Hallam Community and Youth Association
1964-2014

Prologue

Before 1960, except for a few houses on Crimicar Lane, the land between Redmires Road, Blackbrook Road and Crimicar Lane was open land and still being farmed. The same was true of land on the East side of Crimicar Lane. Hallamshire Road was only about 100 yards long, with less than a dozen houses on it Barncliffe Road was the same, and Barncliffe Crescent went only as far as Barncliffe Drive. Hallam Grange Road, Rise and Crescent had only a few houses on them, with large gaps in between small clumps of houses. Hallam Fields Farm stood on land where St Albans Drive is now, surrounded by meadowland.

The Fulwood bus (now the 120 route), had its terminus half way up Crimicar Lane, where Hallamshire Road now starts. The Lodge Moor bus turned round at Lodge Moor Hospital, unless it was one of the few each day which ran all the way to Wyming Brook. The land between those two bus services was largely farmland, but planning permission was granted to build houses, and an extremely large building project was under way.

The Old Fever Hospital at the top of Crimicar Lane had been closed, and it was eventually demolished to make way for a Council-built estate and The Shiny Sheff pub.

In the late 1950s and the early 1960s, therefore, many new houses were built in the area known as Upper Fulwood and Lodge Moor, and a new community was born “The Hallam Village” and the people living there were mostly young families, wanting to socialise and to get to know each other.

The Community comes together

Blackbrook Road Playing Field was already designated as public open space, and the field adjoining it fronting on to Crimicar Lane, was owned and operated as a Sports Field by the YMCA. With all the building work going on around it, the YMCA saw an opportunity to “cash in” on the building boom, and published its intention to apply for planning permission to build houses on the Sports Field.

By this time most of the new houses that had recently been built were occupied, and news of the intended planning application spread quickly. As described above Hallam Community and Youth Association was already providing opportunities for the new residents to get to know each other, and to enjoy social events together, but the news of the forthcoming planning application motivated a large increase in membership of the Association so that strong opposition to the application could be organised. The founders recruited many of the new residents to the foundling organisation by knocking on doors, explaining the objectives, and collecting 2/6d (today’s equivalent is twelve and a halfpence) each month, so providing necessary working capital. Their efforts met with tremendous support, and very quickly more than 400 families had been recruited into membership. The object of the Association was simply expressed –

To preserve open space for recreation and to provide cultural and social activities for the residents of Fulwood and Lodge Moor.

Early in 1965 the Association held its first public meeting in the Pavilion on the (then) YMCA Playing Field on Crimicar Lane. HCYA (along with other members of the local community) were keen to retain that space as open land, it being a corridor as it were, to the Blackbrook Road Playing Field and the moors beyond.

The first formal application for planning permission to develop the land for housing was lodged in 1966, and the Association raised fierce objection to it. This resulted in a compromise arrangement, with the YMCA withdrawing the application in return for permission to build on adjacent land which is now Crimicar Avenue, and undertaking to retain the remainder as private open space. Following this undertaking, the YMCA raised enough finance to enable them to buy the freehold from the original owners, the Ecclesall Brierlow Trust.

During the late 1960s HCYA and YMCA had a constructive and amicable relationship, but on 4th June 1969 local builders Ackroyd and Abbott submitted yet another planning application to build houses on the Sports Field, supported of course by the YMCA. About this time too, YMCA offered to build a community hall on land they owned off Lodge Moor Road if HCYA would withdraw its opposition to the housing development.

The offer was roundly declined!

Sheffield City Council considered the YMCA’s planning application, and the Association was able to provide strong opposition. Planning permission was refused by the Council on 13th October of that same year. The YMCA appealed to the Secretary of State. A Government Inspector was appointed and ordered to adjudicate on the matter, following which the Secretary of State would make his decision. The public enquiry was held in the Town Hall on 9th April 1970, when the Association was represented by specially hired Counsel, Mr. S.S. Gill. HCYA organised a massive demonstration outside Sheffield Town Hall, claiming that there was already a great lack of public open space in the area (much less than was stipulated by statute), and urged the Inspector to refuse the appeal. By doing so they generated much publicity, and they also gave verbal evidence at the public meetings held by the Inspector.

The Association (which by this time had 1,200 members) had also organised a public petition, which solicited a huge positive response from the local community and others, and this too was presented to the Inspector.

In due course (these things take much time) The Inspector, having completed his investigation, went back to Whitehall to compile his report, and it was not until much later that he made his recommendation to refuse planning permission, a decision which the Secretary of State upheld, and the YMCA’s appeal was eventually dismissed on 26th January 1973. The open space that was the YMCA Sports Field on Crimicar Lane remained open space, due largely to the activities of HCYA.

The Hallam Fete

The first Hallam Fete was held around 1968, and quickly became an annual event on the calendar, with a procession around the area, marching bands, Fete Queen and attendants, decorated floats, The Hallam Majorettes, fancy dress and a varied selection of entertainments in the central arena. Originally the Fete was held on Blackbrook Road Playing Fields, but sometime later was transferred to the Hallam School Playing Field.

Two outstanding entertainments at the Hallam Fete come to mind. One involved three teams of apprentices from engineering companies in Sheffield, who were challenged to pass a piano through an old car tyre hung from a frame. Where three old pianos were obtained is not recorded, but they were duly reduced to pieces small enough to be passed through the tyres. Best recollections suggest that the team from Stanly Tools were the winners. Another memorable event was when a martial arts team from Dinnington came and demonstrated their sport, and also showed how they could lay, naked from the waist up, on a bed of nails, and suffer heavy weights to be placed on their chests. The display culminated when one of their number lay on the bed of nails holding breeze blocks on his chest while the other members of his team smashed the breeze blocks with sledgehammers. Yorkshire Television were there to record the event, and a world record of 100 breeze blocks was secured! Hallam Fete has been held almost every year since that time.

Hallam Community Hall

From the very start of the Association in 1964 it had always been a stated intention eventually to have our own hall, and fund raising to finance this had been a regular feature of the Association’s activities since the beginning. In the early 1970s plans were drawn up and the final drive to raise sufficient funds to build a community hall began. All manner of fund-raising events were organised, and possible grant gaining avenues were explored.

In order to raise further funds more quickly, in 1970 it was proposed to institute a weekly numbers draw, a decision that raised much controversy. At that time, it must be remembered, gambling was not as common as it is these days, there were no betting shops, no National Lottery, and gambling of any sort was considered by many to be a social evil. For some time there was much discussion, and eventually the Association organised a referendum of members to gauge opinion.

This resulted in a 64% decision in favour, and the motion was duly taken to the Executive Committee for final approval. The records show that a very robust discussion took place, with Committee members either strongly objecting in principle to gambling of any sort, and others in favour of going ahead in order to raise the £3,000 needed as quickly as possible. A vote was eventually taken, which resulted in a dead heat. The Chairman’s casting vote would decide the issue, and although he had originally voted in favour of the motion, he decided to cast the final vote against, so preserving the “status quo”, and ensuring that the Committee was not weakened by threatened resignations. Other, more acceptable ways of raising funds would have to be pursued. And they were! The next three years saw a plethora of coffee mornings and events being organised, and by 1974 the necessary funds had been raised.

Grants of £17,000 from National and Local Government were gratefully accepted, and the Association itself provided the balance of £6,500 to make up the total of £23,500 needed. The building was designed by Harry Edmonson, a member of HCYA and an architect, and would be a single storey, L-shaped building with a flat roof, and would be constructed using pre-fabricated units.

Negotiations with Sheffield City Council resulted in the Association being granted a 28-year lease of a plot of land in the grounds of Hallam Middle School for a rent of £10 per year, and building commenced in the summer of 1974. Imagine the delight of everyone concerned when we actually moved into our own premises later in the year.

The official opening was performed by Sheffield Lord Mayor Councillor Albert Richardson at the Fete in the Summer of 1975, although it had been in use for some months before that.

From pre-fab to permanent

Plans were now laid to build brick walls around the whole of the remaining pre-fabricated structure and to replace the flat roof with a pitched roof. As well as paying off the £6,000 loan, fund raising schemes were necessary to provide the funding for this further work. Activity and events in the hall rose to an all-time high, with something taking place almost every week. Membership of the Association was flourishing, and by 1985 both the North West and the North East walls had been built in brick at a total cost of £17,000, and the overdraft had been paid off. The stage was now set for the final work, which would include the building of the remaining wall across the South East of the building, construction of a pitched roof over the main hall, and the removal of the pre-fabricated parts of the building, which would be carried out of the front door! To achieve this goal, more fund-raising was called for, another bank overdraft was organised, and finally, in 1988, Hallam Community Hall would be fully refurbished.

Work started in May 1987, with the Manpower Services organisation Volserve providing the labour. This was to be a double-edged sword – whilst the labour was free, and all we had to pay for were the materials, the workforce was made up of trainee apprentice bricklayers supervised by a professional builder. Progress was slow, and the completion date was revised a number of times. Nevertheless, we were making progress, and the Hall would be completed in due course.

During this period, of course, the Association were unable to use the hall, but saying “the show must go on” prevailed, and other venues were sought. Fortunately, the school was available for hire, and many of the usual activities were held there. Monthly Executive Meetings were held at “The Three Merry Lads” pub, and a fund-raising Halloween dance was held at the “Norfolk Arms”, Ringinglow. Problems had been experienced in raising a bank overdraft facility, which was eventually resolved by changing our account to NatWest, and the Trustees (John Longmire, David Swann and Graham Blincow) giving personal guarantees to secure the loan. By 31st March 1988 the overdraft had risen to £16,794.

During this difficult period a small sub-committee had been working to devise ways of attracting local people to the grand reopening (called by them “Resume Week”). The actual opening date was fixed for 12 noon on Sunday 10th April 1988, and the well-known Sheffield boxer Herol “Bomber” Graham agreed to come along and perform the opening ceremony. A full, week-long programme of events was put in place, and details were hand-delivered by members to every house in the area.

Herol “Bomber” Graham and friends at the official reopening 10th April 1988

Resume Week was a great success, with many members and non-members attending the varied activities. A considerable number of new members were recruited.

By the end of the financial year at 31st August 1988, the bank overdraft stood at £15,716. Again, fund-raising activities were organised by nearly all the sections and the very hard-working Social Committee, and by the end of the following year it had been reduced to £7,105. A year later, at 31st August 1990 it was £98, and the Association had a positive cash flow. The Trustees were thanked for their support in guaranteeing the overdraft, and they in turn thanked all concerned for the hard work that had gone into eliminating the debt.

However, it must be recorded here that although fund-raising was hard work, it gave birth to many, many happy and joyful events, where members and non-members alike enjoyed a vast range of events. The community, indeed, worked well together!

Late in 1988 the Walking/Rambling Section was started with organised walks on Sundays, and although attendance was initially somewhat sparse, numbers gradually grew over the next few years until a group of almost 50 members emerged. In 1990 two weekend visits to the Lake District were a great success.

Further progress

In 1990 the Senior Youth Club was restarted with an emphasis on table games, and in 1991 the newly formed Drama Group put on its first pantomime, “Cinderella”, which was highly acclaimed by all who attended the performances, and was very much enjoyed by all who took part. In that year, also, the Gardening Section was formed, which allowed interested parties to work together to obtain substantial discounts on purchases of equipment and plants, seeds, etc. Sadly, in 1992 the Senior Youth Club closed for the last time due to lack of support, both from adult helpers and teenagers, who were now becoming more interested in electronic devices.

The minutes of an Executive Meeting held in December 1992 reported that the Association had a membership of 373 families, had positive cash resources of £8,330, and that the following sections were functioning: Bridge, Junior Football (at various times between three and five teams), Badminton, Ballet, Cricket, Yoga, Gardening, Playgroup, Chorale, Art Group, Wine Guild, Rambling, Ladies’ Keep Fit, Men’s Keep Fit, Swimming, Tennis, Indoor Bowls, Country Dancing, and Drama. A craft fair held in late November had produced a profit of £750.

Early in 1993 the membership had risen to 483 families, and a Mountain Biking Section was being formed. A Diary of Social Events organised for the whole year was produced by the Social Committee and 5,000 copies had been printed. 3,000 copies were to be delivered locally, and 2,000 would be delivered through sections.

A very memorable social function was held on Saturday 22nd May, 1993, when a “Blitz Night” (featuring a group entitled “The War Babies”) attracted 150 people and produced a profit for the Association in excess of £500.

Further expansion

During the early 1990s there had been much talk about the possibility of further extending the hall to provide changing rooms, further storage, and another meeting room, and by December 1994 it was reported that the Local Authority had at last signified their agreement to such a development. A new lease was to be prepared to make provision for this, and at the same time it was proposed to extend the period of the lease for a further period of time. At an Executive Meeting held in February 1995, draft plans were agreed with a costing of £75,000, and it was decided to make an application to the new National Lottery for a Grant to assist with the cost. The Lottery had not long been in existence, and it was decided to “strike whilst the iron was hot”, as not many grants had yet been agreed. Members were both surprised and delighted to learn that a grant of £43,700 had been approved, and appeals to many other grant making charities, both locally and throughout the country produced a further £15,100. The remainder of the money would have to be found from the Association’s own resources, and in order to provide necessary working capital during the building work a further overdraft of £28,000 was negotiated with the bank, again being personally guaranteed by the Trustees, who at this time were Alan Bone, Graham Lyon and Graham Blincow.

The new lease was eventually prepared and signed, lasting for 40 years at an annual ground rent of £1,000. An architect and quantity surveyor were recruited from our own membership, and following advertising for tenders to be submitted, local builders T. & C. Williams were awarded the contract. Building work started on Friday 12th January 1996, and with very few hitches the new building was completed in early June, 1996. A Grand Opening Ceremony was planned for Sunday 8th September, and individual invitations were sent out to all 560 members.

The ceremony attracted many visitors, and the opportunity was taken to introduce newcomers to the existence and workings of the Community Association. On Wednesday 11th September, the Heritage Minister, Lord Inglewood, visited the Community Hall to see for himself the use to which the Lottery Grant had been put. He was entertained by demonstrations of dancing, by Sue Dingle’s Dancing Class, and Football. Lawrie Madden, erstwhile Sheffield Wednesday footballer and member of the Association, was on hand to put the footballers through their paces. At last, the dancers and footballers, and others, had the long awaited changing rooms that they deserved, and a training room in which they could receive instruction. The bank overdraft facility had been most useful during the building work, providing essential working capital to iron out timing differences between receiving payments of the grants and builder’s stage payments, but the Association did not need a permanent overdraft, and in the accounts for the year ending 31st August, 1996 showed a positive bank balance of £819, a most pleasing result. By the same date in 1997, the Association had replenished its cash resources, and the bank balance was £5,551.

Millennium

In 1997 it was decided that it would be fitting to define a project to celebrate the forthcoming Millennium, and invitations were issued to the local community to attend a public meeting to discuss ways in which this might be achieved. After considering a number of suggestions, it was finally agreed to adopt the revival of Spider Park, a Council-run childrens’ play park situated on the Blackbrook Road Playing Field as our project.

The winds of change

In 2002 a new section, The Thursday Walking Group, started operations, and quickly became very popular. It met fortnightly on Thursdays at 10.30 am and went on easy-going 3 to 4 mile walks mostly in the Peak District. This section quickly grew in size, and is now known as The Walkie-Talkies, and operates weekly, with some “away days” being contemplated. It’s a very sociable group, and anyone can join. This group does not replace the Rambling Section, which continues meeting monthly on Sundays and normally covers some 8 to 10 miles. Something for everyone!

As time goes by, things grow, mature, and sometimes move on. During 2003 the Hallam Playgroup found it impossible to continue with the voluntary helpers who had run the group for many years. Such groups now came under the watchful eye of Ofsted, and government legislation required at least 50% of the staff to be professionally qualified. This was not something that our volunteer helpers could undertake, and sadly, on 22nd July the Playgroup closed. Some time later a Pre-School organisation offered their services on a professional basis, and it was agreed that they would hire the hall, and provide a service. This they did, with our blessing and benevolent hiring rates, for just a few months after which they declared the enterprise commercially not viable, and to our great disappointment, closed down.

Similarly, the Dance and Gymnastics Section ceased to operate as a section of the Association, run by volunteers, but was taken forward by private individuals who hired the hall and ran classes on a business footing. Although the Association lost members (and their subscriptions) it was able to replace this revenue with hire fees.

Moving with the changing times, in 2003 the Community Association set up its own website, giving information about the Association similar to that featured in “The Hallam Citizen” It was updated again in 2013, and can be viewed at www.hcya.co.uk

Mention has already been made of Hallam Rangers Junior Football Club, and how it started out and functioned for many years as a section of the Association, run by enthusiastic volunteers. It’s very pleasing to note that it is still going strong as a separate entity, and that it owes its origins to HCYA.

In a similar way, Hallam Choral Society ran for many years as a very successful section of the Association until, in 2010 its members decided to form themselves into a separate charitable organisation called The Hallam Chorale, which they decided was a better way forward. They continue to hire the hall each Monday, and remain close to the Association.

Fun Day Spoiled

Fun Day in 2006 was planned to be held on Saturday 8th July, and all the preparations for fancy dress, dancing displays, silver band, and everything else that goes towards making this annual event a really good community celebration were in place. However, on Friday, the day before Fun Day, the Association was told that a local resident had complained that we were not properly licensed to hold an event of this kind, and it would have to be cancelled. Despite frantic efforts to confirm or refute this accusation in time, 3pm Friday arrived and all the school children had to be told of the cancellation before they left school. There were many tears. More so, when at 4.30pm, we eventually clarified that we were properly licensed! What a shame that the actions of one individual, who could not see beyond his or her selfish concern for a tranquil afternoon deprived hundreds of local residents and children of a real community “feel good” event. Fortunately the Association has never experienced this kind of bitterness either before or since, and it is sincerely hoped that nothing like it will ever happen again.

The following year, 2007, the Association was determined that Fun Day would be reinstated and once more be regarded as THE local community annual celebration. And so it proved!

Going green to reduce our carbon footprint

Early in 2010 two grants were obtained to enable the installation of photovoltaic panels on the roof of Hallam Community Hall. Cavity wall Insulation and additional loft insulation finished the job of making us much more energy-efficient. The electricity generated by the panels immediately reduced fuel bills, and the Feed-In Tariff allows us to claim payments for the electricity generated, especially when surplus power is fed into the National Grid. We also contribute to the effort to reduce our overall carbon footprint. A genuine win win situation, as they say!

The end of family subscriptions

Since its inception, the Association has always maintained that it wanted to encourage family membership, and accordingly the annual subscription had been framed to reflect that, by offering one rate for the whole family to enjoy membership. This system was perfect in times gone by, but things change and in 2012, after much internal debate and soul-seeking, it was recognised that this was no longer appropriate for the majority of members. At the Annual General Meeting in November 2012, it was agreed that a flat rate individual membership fee should be adopted, and that this would come into force at the beginning of the financial year on 1st September 2013. The rate of the fee, as always, will be set from time to time by a vote at the Annual General Meeting.