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Talking to staff members at Heeley City Farm on condition of anonymity, we've uncovered some concerning claims, including that Chief Executive Stuart Gillis told staff members not to apply for grant funding for the organisation when he came into post – only to deny having said it months later. The allegations will prompt questions from the community in light of the charity's budget deficit of £100k, the associated 'rescue plan' and incoming redundancies of up to 17 from a staff of 47. (Gillis chose not to comment on our article.)
More positively, Heeley City Farm is seeking up to six new trustees to help steer it towards a brighter future. If you're interested, the deadline for applications is 6 February.
This week we've also published a piece on how new ONS data about LGBT+ people could be critical for charities and decisionmakers in Sheffield, an interview with Manchester post-punk/jazz/trip-hop trio Moby Dickless, and a review of drag stage comedy Death Drop: Back In The Habit.
Letters to Now Then
We have an open submissions policy at Now Then, but we'd also like to give our readers the chance to let us know more directly what you think about our stories, the issues they bring up or anything else that's on your mind.
Just reply to this email – and we'll do the rest. Letters may be lightly edited and we'll let you know if we plan to publish anything you send to us.
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Anonymous staff members say they were blocked from applying for grants which could have sustained the organisation and its projects, as 17 workers face redundancy due to budget deficit of £100k.
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Scale trees – huge, hulking structures which may have helped bring about an ice age which then destroyed them – are an apt metaphor for the present-day myth of infinite growth on a finite planet, writes Sheffield Green peer Natalie Bennett.
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“The scale tree altered its own environment... [creating] conditions in which it could not live” |
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2021 census captures LGBT+ data for the first time – but there are serious concerns.
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“data from the ONS will be vital in making sure that trans people have the resources and support they need” |
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Even In The Shade
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| The London-based duo mesmerise with a heady mix of circumspection, melancholia and symbiotic sonics which is utterly enthralling. |
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| Elsewhere: |
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In the Tribune, Andrew Dowdeswell looks at the sharp economic divide within Sheffield that is "stark, running like a border from north to south down the centre of the city. This line separates Sheffield into two halves: a more prosperous west and a much poorer east." Now Then and Opus have covered the critical topic in the past too, including through the 2015 Festival of the Mind vox-pop video project, Fairness on the 83, which traced the 83 bus route from south to north. Our favourite clip features Bunty in Parson Cross. |
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Sheffield writer and muso Daniel Dylan Wray has penned a piece for the Guardian about Jive Turkey, "the Sheffield club night that blazed a trail for UK house". Talking to the night's promoters and some of the most important figures in electronic music in the city from the mid 80s onwards, he uncovers some interesting takes – including the fact that the emergence of the club drug ecstacy destroyed the diversity of crowds. "Ecstasy killed it. It sieved all the Black people out," says DJ and producer Richard Barrett, known as Parrot. |
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And South Yorkshire Climate Alliance has created a petition calling for Sheffield City Council to speed up its response to the climate emergency, stating that "Sheffield is missing out on green jobs and training opportunities, locally owned community energy generation, increased food security and thousands of warm, insulated homes." |
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