Grenoside Reading Room

It's as you were on the Pop Up Post Office!

The Village News will not now be hosting the  Pop Up PO after all. Instead, after a successful trial run, the Pop Up Post Office will open at the Reading Room every Monday 9.30am to 11.30am until further notice. All of this is dependent on Covid 19 rules and guidelines.

The Reading Room and its opening continues to be affected by Covid –19 and the latest Government guidelines which commenced on the 14th September.
We are proposing to open the Monday Café on the following Mondays:
12th, 19th and 26th October,
2nd, 9th and 30th November.

Due to Social distancing booking a table is advisable. Phone me on  0114 2463692. We will be serving, soup, teas, coffee, cakes and scones.
Please see our website for futher news.  You can find also us on Facebook and Twitter
Best wishes and stay safe from Alan Hooper and the Reading Room Trustees and volunteers

We hope that you and your family and friends have been safe during a very stressful time. The Reading Room Trustees and volunteers have missed all our friends and visitors since lockdown began in March.

Covid -19 has forced the ongoing closure of Grenoside Reading Room since mid March. The Monday café has been missed by many Grenoside residents not only for the food and drinks but also for the ability to meet with and spend time with friends and family. Groups and organisations have not been able to meet and ad hoc Party bookings have been refused. So much for the past and the bad news!

Looking forward, the Reading Room Trustees have met and are looking to try to begin to reopen in September / October. Local and Government guidelines will have to be strictly followed. Details of reopening, with dates, will be released when plans have been finalised. We are unsure if and when the Monday café will be able to open and what rules and safety measures will be in place.

Once we are open again we will be able to take card payments for room hire and for the café.

However “On August Bank Holiday the 31st August we will hold, as a trial, a pop up take away café with tea, coffee, cakes and scones available. Café will be from 10am to 2pm. Social Distancing must be observed.

Best Wishes and stay safe from Alan Hooper and the Reading Room Trustees

Whilst the Reading Room sadly has to remain closed at present, the Chairman and Trustees send our best wishes to all our friends and to everyone in Grenoside and the wider community, hoping that you will be able to stay safe and well in these most difficult times.

For the safety of everyone who uses the Reading Room, and in view of the government's recent advice, we have decided to suspend all our normal activities and meetings until further notice.

This includes the Monday Cafés, Monday evening Ladies Group, Tuesday morning Talent Time craft group, Wednesday morning Grapevine coffee morning, the Wednesday afternoon Languages group, the Thursday afternoon Art Group and the Friday Morning Art Group.

The April Talk, due to be given by George Clark, has been postponed till a later safe date.

The Pop Up Post Office, which was due to commence on Mondays from 30th March, is now postponed until further notice.

Best wishes to the whole of our community and please try to stay safe.

42a School Lane
Grenoside
Sheffield S35 8QU 19th March 2020

Grenoside Reading Room

We, the Trustees and Monday morning café volunteers, sadly have closed the MONDAY CAFÉ until further notice due to the Corona virus.

Please stay safe during these challenging times.

Please look on the Reading Room web site for up to date information.

An Appeal from David Pepper:

It came to light 2015 that some of our brave men that went to war from, or were born in Grenoside, have had their names missed off the cenotaph at the bottom of Norfolk Hill, Grenoside. No criticism of the original committee is either made or intended. They were tasked with a very difficult job, as there would have been such an emotional outcry as to who should be included at a time of great emotion. Theirs was a truly difficult task.

A small group of people from Grenoside have come together in an effort to put the omissions right. We have now obtained formal permission to have the missing names of all those who served who died or were killed in action during WW I and WW II added to the Grenoside Village Memorial.

After much discussion and advice from a stone mason, it would appear the WWII stone can be turned over and reused by re sizing the wording and bringing the letter (font) size in line with the original WWI sizing. The WWI names to be added can be put on the back face of the cenotaph but this will mean a lot of onsite work. The initial costings are approximately £10,000. Detailed quotes are being obtained, and alternative cheaper methods are being looked into.

The next huge step is to raise enough money for this to happen!
Therefore fund raising must start urgently if we are going to reach our goal of having everyone’s names added before our deadline of November 11th 2018. So we would ask anyone who has an interest or believes they can help, even if you would just like to make a donation, however small, to please contact us. We will, in due course have more information and will give updates as to our progress.

Please get in touch with either myself David Pepper on 01142467859 or Alan Hooper on 01142463692 or e mail: ecclesfieldpc@aol.com

As part of the Heritage Open Days national celebration of 50 years of Conservation Areas, there will be a chance to look back to the work of local volunteers which led to the formation of Grenoside Conservation Society and to some of its achievements.

An evening event is planned at the Reading Room for Thursday 7th September at 7.30pm. It is hoped that past and present members of the Society and others who have contributed to its work will be able to attend and contribute their own memories.

David Dulieu, a founder member, and current chair Megan Smith will introduce the evening. They will recall some of the leading figures from the earlier years as well as activities which have left their mark on the village. These include building the Great Wall of Grenoside, establishing Grenoside Green and the longstanding work programme which has helped enhance the local woodlands. There will be a small display of pictures from the past and additional items for display will be welcomed.

Anyone who is interested in finding out more about the work of the Society or contributing to our practical conservation work, will find the evening informative. New members are always welcome. For further information, please contact David (0114 2468757) or Megan (0114 246 7362).

DORA BURKINSHAW
Following the passing of my dear friend and neighbour Dora Burkinshaw donations totalling £358 were made to Grenoside Reading Room, a cause close to Dora's heart.

I have known Dora since the 1960s when, as a small boy, I visited my Great Aunts, the formidable “Misses Ashton” next door on Woodside Lane. She was always kind and interested in us all. Our friendship continued until my own children, nieces, and nephews christened her “Dora the Explorer” after the popular television character.

My family and other Grenoside residents have had the privilege of being Dora's neighbours and friends, often sitting in her garden as she rested from her frequent weeding expeditions, drinking ginger beer or strong tea, whilst the children availed themselves of her never-ending supply of chocolate.

Dora's life story is an interesting one. She was born in 1918 as a blacksmith's daughter and she worked at Grenoside Hospital as Matron's Maid, for Lady Mabel Smith at Barnes Hall during WWII and for Arnold Scholey's dental practice in Firvale. She experienced happy times camping in the Lake District as well as sadness at the loss of her husband Stan, far too early in their lives. Her ability to live with so little and still be happy always impressed me.

As she became less mobile over the last few years she relied on visitors to let her know how things were going in Grenoside. She was always interested in the building work at the Reading Room and, once completed, she would ask me about the activities and the Monday Cafe (she particularly enjoyed the left-over lemon cake).

Thanks to Dora, her family and friends the funds raised will pay for new blinds to enable films and slides to be shown and to keep the sun at bay during the summer, which will be much appreciated by all our users for many years to come.
Andy Rickards
Grenoside Reading Room