How many Friends groups, trusts, river rangers, running, cycling, walking, allotment and orienteering clubs, litter pickers, campaigning organisations and other windswept volunteer groups are there out there tending to the wild places of Sheffield? Hundreds, we know. But there might be more.
The old story is that Sheffield is the biggest village in England, so we all kind of know each other. It’s a nice idea, and it sometimes feels that way as you bump into your mates on Stanage Edge.
But local historians have told me we’re really a big village made up of lots of little villages. And sometimes one village doesn’t know what’s happening in the next. (And in these digital days, a village might mean a real place with a pub and postbox, or a community of like minded walkers, photographers, artists or millipede lovers meeting online, or at the agm every year).
That’s where we hope to help. Over time (and particularly if you share this publication with all your mates, and support us by subscribing freely or fully) we aim to build up huge lists of all the active voluntary groups out there, and how you can help them.
We’ll have regularly updated pages, with ideas and resources too. And we’re starting here, with just a few of the citywide organisations helping the Outdoor City.
And please, get back to us in the comments below, or by email (bbobillsmothers@gmail.com) if you know a citywide group to add, or anything else we should all know.
Collectives
A few organisations have tried to keep track of our sprawling wild voluntary groups over the years. Currently the Sheffield Green Spaces Forum is providing a link between the council and the city’s Friends and other voluntary groups.
The 42 year old Sheffield Environment Weeks organisation keeps track of summer events and has a good list of active groups, while the council also has a list of many of the city’s Friends of organisations. And with your help, we hope to have it all here, of course, in time.
Clear Ups
Clearing up the rubbish for everyone is good for the heart and soul, I’m told. So is clearing paths, rewilding the landscape, or hacking out invasive jungles. We’ll aim to have your local heroes listed on Commoner’s Muck over the next weeks and months, but in the meantime, citywide you might try:
Sheffield Conservation Volunteers
Sheffield & Rotherham Wildife Trust
Sheffield Council’s SWEEP project
Citizen Scientists
Citizen Science has been happening here for centuries. We’ve always had keen amateur naturalists and spotters, scanning the city for new species with notebooks or phone apps. Two centuries ago they formed learned societies which are still here, while other organisations have arrived more recently.
They all seem to me very friendly and keen to encourage the rest of us too. Here are a few of our organisations looking into our natural world. But I know there are plenty more specialists out there looking for all kinds of strange things most of us might never notice. So please let me know of other citywide spotting and investigating groups not here yet - by email or in the comments.
Sheffield & Rotherham Wildlife Trust
Campaigners
As the birthplace of the Right to Roam movement (don’t tell Manchester or Totnes) Sheffield has a long tradition of countryside and access campaigning. We’ve also always been busy in the world of urban access, and safe ways to get around our city.
There will doubtless be hundreds of campaigns going on out there we’ve not heard about yet, and as time and resources allow, we’ll do our best to cover those relevant to our publications. But here are just a few starting points:
CPRE Peak District and South Yorkshire
There’ll be more to come soon, with updates on this page and across Commoner’s Muck. We’ll have email updates every now and then, but the online version, via your browser or the free Substack app, will be the most up to date information we have.
So do tell all your mates about Commoner’s Muck, and please subscribe as a free or full supporter to help us to keep going and growing.
If you can run to a mere £4 a month to become a full subscriber to both Commoner’s Muck and It’s Looking a Bit Black Over Bill’s Mother’s, it helps us pay the bills to keep this social enterprise running. Thanks for reading.
An excellent list! I did some volunteering with SRWT yesterday with my work and had a great time - they have regular days where you can get involved and I highly recommend it.
If you want to get involved in clearing up and litter picking, you can just do it too - get a litter picker first, and you can let the council know where you've left the rubbish you've picked (bagged up at a current bin) and they'll pick it up for you from there.
Another point - the "England's biggest village" thing dates from the 19th century according to a local history book I read. These days most people seem to have graduated to the world's biggest village!