Christmas Weekend festival coming to Sheffield Community this December

Various Christmas events have been organised by four Greenhill residents – Deborah Bowers, Joy Arnott, Marie Jones and Lisa Pugh – who have been meeting up virtually to plan the Christmas weekend since January 2021. They have created a group and Facebook page and aim to make up for last Christmas which was affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, raise the spirits of the local community and hopefully raise funds for the school library.

The group has organised various activities and fundraisers for the local community library and Friends of Greenhill School. They have also given lots of support to local business and what the group have now would not be possible without the local businesses.

Deborah said it had been hard work fundraising for the event, but also very rewarding.

"We've had to juggle event planning with homeschooling and working, we've learned a lot of new skills such as online collaboration, writing bids, negotiating with various companies to make our ideas come to life. During the winter lockdown it really helped us all to have something to look forward to outside of our family homes,” she added.

"We also approached our various activities across the year with a really positive mindset and because of this, we received lots of offers of support as opposed to asking for things such as prizes and donations. This has really helped us get our numerous ideas off the ground, pool resources and in turn they have been really well received by the residents in Greenhill.”

The group have also received support from Age Better Sheffield.

The Christmas weekend event will include a brass band, performers and entertainers, inflatable fun, a mini Christmas market, panto, a Santa’s Grotto and many more activities.

Another feature is a Santa’s drive, where Father Christmas will be driven down every street in Greenhill for the young and old to wave. Organisers expect the route to take about two hours to complete.

The group has also received support from The Foxes Den, a local shop in Greenhill village, which has allowed it to set up a Santa’s Grotto at the back of the shop, with booking sessions required in advance.

The event will take place across a variety of locations as the group have tried to involve all the local businesses. Other activities include an attempt at a record longest cracker pull, sponsored by the local chip shop, Mr and Mrs Cod.

The Christmas Weekend event takes place on Saturday December 18.

A 12 days of Christmas show is also being held at the village Methodist church and will include songs, sketches, puppets and audience participation and will be a journey through some historical stories that have shaped Christmas as we know it now. This takes place on Saturday, December 11.

For more information about the events or the group, visit the group’s Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/GreenhillCommunityEvents