Sheffield Street Tree Partnership, which reflects the community’s commitment to ensuring that the balance between urban development and environmental preservation is maintained.
NUN Local aims to be a platform for community engagement. We don’t just reflect on Sheffield’s rich history but also tackle contemporary challenges head-on, fostering ongoing dialogue about local initiatives that matter.
So, if you are looking to connect with your community, learn about inspiring projects, or simply want to stay informed about what’s happening in your neighbourhood, join the conversation and be part of a movement that celebrates and nurtures the heart of Sheffield.
Host
Philippa Willitts
Guests
Sue Peel - Ponderosa Nature Group
Craig Wolstenholme - KINCA
Brooke Hayes - Sheffield Museums
Dr Camilla Allen - University of Sheffield
Time stamps
00:00 Introduction
02:06 Sue Peel – Ponderosa Nature Group, Ponderosa Harvest Festival
24:48 KINCA / Sheffield Museums / KINCA Art Competition / Kelham Nature Day
45:50 Dr Camilla Allen on Memorial Street Trees
Transcript
Philippa Willitts
Welcome to NUN Local, Sheffield's first ever hyper-local podcast dedicated to news and stories for and about Netherthorpe, Upperthorpe, and Neepsend.
That's where the NUN comes from: Netherthorpe, Upperthorpe, Neepsend.
Make sure you get access to all future episodes by signing up at nunlocal.news.
There'll be an episode every month covering stories relevant to anyone who lives or works in Netherthorpe, Uppethorpe, or Neepsend, who visits the Ponderosa, or just wants to know more,
Netherthorpe, Upperthorpe, and Neepsend are on the edge of Sheffield Centre.
We've got parks. We've got businesses. We've got community projects. We've got great people.
But you rarely hear about us, and NUN Local will help to change that.
This first episode is a very green episode.
First of all, I am speaking to Sue Peel from the Ponderosa Nature Group, and she's telling me about the work they do, the kind of nature that you can find in the Ponderosa, and all about the upcoming Ponderosa Harvest Festival.
Then I speak to Brooke Hayes from Sheffield Museums and Craig Wolstenholme from Kelham Island and Neepsend and Community Alliance (KINCA). They are talking about an upcoming event at Kelham Island Museum and all about the nature you can find around Neepsend.
Then I speak to Dr Camilla Allen, who appropriately was sitting under a tree in a park for this interview. That means there's the occasional background noise, but it felt apt for her to be there given that she was talking to me about Sheffield's memorial trees from World War 1 on Tay Street and Oxford Street just by the Ponderosa.
So I hope you enjoy this inaugural episode. Do sign up at nunlocal.news.
Here's my chat with Sue Peel.
Sue Peel is the treasurer of the Ponderosa Nature Group, and she's here on the podcast to talk about the upcoming Ponderosa Harvest Festival, what it is, and how to come along.
But let's start by talking about the Ponderosa Nature Group. Could you tell me a bit about what the Ponderosa Nature Group's all about?
Sue Peel
Yes. And thank you for inviting me, Philippa, to join you on your podcast.
Philippa Willitts
You’re very welcome.
Sue Peel
The Ponderosa Nature Group, we got together about 4 years ago now. And it was, and still is a relatively small active group.
But what brought us together was our desire to improve nature in our local area.
And we all have our different reasons for coming together on this. But, for me, it was retirement.
So very interested in nature, but I'd been working full time for a long time. Was trying to squeeze it in, you know, where I could, but other people are working and come along to join us.
And we'd, for me, personally, I got involved in bigger, let's say, actions, you know, to try and bring the government to appreciate the fact that we were in a climate crisis. And biodiversity loss.
And we felt that although it was good to actually take part, it was hard to realise any movement from those actions.
So we decided, well, what can we do more locally? And the Ponderosa was a park that really didn't have a group of volunteers that were focusing on it. There is a group for Crookes Valley Park and, ideally, or whenever they could, they would do a little bit in there.
But it's a big area as I'm sure you appreciate.
Philippa Willitts
Yeah.
Sue Peel
The council basically welcomed us with open arms and said, yes.
So we meet on a weekly basis every Thursday morning from half past 9 till round about half 11 to half 12. It's flexible.
We're always there. We're one of the few voluntary groups that are there every week. Even in snow and rain.
And, we all get a huge sense of wellbeing improvement and also social.
And it's lovely to actually see the park begin to benefit from it, and we get a lot of positive feedback from park users that we see when we're out and about.
Philippa Willitts
And when you meet up on a Thursday morning, what is it you get up to?
Sue Peel
Right. Well, we always have, as a weekly task, litter picking. And that has gradually become less and less, which is really positive.
I mean, we heard the theory that if you actually keep an area more free from litter, there is less that builds up because it’s sort of psychology in that you don't want to be the first person.
Philippa Willitts
Yeah. And whereas if somewhere is already covered in litter, people might find it easier to drop something themselves.
Sue Peel
Yeah. Yeah. So that's always something that we do, and we always, by doing that, we cover all the areas of the park because, as well as the open grassland areas, there's quite a few wooded areas.
That enables us to actually look at things like any damages to trees, maybe through wind, weather, or broken branches, overgrowth on paths, you know, preventing a little bit of access.
And we can use that then to decide what we're going to do maybe for that morning.
So it's always litter picking. And then depending on the time of year, it's, it's different activities.
So in winter, it's more about woodland management. It's a great time to try and open up the tree canopy and let a little bit of light get into the understory.
Because the woods are about 30 to 35 years old now and pretty well established.
It's difficult to actually get the trees on a routine management plan. You know, the council are very strapped for resource.
So, in places, it's too shady, basically. So we're trying to stop all the young growth coming up and preventing woodland plants growing there.
So in winter, it's a great time to put in bulbs as well.
Philippa Willitts
Ah, yeah.
Sue Peel
And that's always a pleasure. Because then you're putting them in the ground, and you've got spring around the corner, and you're thinking, wouldn't it be great when we see these come up?
It's not an ancient woodland. So what we've done is we've planted in things that you would find in a in an old woodland.
So examples of that are snowdrops, wood anemones, for example. And we've waited to see what's there maybe being brought in by birds on the feet or through seed transfer.
So we're struggling with some of those things.
We've got wild garlic in there at the moment. That's doing very well. Wood anemones are a little bit more challenging. So we keep trying with those.
So, hopefully, you'll see a greater range of plants establishing themselves over time.
It's also the time of year, winter, where we go up and look at our bird nesting boxes.
Philippa Willitts
Oh!
Sue Peel
So, it's an annual clean of those to see if any maintenance is required.
We've probably got about 12 boxes in there now, each year, we add a few more.
And since we've put them up, we found that, basically, the all of them are being used. So the birds are obviously taking full advantage of them.
And what we do is make a record of if there is one that hasn't been used, and that happens the following nesting season, then maybe it's not in the right place.
Well, we'd look to move it.
Philippa Willitts
And what kind of birds nest in those boxes?
Sue Peel
It's mainly blue tits and grey tits that we've evidenced. And we can see them starting to adopt the boxes in early spring.
I mean, when it when you get the full leaves on the tree, it's really difficult to see what's going.
We’ve an owl box in there, but, that's probably a little bit more ambitious. And there's been no take up on that up to now, but we keep our fingers crossed about that.
Philippa Willitts
I'm all for ambition.
Sue Peel
We've also recently put in a wildlife pond, which is settling in really well. That's about 2 years old now.
So talking to the council ecologist, he's informed us from the start about where it should be put and what we need to plant around it. And also, he's brought in oxygenating plants from his pond that he knows are right for that environment.
Philippa Willitts
Oh, great.
Sue Peel
Yeah. We're really, thrilled at the minute because the water has cleared for the first time.
It’s taken a while. But it's getting established now. The oxygenators are doing their work.
And we now know what we need to do each, I would say, each late autumn. We have invested in a pair of waders, and I've been in there last year. That was mainly to get rocks out the bottom.
But, this year, we'll be starting to bring out things such as rocks and big sticks that don't want to be in there.
But, also, there'll be the time when we have to start thinning out the weed that's in there, and maintain some clear, surface water on top.
But, excitingly, we've got dragonflies and damselflies this year.
Philippa Willitts
That's incredible.
Sue Peel
Yeah. We've got water beetles as well on there, and we've also got some, nice plants coming through that we've not got before.
We seeded that area with 3 different wildlife flower mixes. So there was one that was suitable for the actual water area, the edge of it, such as water mint is coming through there now.
And then the next layer out was things that were happy with a marshy sort of damp bogginess, but maybe drying out at times.
And then the outer was more about a show of flower and colour to sort of say to people, yeah, this is going to be something, but it might look a little bit basic at the moment.
And then we've got some hedging going on there as well. Things like, hawthorn, hazel. Things that give nuts and berries to the birds as well as give a natural barrier and some protection, you know, and encourage wildlife to go in.
Wildlife loves water, but they need to feel, obviously, safe to go in there.
We've got that beautiful big bramble patch at the back, which is fantastic because you've got a good half of that actually protected and feeling very safe for things to come in and have a drink, you know, even in the middle of a relatively busy sunny day, you'll see things, there.
Birds are loving it, having a bath in there. You see magpies having a little bit of a wash and a brush up. We've even got a few rabbits coming in there as well now, which is amazing.
Philippa Willitts
That's brilliant.
Sue Peel
And back to spring, we're also looking after the orchard, established orchard. We've started a second orchard site off as well, which is a little bit further down from the top orchard.
So we're putting in new stock, new fruit trees. We're pruning and maintaining the existing orchard as well.
And that's sort of spring verging into early summer. We look after the plums a bit after we do the apples and pears.
And this high summer season is a bit of a rest, in a way, because everything's doing its thing.
Philippa Willitts
Yeah.
Sue Peel
The you're just getting ready for all the nesting season to be over and then thinking about what you're going to be doing moving into the in autumn winter.
But we've also put in 2 raised beds as well. So they're up by the orchard area, and we've got some lovely beans growing there and herbs and things now.
So, obviously, we're looking after them week by week and watering as necessary.
And we've also put in 2 flower meadows as well.
So it's pretty busy, really. You're never short of things to do, and it's varied.
It's very varied, which is great.
And there's all also an element of talking and planning and, you know, getting together, which is nice.
Philippa Willitts
Yeah. Definitely. I always think the Ponderosa is a really special park. I think it's so varied. It's a weird shape. It's you never know quite what to expect, especially in the upper bit.
What do you think makes the Ponderosa special?
Sue Peel
I think it has a completely different spirit to the other parks in Sheffield. In that, as you said, Philippa, it's got a wild aspect to it.
It's in a very busy area on all sides, yet you can sit at the top of the park and look down through the grassland, you've got trees behind to the side of you. You've got a lovely view, and you just feel that you're away from everything, you know, in an urban setting.
So it's all little compartments. You've got the deep wooded areas, which are lovely to go in in high summer. Cool places to sit, a hive of activity in spring because there's all the birds that are singing and getting ready for breeding and feeding.
You get all the warblers coming in in the springtime. You get chiff chaffs in there. You know, you can hear them singing. Then you've got your orchard, and you've got your raised beds, which is a nice little area for people to pick a few gooseberries while they're sat there.
You know, have a plum, have an apple, have a pear, in a nice spot.
You've got huge playing field of groups to come together. Lots of different groups using those, the university, the schools, lots of community groups coming in.
And then you've got the playground and that bottom area.
And so many people enjoying getting together, families, big groups, eating into the evenings, you know, and all weathers as well.
It's incredible.
So, I mean, I feel that it's got something for everyone. It really has.
And other parks are lovely, and I appreciate all Sheffield's green spaces, but Ponderosa’s special for me. It really is. Yeah. And right on the doorstep.
Philippa Willitts
Yeah. It doesn't get celebrated as much as it should, in my opinion.
Sue Peel
No. And that's an interesting one. I would agree and say that the footfall is less than the 2 parks that are close to it.
I'm not sure about Parkwood Springs. Parkwood Springs, we go there as well, and that's got a wild aspect to it as well.
But I would say that maybe Parkwood Springs has a reduced footfall as well. I might be wrong there. I don't spend enough time there.
But, people seem to overlook the Ponderosa or maybe don't even know it's there.
We had a recent talk from, a great chap called Gerry Firkins, who's a fantastic botanist. And this was on a weekend.
And it was great because we had about 15 people there. 2 of those people within that group that I was talking to had lived in Sheffield all their lives.
And they were in the area, but they’d never been in the Ponderosa.
They were amazed. You know, they came through the top woodland. Had no idea that all this was here.
I mean, it's interesting. I think that the woods at the top almost form a barrier to people in a way. And, that's something we're trying to work on.
I mean, the council did open sight lines there. They need a bit of maintenance on this winter, so we'll be looking at that so that people feel comfortable about coming in, you know, from that top end. People can feel a little bit daunted because they're not sure what's there.
But, hopefully, we can build on that and, make it more open and feeling accessible as well to a lot more people.
It's difficult to get in as well, accessibility wise, from the top of the park too.
Philippa Willitts
Yeah. So you've got an event coming up in September on the 15th, the Ponderosa Harvest Festival. Tell me about that!
Sue Peel
Well, we started that off 3 years ago, and it was just an idea to talk to people and to promote what we're doing in the park.
We do see people when we're in there, but we're there during the week. Lots of people are working.
And we felt that if we have something on the weekend, then we could talk about and promote the work that we're doing. Hopefully, recruit some volunteers, but also get that feedback from people that use the part to say, we have a comment spot.
Do you like what we're doing? Or do you do you not like it? Are there aspects that you're not happy with? What would you like us to do more of?
Because we don't want to just work in our own little bubble as a group.
It needs to work for everybody in the community because we're trying to improve the green space for everybody that is using it and that will hopefully use it moving forward.
And, it's grown a little bit. Initially, we started off setting it up by the orchard.
But then we migrated down the park to the playground because we realised that on a weekend in September, on a good day, hopefully, we've booked that, hopefully, you get lots of people around that playground area, and we've got lots of children's activities going on there.
So it's about celebrating what we're doing, sharing it with the people that use the park.
And we do a nature walk as well, so we can talk to people about what they can expect to see, where they can see it, point out various things. Maybe show them areas that they're not familiar with.
We've talked to people that use the bottom half of the park, but they've no idea there's an orchard at the top.
Philippa Willitts
Yeah.
Sue Peel
They don't go up to the top and vice versa. So it's interesting.
It hopefully raises a little bit of funds for us to, carry on doing the work that we're doing, which is nice, but it's more about talking to people and being part of the community.
And that is, as you said, on Sunday 15th, between 2 to 4.
Philippa Willitts
And, meet at the Ponderosa playground?
Sue Peel
It's just by the playground. Yeah. It's on the path that cuts across above the playground, and we've got face painters. We've got crafts going on for children. We've got a nature walk. We've got tea, coffee, and cake.
What's not to like?
Philippa Willitts
Wow. Can't criticise that.
Sue Peel
And we've got fruit picking. We've purchased through funding a extending fruit picker, which is basically an extending pole with a rubber hand on the end.
It's always popular with the kids because we go up to the orchard and at this time of year, the apples that are left are going to be high up, but you can get the children to sort of grab an apple and pull it off, it turns into a little bit of a game.
Philippa Willitts
That's great.
Sue Peel
And then we'll be going and looking at the pond and everything.
So, yeah, it's 2 hours, and we'd love to see as many people as possible. Just come along, have a chat, talk to us about what we're doing, and, yeah, let us know your thoughts.
Philippa Willitts
So if people want to find out more about the Ponderosa Nature Group, they could come to the event. Is there any other way to get in touch with you or to find out more?
Sue Peel
Yes. We, we have a Facebook site, which is, Ponderosa Nature Group. One of our group, Kerry, is doing a fantastic job with the site. She looks after it, and she's putting so many photos on there of what's happening week by week all through the seasons.
Not everybody's able to come into the park, you know, so this is a way of showing what's happening season by season, week by week, and what we're up to, basically.
So the Facebook site's a great one to actually visit. We've also got a notice board, which is up by the top orchard.
We've got posters for events that are coming up, and we've also got something that says, weekly tasks. And on that, we update that each week to say what we're doing at the moment.
So, yeah, if you're walking through the top part of the park, you'll see the notice board as you're heading towards the pond and the boulder and rock.
So that's another way that we communicate.
And like you say, if we meet people in the park, they want to join us on WhatsApp, we have a WhatsApp group as well, where there's regular communications going on, for people that want to come and join us, maybe can't do it that often, but just would like to.
Sometimes it's aspirational, and we'd fully appreciate that. So, yeah, you can also join up, but we need a little bit more information to actually get you an invite to actually join in the WhatsApp group.
It's great, and it's really growing.
So, we're just thinking about what we're going to be doing for the next year, actually.
We want to introduce some more fruit trees to the second orchard site, which is very exciting.
And we're looking to do something about the tower block walls. So we've got the big tower blocks, and we've got walls on two sides in the park, and they're quite overgrown areas.
I'd like to try and manage those more effectively with the support of the council and maybe open those up to be adopted by people that are in that area, you know, in the in the tower block in the adjoining areas.
That could be their garden area. You know? It'd be wonderful.
So that's something we're considering, whether or not we can actually make those more accessible and open them up more for gardening.
I'm sure we've got a lot of green fingers in the area, and they'd love to adopt it.
All around those walls, we've actually planted, they're about 3 years old, some of them now. Crab apples and Rowan trees, hazel, spindle tree, lovely spindle tree, which has red leaves in autumn. They're just starting to turn, and then berries.
Anything that is attractive but also working for wildlife is what we're trying to flourish, you know, introduce and flourish in there.
Philippa Willitts
That's amazing. It sounds like you're doing brilliant work for the area.
Thank you so much, and thank you for coming on the podcast.
Sue Peel
It's been a pleasure, and thank you for inviting me, Philippa. It's been great. Many thanks.
Speaker 4
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Philippa Willitts
KINCA is the Kellam Island and Neepsend Community Alliance.
With me is Brooke Hayes from Sheffield Museums and Craig Wolstenholme from KINCA. And we are going to be talking about the work that KINCA's doing Island also an event coming up on the 8th September.
So, Craig, can you tell me a bit about KINCA and what you're up to?
Craig Wolstenholme
Yeah. Of course.
So, so KINCA, basically, is it's a community group. We're a charity as well.
Our aim, basically, is to make the area better for people who live here, for people who socialise, for businesses as well. So just make it a much better place.
Basically, to make people feel more included, so it’s more inclusive.
And we do a range of projects to help with all of this. So we do things such as beekeeping, we do litter picks, river cleanups, we have an arts and heritage trail.
So if you walk around Kelham and Neepsend, you'll see lots of murals on the wall. You'll see lots of cabinets, which have been painted up as well. And that's still an ongoing thing. We're trying to get do more and more of that.
We have community meetings regularly, and they're well attended by businesses and residents, and we get councillors coming along and the police. We have a community newsletter.
And one other project, which is a very interesting one, is one called Green Kelham, and that one encompasses a range of things.
It's basically about adding more greenery to the area.
So there are various areas within Kelham and Neepsend where we've started to do that.
So on Ball Street Bridge, we've put a number of planters on there. It's about maybe 10 or 15 now. Lots of colourful plants.
There's an area called Naomi's Corner, which is kind of near Rutland Road. It's that direction. Again, lots of benches and planters there.
We've got a small nectary next to what was the Fat Cat brewery with a wildflower meadow there.
And again, it’s ongoing, this. You know, we're always trying to think of more and more projects to add to it.
So overall, you know, we do lots of things for the community. We like to get people involved as much as possible.
All volunteers, so nobody gets paid at all. But, you know, since I've been involved, you know, I've been down here for 10 years now. You know? The area's transformed, and through KINCA, it's become so much better as well.
So that's what we do in a nutshell.
Philippa Willitts
Yeah. I mean, it is unrecognisable as an area, isn't it, to 10 years ago in many ways? And, yeah, the greenery you're bringing is definitely adding a real beauty to the area, I think.
Craig Wolstenholme
Yeah. Thank you very much.
And I think it complements what's already there. There's not a massive amount of greenery, but we've got we're very lucky to have the river and the goit. So it literally is an island, you know, or part of it anyway.
And we've got lots and lots of wildlife on there and nature, and, obviously, we're just adding to that as well.
Philippa Willitts
And you were involved in, I don't know if you were involved in or organised entirely, Kelham Pride as well?
Craig Wolstenholme
KINCA did organise it, but not me personally. I wasn't really involved in that. But other volunteers within KINCA did that and did a fantastic job.
It was well attended, you know, thousands of people. It's going to be held again next year as well due to the success of this year's event.
So I'm sure they'll build upon that and make it even better.
Philippa Willitts
Yeah. On 8th September is KINCA Art Competition and Kelham Nature Day.
Tell me, first of all, Brooke, from Sheffield Museums, what's planned for the Kellam Nature Day and for 8th September?
Brooke Hayes
So it's going to be a fun afternoon of lots of fun, nature-themed activities for all ages.
So although we're marketing it as a family event, any age could come. You could be 0 to 100, and there'd be something for you to find out and take part in.
So there'll be a range of, hopefully, some walking tours, including our very own Kelham Island’s Dave Buttle will be doing a goit walk where he'll be talking about the flora and fauna along the goit.
And that's a really nice easy-paced walk because it's just literally the strip of the island.
So you're not going to be hiking up hills or anything. Luckily, we're at the flattest part of the city, I think, here, which is great.
Then we've also got the Don Catchment River Trust coming, DCRT, and they're going to be doing some really cool stuff looking at invertebrates.
So they're actually going to go to the river, and they're going to take some samples, and then you'll be able to have a look and see what different creatures can be found in the River Don, next to Kelham Island, which will be really, really exciting.
And they'll have some pictures and descriptions of different features of what you can find and how you work out what they are, which is really cool.
We've also got the Sheffield and Rotherham Wildlife Trust coming, they'll be doing some hands-on activities.
They'll also be discussing the work they do within the city and, of course, in Rotherham as well in terms of what they do, to care for nature and how families can also look after wildlife, where they live and protect them.
So that should be great, to welcome them on-site too.
The museum will be running our own family activities, which we're really excited about.
So there'll be lots of crafting for little ones and big ones. No one's left out.
Plus we've got some people from Sheffield Hallam University that'll be handing out water testing kits. So they'll be handing those out, and then you can go back and you can sample water within the area that you live.
Philippa Willitts
Very cool.
Brooke Hayes
And send it back to them. So there'll be a bit of a lab science element there as well.
So lots of different activities going on.
It'll be spread out across the museum. So you'll be able to walk into the museum, and at different points, there'll be different stands of engagement.
But, of course, the museum is open that day anyway, 11 till 4, so, you'll also be able to explore the museum itself. We are a free museum. The activities will be running 12 till 4 that day, and it'll all be free just to drop in and take part in. But as a charitable trust, we welcome any donation. Thank you very much in advance.
Philippa Willitts
Of course. And there is this art competition element of it as well where they want people - and this, again, is for adults and children - to draw or paint an image of nature that can be found around Neepsend and Kelham Island.
So that might be plants, animals, birds, trees.
What kind of nature might people want to look out for in Neepsend?
Craig Wolstenholme
Yeah. There's so much stuff around. You'd be surprised how much there is.
So particularly around the river, I'd say, you tend to find a lot of interesting things there.
So you might be lucky you might you might see the heron. That makes an appearance every so often.
We've got plenty of, of ducks down there, the kingfisher.
We get geese every so often, moorhens. There's a range, you know, as you say, of colourful plants, trees, etcetera. So there's all sorts that you could find.
Even the river itself could be quite an interesting thing to draw, or the goit, that's a very popular place where people like to go.
So anything at all to do with nature.
We'd like to get a selection of images, some by adults, some by children.
And my intention is to make a bit of a kind of a collage of image, onto a local public litter bin.
We have done a similar thing you might have seen on Ball Street Bridge, that was the first one I'm aware of in Sheffield, whereby we got a bin vinyl wrapped on there.
For that one, because it's very close to our beehives, we decided to make that one all related to the beehives. So images of the beekeepers, close ups of the bees, and it looks fantastic.
The reason for doing it is basically to stop people tagging them, because you do tend to find a lot a lot of the bins around the area, they get tagged. People stick posters on them.
The one that's on the bridge, it's in perfect condition. It's not being tagged, it's had the effect we wanted.
And hopefully, by doing more of these bins, that will just increase the effects of that, the deterrent, really.
So if we get enough funding, hopefully, eventually, I'd like to get all the bins vinyl wrapped.
But to begin with, we've got this one on the bridge. We're hoping to get another one done as well with the images created by children and adults of nature as well.
So, that's it. That's the plan.
Brooke Hayes
It'll be really interesting as well. I think what's important for children and adults to both know when they're doing their drawings that it can be anything.
They don't need to think of a big landscape. They can do something that is huge if they wanted to try and portray that entirety of Kelham Island or Neepsend.
But equally, just focusing on something really small. And maybe if they do go to the Don Catchment River Trust stand and they see the invertebrates, maybe that's what they want to do.
They want to focus on a magnified close-up of a creature from the river or, maybe looking at actually the fact in Neepsend there's been new trees planted, and they've actually gone, oh, I really like this tree.
I used to walk past and there was nothing there, but now there's this beautiful tree that is inspiring. And I think it's thinking you don't need to have that full picture. You can close-up and focus on something, and you still create a beautiful piece of artwork.
Craig Wolstenholme
Absolutely. That's right. That's great.
What we'll do as well is there will be a little stall set up, with information about the art competition.
And at that stall, there'll be a number of pictures there as well, which, hopefully, people can use them to inspire themselves as to what they might draw.
So if they can't think of anything, just pop down, have a look at the pictures already there.
They can get some inspiration that way.
Philippa Willitts
And I think the thing with something like this, it makes you look at the area differently.
You might walk through Neepsend every day on your way to work. But once you've walked through looking for, oh, what are the interesting nature points I might want to draw? Then the next time you walk through, you will still be picking up on, oh, do you know? I've been taking for granted how pretty that plant is or how I like it when there are birds flying by.
It focuses your attention, doesn't it?
Craig Wolstenholme
It does. Yeah. Certainly.
And particularly in Neepsend, there are several projects in there which we've undertaken with nature. So we've got a welcome to Neepsend sign.
Philippa Willitts
I love that sign. Yes.
Craig Wolstenholme
Which is at the end of Hick Street, and there's a flower bed underneath it.
So every so often, we put different things in there. At the moment, we've actually put some mustard seeds in. So it's actually looking really colourful at the moment, lots of kind of bright yellow flowers. So that could be something people could draw.
And we've also got at Neepsend, this area called Naomi's Corner, quite near to Rutland Road.
And it's basically just a small area just at the just at the end of the Upper Don walkway as well.
It's got a number of benches there, planters. We've got a book swap cabinet. Lots and lots of plants there.
So, again, anything from there could be something people could draw as well. And as Brooke says, lots of trees in the area.
Philippa Willitts
And the bees. I keep thinking of the bees.
Craig Wolstenholme
And bees, of course. Yes. That's right.
Brooke Hayes
And I think people can use their imagination as well because maybe they see something in the museum, which is a piece of industry.
So, for example, as you enter the island and you are welcomed to Kelham Island Museum, we have this massive black egg-shaped machine, which is our Bessemer converter.
But then, obviously, looking out across the goit, you've got all the reeds and things.
So maybe people want to go, actually, I want to draw the Bessemer converter, but then I'm going to take the Rowan tree from the goit, and I'm going to put that on my picture as well and some bees, and I'm going to do this.
It doesn't have to be real life. You don't have to draw exactly what you see. I think you can grab lots of inspiration and create your own piece of art.
It might be that on the bin is actually a piece of Kelham, and it's lots of pieces of Kelham Island and Neepsend, but you would never find that exact place.
Craig Wolstenholme
No.
Brooke Hayes
But you'll find all of those elements.
Philippa Willitts
So it doesn't have to be a literal, this is what I see.
Craig Wolstenholme
No. No. Of course not. No.
Brooke Hayes
But then equally, if they people want to do that, that's great as well.
And I think that's what's fantastic about art.
Philippa Willitts
Yeah. It's all about the creativity, isn't it?
Craig Wolstenholme
That's right.
Philippa Willitts
Thinking of Neepsend, what do you think are any challenges Neepsend might be facing at the moment?
Craig Wolstenholme
Yeah. I suppose really it's very similar challenges to the rest of Kelham Island as well. And a lot of it's to do with things that we don't have here, which a lot of other communities do have.
So it's things such as a doctors, chemist, even a dentist. We did have a dentist until recently. They've just moved out, sadly, so we don't have a dentist now.
Lots of different things like that.
Even a school, there's no schools within Kelham and Neepsend, you’ve got to go a bit of a distance to get to the nearest one.
So it's all those things like that. Even libraries as well. We don't have a library.
So it's lots of those important things.
Now you may have heard as well, just announced in the last few months, there's going to be many more people moving into the area over the next 5 years or so.
Philippa Willitts
Yes.
Craig Wolstenholme
There's a big development to what used to be the Cannon Brewery. That's going to be turned into a number of houses and apartments. And, also, I believe where Wickes is around there, there's going to be a lot more development. And I think it's across the road from Wickes and where Wickes is all around there.
It might well be the next 5, 10 years, but over time, there's going to be more and more people living down here.
And as a result, there's going to be more of a demand for these important things such as doctors, etcetera.
So we're hoping that over time we can get more of those facilities down here. Because as I say, there'll be much more demand for them as well.
Philippa Willitts
Yeah. Definitely.
Craig Wolstenholme
So I'd say that they're the main challenges, I'd say.
Philippa Willitts
And what's the best thing about Neepsend?
Craig Wolstenholme
I think it's the fact that you've got a mixture of different kinds of organisations. So you've still got lots of the traditional businesses there, who've been there for decades.
We've got woodmakers. We've got sawmakers. We've got a music studio down there that's been there for many years that attracts lots of high-profile artists, such as Kylie Minogue has been there, I know, over the years, and lots of other well-known names.
But as well as that, you've got lots of upcoming businesses as well, lots of trendy bars where people like to go in the evenings particularly.
And it all seems to work quite well, you know. I think because there's less residential areas within Neepsend, it means that the little bit of noise you do get from some of the bars because there aren't kind of houses right next to them, it doesn't become an issue.
So it all seems to work quite well as it currently stands.
You may have heard as well the news recently about, the council are at the moment in the process of putting in lots of extra double-yellow lines and parking, and then removing some of the parking spaces.
So that's a challenge that some of the local businesses have raised.
I'm hoping that over time, that will sort itself out. It might be that there's less places to park, but on the other hand, the bus facilities are going to be improved.
There's going to be a bus corridor going down, so it might make access by bus a lot easier.
So it might just be that people just have to think about catching the bus to come down rather than driving and parking. And so, yeah, I'm sure over time, it should sort itself out.
And I believe the council have said after a year, they're going to review the changes anyway.
So there might be a possibility of change and things if required, or to see how that works out.
But, hopefully, we'll all be okay.
Philippa Willitts
Yeah. I think if buses can be more direct down there, that, like you say, may ease some of the difficulty. I know some local businesses there are struggling a bit.
So, yeah, I think you're right. It's going to either settle or have to be reviewed one way or the other.
Craig Wolstenholme
That's right.
Brooke Hayes
I think there's so much opportunity as well within Kelham Island and Neepsend. And I think there's so much going on, and it's just getting people more aware of these new businesses, different things to do, and at Kelham Island Museum.
So Sheffield Museums are really trying to put on more events and enabling there to be more activity as well at the museum to welcome people to Kelham Island and Neepsend.
And I think the hope is that if, say, people are coming here or they're going to other places, they'll then go, actually, I'll now try going to such and such across at Neepsend because I really enjoyed my time going around Kelham Island Museum and finding out about this.
And it turns out that there's also this going on, and that would be great.
Philippa Willitts
Yeah. The museum is a great way to get people who might not know that bit of town there, and then they spot all the other things going on. Yeah.
Sue Peel
Yeah.
Philippa Willitts
How can people find out more about KINCA, and how can people find out more about the event on the 8th?
Craig Wolstenholme
Yeah. For KINCA then, the best place to go is our Facebook page. We have lots of regular updates on there, so you can find out about upcoming events. We do have a website as well. It's just currently in development. So you just have to wait a short time until that becomes live again.
But for the time being, I'd say Facebook. We've got an Instagram page as well.
I'd say Facebook is, I think, where we have most of our updates, so it's probably the best place to go.
Brooke Hayes
And then with Kelham Nature Day, it is part of Sheffield Showcase. So Sheffield Showcase have been amazing, and they are advertising this event on their site and also through flyers, and other marketing throughout the city.
Sheffield Museums also has this event on our website, so you can go there and find out more.
We've also created a Facebook event page so you can if you're interested, go on and like that event page.
And our amazing communications team is popping up little posts about what's hopefully happening over the next week so you can have a little sneak peek on some of the stalls that'll be there.
And, of course, because we are partnering on this event with not only KINCA, but also the Don Catchment River Trust, with Sheffield Hallam University, with Sheffield and Rotherham Wildlife Trust. They're also sharing it across their networks, and it's happening during the Big River Watch.
So, you can find out more about the Big River Watch too. So it should be good.
Philippa Willitts
Fantastic. Thank you very much.
Brooke Hayes
Thank you.
Craig Wolstenholme
Thank you.
Subscribe to the podcast at nunlocal.news or search for NUN Local on your favourite podcast player so you never miss an episode.
Philippa Willitts
Dr Camilla Allen is a lecturer in landscape architecture at the University of Sheffield, and she's been involved with the Sheaf Community Bakery, Sheffield Tree Week, and the Sheffield Wheat Experiment.
She co-edited a book, The Politics of Street Trees, and wrote a chapter in it called A Broken Covenant: The Creation and Desecration of Sheffield's Living Memorials.
And it's that chapter that she has kindly agreed to talk to me about today.
So in A Broken Covenant, Camilla talks about the significance of the trees planted in Sheffield in memory of soldiers who died in the First World War.
And she talks about the trees on Western Street in particular, but also those on Tay Street and Oxford Street just by the Ponderosa.
Camilla, can you talk a bit about why Sheffielders at the time chose trees as a way to remember soldiers who’d died in the war?
Dr Camilla Allen
I think the thing that was really significant about that process, that act of commemoration and memorialisation through tree planting, was it started during the war.
So the first trees were planted in 1917. And I think at that point, it was really unclear at what point the war was going to end, you know?
I think many of us will have grown up studying the First World War and the war poets at school, where there's very much this idea that it was going to be over by Christmas, that much of the optimism of the young men who volunteered in 1914, they would be back very quickly.
And actually, the reality was that especially for many of the northern battalions that were created out of the huge, huge number of volunteers that decided that they wanted to join the war, that those cities were really hard hit when actually the war got entrenched literally, you know?
And the Paws battalions, which were set up in cities like Manchester and Leeds and Barnsley and there's a whole fascinating story and history there. But those young men left their cities, often having trained in and around the environments in which they'd grown up.
And it was those northern pals battalions, as they were known, that were particularly hard hit by some of the most disastrous offenses.
And what happened to the Sheffield pals was that a huge proportion of those men were killed or injured or lost in that battle.
And I think what that indicates about the importance of those trees is that, actually, it was something that was immediate. It was relatively thrifty.
But the cost of planting trees, especially when supported by the school boards and the council, was something that people could get behind but actually wasn't anywhere near as contentious as some of the other forms of memorialisation that happened after the war.
So, yeah, I'd say that it represents, I think, something that in the moment, in that particular experience of grief, post that sort of big significant loss for Sheffield, something meaningful and tangible as a way of recognising that sort of grief.
Philippa Willitts
Yeah. The trees on Tay Street were planted in March 1917, which surprised me, actually - you just mentioned that they started being planted before the war ended.
And they have an inscription that says, To the shrine, lift your eyes. Let your voices arise. You are up at the top, Crookesmoor.
While on Oxford Street, it says, 100 years on, think of me when you pass my tree.
And there are steel sculptures of metal soldiers on the railings.
And the Tay Street trees were actually the first memorial trees to be planted during the war in Sheffield, weren't they?
Dr Camilla Allen
I think that's one of the things that's interesting about the two different periods in which these trees were first planted and then I think rememorated, sort of rememorialised little later.
So one of the one of the distinctions is that… and there was something I was really struck by when I started to look into it.
Much of that development in around Crookes and Upperthorpe, there was already, obviously a level of urbanisation that had taken place around there.
But actually, what had happened in that year, or in the years sort of preceding a huge amount of Sheffield was built from 1900 onwards.
And I think one of the things in those years before many of the young men who had gone off to fight had been probably children, infants who had gone to some of these schools.
So actually looking at the dates at which the schools were themselves built and how that aligned with the dates of birth of the young men who died. And this just sort of wider correlation about what it meant to be a young man from that bit of Sheffield, what it was to be a Crookesmoor boy.
And there were there would have been divisions even within the Pals battalions that really aggregated to a very local level. That was my understanding.
Especially, actually, the title of the chapter comes from a book written by a Sheffield based author called A Broken Covenant, which tried to disguise the fact that it's written about Sheffield.
But it's definitely the story of Sheffield and it starts with this group of young men who come from an area of Sheffield that I think is pretty much undoubtedly Crookes.
And what that meant as an aspirational working class, middle class area with these big new schools and big brave hopes for a big new century and actually how different that reality was, I think, with the war.
I think what's interesting is to see that I mean we'll never know. Well, maybe that's in future research.
I don't know that it was a poet who wrote that inscription, or someone with a very poetic sensibility. And I think there's something very interesting about what it meant to live there, be from there, and what people wanted to be reminded of when they thought about those trees and the sacrifice made and lives lost.
And I think what's interesting is the way in which, I think my understanding would be that the soldiers in the in the railings, it's a contemporary memorial that coincides with the 100 years since the armistice and then also what would happen in Sheffield.
But that that really ties those trees to those young men in a way that is all of these different facets of what it means to commemorate and memorialise these trees and what it is actually saying more broadly about our society and the times that we live through.
Philippa Willitts
And the Tay Street trees inspired - was it a local councillor to plant the Oxford Street trees?
Dr Camilla Allen
Yeah. I think it kind of snowballed.
I think there's more research to be done into the different community responses to the conflict through the planting of trees.
Because I think Sheffield in itself throws up these really interesting examples.
But when I was looking into what was happening across the country more broadly, it really was very much something that was part of a discourse during and after the war.
You know, what role might tree planting and preservation and lots of other things which we now might see as slightly kind of bizarrely linked - things like the roads for remembrance, which as a concept really took the idea that it was going to be through making better highways that people again, this idea of sacrifice and loss could be recognised.
And so trees, there's always a very interesting tension... I'm not going to say so much tension, but they both deliver functions that we would now describe as ecosystem services, whilst also providing extraordinary, intimate, but also cultural values and so forth.
So it's an interesting one. So seeing how this snowballing, people seeing the opportunity to plant with meaning, that's what I think is really important.
So I think that's one of the most interesting things is for a local councillor to see the efforts gone to by a school to commemorate its pupils and think, well we could take this one step further and link the school with the tram
They were thinking in terms that we would now talk about the walkability of cities and linking up our grey infrastructure with green infrastructure.
But I think it shows that much of that instinct to improve the urban environment is something that actually is quite dispersed across different people from different walks of life, different interests, and different levels of agency.
Philippa Willitts
I think your next paper, whatever it's about, should be titled The opportunity to plant with meaning.
Dr Camilla Allen
Yes. I agree. It's there. I wanted to say it here because actually I feel like it's the thing we ignore our peril. We should plant with meaning.
Do it purposefully. Do it. Yeah.
Philippa Willitts
So in this chapter, you referenced various letters sent to newspapers on the topic of suitable memorials and trees.
I particularly liked one from a Mr W Greaves, who wanted to take the first letter of each fallen soldier's name and plant a tree beginning with the same letter so that it would be educational and “encourage people to take a greater interest in one of the greatest friends of man”.
And that seemed to me to be both lovely and totally impractical.
What stood out to you from the letters to newspapers that you found?
Dr Camilla Allen
I think the thing that I was really drawn to is actually the degree to which it revealed this discourse that was going on in the city about what was possible, plausible, appropriate.
There was a really lively debate going on about how the city could recognise not just - I think this is an important point to make, because there was sort of later this idea that the trees were planted really as a kind of proxy for the people who had died lost their lives and the non-repatriation of bodies. It's all part of what we now understand in that conflict.
But I wanted to go back to some of the more accessible voices, and I think that's where the letters, and the correspondence in the Sheffield Telegraph and other newspapers, I think, really brought to life what was going on in Sheffield and really brought home the impact of the war, industrialisation, women going into the work place, the city changing - it was already an industrial city, but I think that intensification, the increasing levels of pollution, and so forth, I think really meant that the city as a broad entity had also sacrificed.
You know, there was a sacrifice which meant it continued to be and then was became increasingly polluted and unpleasant and probably not very safe environment in which to live and work.
And that is something which I think is part of what these really represented.
And this aspiration that not just tree planting, but things like one of the other bits that really struck me was Ecclesall Woods, which is a significant urban ancient woodland and is managed as such.
But that one of the letters had extraordinary proposals turn it into a commemorative lake with a sacred grove and statues and things which would now we'd recognise as a much more formal language of a memorial garden. And the same person suggested that it could have a zoo there.
Because they're really thinking how you know, what might bring pleasure and delight to children, so quite sensible. Kinda sensible.
But what's interesting is actually the reality of where those plans get to.
Like, sometimes it's just really important for people to say these things out loud and to be contributing to something on which people then maybe decide on a general consensus.
So that might have been in part the mechanism of that space eventually becoming public land.
Philippa Willitts
The history of Sheffield's memorial trees came to wider public awareness when the council made some controversial decisions about the future of the city's street trees, including some of these memorial trees.
Can you explain - I know it's an immensely complex situation, but can you explain what happened there in relation to the memorial trees?
Dr Camilla Allen
Oh, yes. So I think I will say that it is very difficult to do justice to the extraordinary events that unfolded in Sheffield as a result of a deeply divisive and, I think it's fair to say, inappropriate private financing initiative deal to get the city's roads resurfaced in the sort of early 2000s, which really began to bite in the second decade of the century.
And I think there were lots of points of reference and people are interested in that.
And, actually, the audience for this is Sheffield people, people are probably already quite well versed.
But the thing that I was really struck by is, my research in general has inadvertently always circled back to the First World War and I'm very interested in what was happening at that moment in time.
My PhD was on a 20th century forester who had very formative experiences in the First World War and his career started afterwards.
So I've always seen it as a very interesting point of conflict and change in British society.
I've been in Sheffield for 12 years and would have been in the city for sort of 6 or 7 by the time the trees on Western Road were really came to the fore that they were also threatened with felling.
And the thing that made it, I think, particularly the optics particularly bad is that this really came to a head in 2017, 2018. So the whole country was gearing up to celebrating the centenary of the armistice.
And yet the debate was well, it wasn't really a debate. The challenge was that it was either going to cost £500,000 to save the trees on Western Road or it would be money that could otherwise go to on adult social care.
And anyone who understands the impact of austerity on cities like Sheffield can see that that is a very, very, very divisive thing, to say this is one or the other.
The idea that it's trees or people. And, actually, at this moment in time, if you deny someone home help, that denies them their dignity.
It was incredibly incredibly divisive.
And I think for that reason, I wanted to understand it better. Where did this come from?
There was a very, very, very powerful campaign that, I was not involved with, that was led by people involved in a street tree campaign in lots of different ways that really brought to the fore the significance of these trees.
They got huge number of different organisations involved and it made national news… the headlines the desire to pun around both war and trees was irresistible to many newspapers both locally and nationally.
And for me, that's where it got particularly interesting.
The book that I edited, Politics of Street Trees, I think for me the Western Road trees and the way in which that really brought to the fore a lot of debates about what is this environmental legacy? What does it mean? How are those values communicated? To what degree are they contested?
I think it was just a really good little knot to try and unpick.
Philippa Willitts
Going back again in time, another letter writer at the time said, although bronze or stone memorials had their place, trees give unique consolation and comfort to the parents of fallen soldiers, providing a visible manifestation of growth and development that they had been denied by the war.
And I wonder whether this sense of something living that can outlast us and the comfort of that is one of the reasons why people felt so strongly in 2017 about defending the memorial trees.
Dr Camilla Allen
I think that it's you know, the fundamental point made across the campaign in Sheffield was that you cannot cut down a healthy, mature tree that has decades left of its… I'm going to say, benevolence… to share.
I'm sat in London under the benevolent shade of a huge plane tree. And it is wonderful.
And it's important for us to plant more trees, new trees. But at the same time, it is not possible to ignore the fact that actually that legacy builds and builds.
And I think that's why it absolutely it is unconscionable.
I mean, I think that's why what happened in Sheffield was recognised as real environmental vandalism because that investment, that sense that this is something, this is a gift to the future, it might bring short term benefits, but actually that fundamentally we're planting trees because they have this amazing mnemonic power to both soothe and calm and give us some sense of optimism for the future and they’re markers in time.
You can't replace it with something juvenile with a hope that that will do the same job because I think that is what there is an amazing level of investment, which isn't just financial and it isn't just practical.
It's emotional. Yeah. The emotional investment, which people read in the environment. And then when it's gone, it seems all the more heartbreaking to see.
Philippa Willitts
What do you think we, as a city, and also as smaller communities within the city, learned from the street tree crisis and also from the strength of feeling about preserving the trees?
Dr Camilla Allen
Well, I think Sheffield is now actually really justifiably a city trying to do things differently. And I think I would say I've framed it before that we could talk about how politics affects street trees, but Sheffield showed that street trees can affect politics.
And we fundamentally have a different system of governance as a result of what happened in Sheffield.
It precipitated an extraordinary campaign in which people contributed in a very, very diverse and different ways, a level of grit and determination and advocacy and just showing up in ways that have changed the city.
But actually also relate to a long tradition of protest and civil activism, which I think the city can be incredibly proud of.
And what I'm interested in the moment is kind of to what extent can we meaningfully heal?
I've joined the Sheffield Street Tree Partnership, which was a group that was set up to help deliver a strategy that is a multi-partner one. So it's the council are a part of it, Amey are part of it, the wildlife trust, people now from universities, people from STAG, Sheffield trees action group, are coming together to try and absolutely deliver best practice when it comes to the city street trees.
And I think that is something that we really need to be shouting about because this it wasn't just a conflict.
It was a conflict that actually really had profound implications.
And we're still going to be dealing with the legacy of it and we're still going to be thinking about how that changes and evolves moving forward.
And I think there are probably many other people who could speak much more particularly about what it was what it meant to be part of that campaign.
But I do think, ultimately, it reflects well on Sheffield, but it's something that we need to continually sort of reflect upon and learn from because it's yeah. It changed us.
Philippa Willitts
So if people want to find out more about your work, is there a website or a social media account anybody can head over to?
Dr Camilla Allen
At this moment in time, I'm having a bit of a social media holiday.
Philippa Willitts
Very nice.
Dr Camilla Allen
I do use Instagram. I may yet go back to it. But during my PhD, that's when I stopped using Facebook because I think I could have just done a autoethnography of me reading message threads about the street trees. That would have been my whole PhD because that was definitely the way that it was going at some point, unsanctioned by the university.
But yes. So now in general, I've got a profile on the School of Architecture and Landscape’s website. So anyone who's interested can look me up there.
I think details of my research will be on there. I think there is currently a frozen Twitter account or an inactive Twitter account. And I'm on Instagram as @CamilLandscape with the last two letters of my first name rolling into landscape, which looks better than it actually reads or says, if that makes sense.
Philippa Willitts
It does.
Thank you so much, Camilla. That's been so interesting.
Dr Camilla Allen
Oh, absolute pleasure.
Philippa Willitts
Thank you for listening to episode 1 of NUN Local. I hope to see you next month.
Sign up at nunlocal.news.
I have been Philippa Willitts, a local journalist and founder and director of Scribble and Bloom Community Interest Company. See you in October.
Ponderosa Nature Group / KINCA Art Competition and Kelham Nature Day / Memorial Street Trees with Dr Camilla Allen