What's On Out There? 🚶🏽🦫🏃🏽🦉🚴🏻 Spring 2026

The news, links and listings post for Sheffield and the northern Peak District.

What’s On Out There is part of the It’s Looking A Bit Black Over Bill’s Mother’s social enterprise publication, read by thousands of discerning people from Sheffield and all over the world. We have readers in Brazil, Finland, Vietnam and 29 other countries. Even Rotherham.

There’ll be regular updates to this post with incoming events, links & news, so save and refresh when you get chance, or download the free Substack App to keep up.

This year, It’s Looking A Bit Black Over Bill’s Mother’s will be launching a new section to celebrate our hundreds of voluntary wild space groups, what they do, where they are and how you can help. Please spread the word:

In this magazine we’re fighting back against the anti-social media supervillains. If you like our posts, all we ask is if you can spare a meagre £4 a month to help cover our costs, please think about signing up as a full supporter (below). Paying readers, not evil algorithms, are quite simply our only source of income.

Full subscribing heroes can read the full version of What’s On Out There? with around 6 weeks of listings, special features and lots more. You’ll also get full access to every post we ever publish, including our vast and fairly interesting archive, and the warm glow of supporting local journalism, and the hundreds of out there local organisations listed in these posts.

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What’s On Out There? (This week or so)

Sat 2nd to Mon 4th May - Open Up Sheffield arts weekend.

Sat 2nd - Friends of Whirlow Brook Park - Volunteer session

Sat 2nd - Shire Brook Valley - Volunteer Session

Sat 2nd - CycleBoost cycle training (Greenhill Park)

Sun 3rd - Yorkshire Rose women’s cycle rides

Sun 3rd -Millhouses Park & Ecclesall Woods bird walk with Pete Brown

Sun 3rd - CTC Cycle Ride

Mon 4th - Friends of Loxley Cemetery Open Day

Mon 4th - Fri 8th May - Daily health walks in parks and green spaces from Step Out Sheffield, 10 am start

Tues 5th - SRWT Volunteering - Wyming Brook

Weds 6th - Longshaw Social Walk

Weds 6th - Shire Brook Valley - Volunteer Session

Thurs 7th - Green City Action Grimesthorpe community allotment

Fri 8th - CycleBoost cycle training (Women only - Endcliffe Park)

Sat 9th to Sun 10th May - Open Up Sheffield arts weekend.

Sat 9th - Friends of Whirlow Brook Park - Plant Sale

Sat 9th - Shire Brook Valley - Volunteer Session

Sat 9th - CycleBoost cycle training (Greenhill Park)

Sun 10th - Yorkshire Rose women’s cycle rides

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Promoters & Organisers: Email us at bbobillsmothers@gmail.com as follows: Subject line - WOOT Event, with an email containing a one line description, day & date, and an online link so readers can find out more. And I’d really appreciate you taking out a full paid subscription or two (as many local organisations have) to keep this service running.

Artists, Illustrators or Photographers: If you’d your work here, seen by thousands of folk in every edition, please email us at: bbobillsmothers@gmail.com

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Also Out There (Links in headline, usually)

New Bird Book for Sheffield - Sheffield Bird Study Group are about to publish their spectacular New Birds of the Sheffield Area compendium of all 300 birds seen around here. (We’ll have more on this soon).

Nature’s Calendar - The Woodland Trust run a citizen science phenology project to try and map our climate-changed seasons. They’re asking us to record early flowers, bird song and frogspawn, for example, and you can view previous years’ results. Full subscribers can read our phenological interview with author Joe Shute here.

E-Bike Loans - We covered the approaching unofficial Sheffield Year of the E-Bike for full Sheffield Tribune subscribers here. One undersung e-bike hire scheme is here already: CycleBoost, supported by the council, offer you a free month’s trial of an e-bike and secure cycle parking hubs at the city centre and Meadowhall, with a per-month charge thereafter (£75 + £5 for parking access) to keep the scheme sustainable.

Sheffield Storeys - Our own Muddy Mother’s new Substack is very much worth a look too, not just because she’s my daughter. Our Storeys is about homes and home renovations, and how to cope with trying to build an extension while avoiding tripping over your dog, rendering your baby and losing your toddler in the wall cavity.

Between 6 & 16 Miles - The next issue of the beautiful “fell-running, nature, art, philosophy and psychogeography” zine by local artist & writer F. Thomas Green is out now. Our feature on winter running by the author is here.

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Our full listings for the next month or so (below) are for full subscribers only. The next What’s On Out There is out in early May, so do subscribe below to keep up.