This is the temporary home for SGSF General meeting minutes -
SGSF Meeting 17th July 2024. JG Graves Woodland Discovery Centre.
Chair Ted Talbot welcomes everyone to the meeting, and we get out for walks around the woodlands – some of us discovering the ponds for the first time!
Ted presents the paper on Communities Lottery bid outlining SGSF’s management committee’s plan to apply for some extra resourcing to enable digital support, do some work on shared training and other activities.
Ted asked for help the management committee members to develop this. Anyone interested should get in touch with Nicola.
Q: can we include blue spaces in this? Can we work together with the river organisations which might bring some funding with them too.
TT: yes, and there is overlap with allotment groups and food growing on sharing tools etc.
Q: getting match funding from other partner organisations would be good. Events students at Sheffield Hallam could help on this.
There were some volunteers to help on the writing of the bid and providing evidence to help with the bid, and also help with thinking about the groups engaging with young people.
Q: What is at the centre of this request? is it about employing a person?
TT: this is yet to be decided and is a good question. If SGSF get our act together and some initial funding, this might leverage in some of the funding from elsewhere (at the council).
Q: are you under-aiming?
TT: Yes, but this is the limit of the funding pot and its conditions. We have to start somewhere.
Q: How do we know what experience and skills we can share with each other?
TT: We don’t and can’t yet – and this is part of the reason for the bid.
Vote: shall the management committee continue to develop this?
Everyone in favour. 1 abstention
Homework! The management committee will need some material from people – enjoy your parks but talk to your groups about how this idea of networking would work in practice
Green Flag award – congratulations winners!!
These include Manor Fields Park, Sheffield General Cemetery, Devon Gardens (Green Pennant), Pounds Park for the first time and Grenoside Green for 23rd consecutive year. Congratulations all!
Q: Does the council state that there are limited numbers of parks that can apply for Green Flag? Rowan confirms that there is a limit in resources and it’s to allow groups in the more deprived parts of the city get a good chunk of the resources.
This can be something to cover in the September meeting.
Groups can go for Green Flag Community award without any involvement from the council.
Don’t forget to celebrate Love Parks Week from July 26th onwards.
And use the Green Flag Award website which is a mine of information.
Rowan Longhurst, Parks and Countryside Service, Senior Management Team, Woodlands Manager, SCC update.
Rowan outlined some key projects in the Service include Shirebrook Valley species survival fund which is now underway; Parkwood Springs have moved from one batch of funding to another funder (aka Levelling Up). There is a new Ecology manager – Nicky Rivers – who has joined from the Sheffield and Rotherham Wildlife Trust and is focused on statutory work related to Local Nature Recovery Strategy, Biodiversity Net Gain and working with the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority.
The LNRS team is building up the evidence base – if you are interested to be part of the
LNRS South Yorkshire, get in touch with Ted/ Nicola.
There are some larger-scale partnership projects in the pipeline which Rowan will hopefully be able to update on at the next meeting. Councillor Kurtis Crossland (Lib Dem) is now Chair of Communities, Parks & Leisure and Cllr Richard Williams is on Chair of the Charity Trustee Sub-Committee.
The council’s Parks team is working hard – Mowing Better team has had challenges with the wet weather.
Another apprentice has joined the team.
Dog walkers are on the agenda for this year.
There are significant budget cuts are expected 2025-27 but SCC doesn’t know the impact yet.
Now is a good time to develop relationships with councillors and Local Area Committees as next year there is no election. LACs have announced their funding pots. TT would recommend being tactical and working together. Help the LACs spend their money!
Groundwork Yorkshire has also got funding to get young people to work together on projects outdoors on water – funding projects up to £5K.
Just A Minute
Friends of High Hazels Park – new facilities going in at High Hazels including a new children’s facility and removing the old soil store (condemned 17 years ago).
Friends of Sheffield Botanical Gardens – will be celebrating the Gardens’ 40th birthday, Sunday 4th August.
Friends of Whirlow Brook Park want to set up a nature recording system. Does any other FG have a system for recording wildlife?
Yes: iNaturalist will help you identify and record plants and set up a project – if you give it a boundary, then anyone who uploads anything to iNat within the boundary automatically gets uploaded. iRecord is not as easy or citizen based as iNaturalist and people in the profession.
Please join Better Points – lots of people have been joining so get involved and get people outside and rewarding them for doing this.
A rare plant was found at Green Estate – a new plant found at Manor Fields - field gromwell (Lithospermum arvenses). The last time it was seen anywhere near here was in Nottinghamshire in 1888!!!
Sheffield Action on Plastic – if anyone is running events in their parks, you can reduce your single use plastics for reusable cups and reusable coffee cup scheme. sheffieldactiononplastic.co.uk.
Next meeting:
Weds Sept 18th, 6.30pm for 7pm start - Centre in the Park, Norfolk Heritage Park. Hosted by Friends of Norfolk Heritage Park.
Weds Nov 20th, 6.30pm for 7pm start - The Arts Tower. AGM