Sheffield farm recognised in Parliament for its community heritage work

Heeley City Farm in Sheffield has been delivering Community Heritage Work across Sheffield since 2008 and has become a much-loved attraction over the 40 years it has been operating.

Staff and volunteers from Heeley City Farm work with young people, adults with learning disabilities and local communities to promote regeneration, environmental education, energy efficiency and health and well-being.

The farm offers support groups for dementia patients and their carers, provisions for younger people not getting along with standard education, and volunteer gardening and food growing sessions, as well as community history and heritage projects.

The heritage department has worked with thousands of people, including many volunteers, work placements and general participants of all ages. They have made art, built roundhouses, transcribed long lost medieval documents, recorded and shared people’s memories, processed archaeological finds, given talks, led walks, made replica pottery, and built museum displays.

Now the Conservative MP for Rother Valley, Alexander Stafford, has given the farm a mention in Parliament.

During a parliamentary debate on health and the natural environment, Mr Stafford spoke about Heeley City Farm and the work that it has done, going on to say that it “played an important part as a community hub in Sheffield’s voluntary sector response during lockdown”.

Alexander Stafford MP said: “Members and my constituents will know that I am a history buff, so it will be no surprise that I welcome the growing body of evidence about the well-being benefits of engaging with heritage and the historic environment.

"Local to Rother Valley, Heeley City farm’s community heritage team have engaged thousands of people from the Sheffield area, including many volunteers, work placements and general participants of all ages, in a variety of local heritage and well-being projects.

"In 2020, it played an important part as a community hub in Sheffield’s voluntary sector response during lockdown.”

Heeley City Farm’s Heritage department, led by the Community Heritage Manager Sally Rodgers, are preparing a National Lottery Heritage Fund application for a new project called “Heeley Heritage Hub”.

It will focus on engaging underrepresented groups and provide opportunities for all the local people to engage with their local heritage and history to improve their health and well-being.