Late Night Final

Read all about it.

Evening. Since you’re here, it’s clear you’re one of those discerning Sheffielders who take a real interest in the Outdoor City.

So today we have a brief post about how you can learn even more about what’s going on out there, and help the city at the same time.

But first, a very quick Out There News In Brief:

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Open Gardens - the (semi) official means of wandering around the back gardens of local villages is on now. Totley gardens are waiting for you on 4th and 5th July, Beeley, Birchover and Edensor (including a Duke) are open this coming weekend and Castleton and Tibshelf on 28th / 29th June, among others.

New Birds of Sheffield - a talk this Friday (tomorrow) by learned birders David Wood and Richard Hill of Sheffield Bird Study Group will introduce the group’s new beautifully illustrated reference book on the Outdoor City’s 300 (so far) species. The amazing book will be there (Central Library Carpenter Room) to buy too - £32 cash only.

Migration Matters Festival - the far sighted festival returns, starting tomorrow, with music, dance, art events and lots more in Britain’s largest festival about sanctuary and refugees. This year is the festival’s tenth anniversary, and see below in our runner’s round up for the Migration Matters new city centre social run on Saturday 27th.

Heeley Festival - the hillside jamboree around Heeley City Farm and nearby People’s Park is this Saturday (20th)

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We, and our friends at the Sheffield Tribune, are on a recruitment drive, because we reckon that Sheffield, and all the wild creatures that live here, need a proper fourth estate.

I can still remember, the local newspapers of northern cities producing several editions a day, up to the Late Night Final for evening commuters. Knowing what was happening in your city was important to citizens of all backgrounds, and our leaders and business folk knew the consequences of those newspapers shuddering off the presses down a back alley off Hartshead.

Uncle Elon and the algorithms of his lesser billionaires have no interest in such matters, of course, but their products have skinned our local media to the bone.

Our national leaders have finally recognised that anti social media is (much) worse than useless as a source of genuine information, and we think in these days, the city needs proper newsgatherers more than ever.

We, and the Tribune, and a handful of people at our still remaining traditional local media outlets are still trying to do what local media do: find things out and tell people about them.

The Tribune are working hard to sign up 1,000 new subscribers by this Sunday, at which point they’ll launch a fantastic campaign with five pledges to help the city’s democracy, tackle disinformation amongst the young, investigate the city’s inequalities, find good news stories and launch a programme for young writers.

At the time of writing, they need 138 more subscribers, and you can join them for any fee you like for the first two months.

Our much humbler target is to get just another 40 regular readers to upgrade for the price of a pint of beer a month, so we can also feature more good news stories and generate enough income to enlist some new writers to help us cover even more.

You can upgrade below if you think we’re worth a mere £4 a month.

If all the readers of It’s Looking A Bit Black Over Bill’s Mother’s said yes, we like what we read here and in the Tribune, and then clicked upgrade or paid to one or both, your city’s new local media titles would be overjoyed this week.

And by way of thanks, here are a couple of features from our own archives we’ve opened up for everyone.

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Running Round Up

Small Park Big Run - Sat 20th/Sun 21st June - the 10th running of the 24 hour 1km circuit around Meersbrook Park supporting women’s education and children’s play in Palestine. Walk or run all day and all night, or just for a few circuits, along with food, singing and dancing.

Steel City Trail 10 - Sun 21st June - 10k (approx) circuit around the summertime Shire Brook Valley nature reserve, for off-road runners fast or slow who like supporting the local countryside.

Forged by Migration: Run Social - Sat 27th June - a new socially-paced 5k run for the Migration Matters festival, followed by music and coffee and socialising in the city centre. Route to be announced soon, but early sign ups welcome.

Coal Aston Chase - Sat 4th July - the 4.7 mile run round the north Derbyshire countryside, sponsored by local women’s running gear suppliers Bimble & Bolt

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Thanks for reading, and please feel free to share this post with all your mates.

And if you really want to keep up with out there news for Sheffield and the northern Peak District, a full subscription (so you can read all of everything we ever post, and support the growth of real local journalism at the same time) is the pocket money cost of a 2026 Millhouses or Kelham Island flat white.

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