Emotional day for mum as daughter who died in hit-and-run remembered in name of new park in Sheffield

Naomi’s Corner, near the top of the Upper Don Walk, close to Cutlery Works on Kelham Island, has been created to honour the memory of Naomi Colcomb, a food bank volunteer who was killed in a collision on St Mary’s Gate on the outskirts of Sheffield city centre in October 2018. Nobody has yet been charged.

Following the tragedy, a group of students set up a temporary garden in the space that is now Naomi’s Corner.

But now, the Kelham Island and Neepsend Community Alliance has made it a permanent memorial and safe space for people to enjoy, and Naomi’s mum made the trip from her home in Wales to see the site opened in her daughter’s memory. It was opened today (August 14) by former Sheffield lord mayor, Magid Magid.

Naomi's mum, Sabine Heiliger said the grief of losing her daughter, killed by a hit and run driver in 2018 was still painful. But she said her daughter would have loved the park that has been created in her memory.

She said: “Naomi was a lovely person, and I’m immensely proud of her. She has caused so many ripples, touching so many people, to the extend that they wanted something permanent to remember her.

"I think it is amazing, the work the volunteers have done to create this. Naomi used to come here to eat her lunch, before they had put any seats in here. She brought me here once and we sat on the concrete, so it is quite an important place for me from that point of view.

"Naomi would have loved the place, I think, but I think she would have been incredibly embarrassed to think people were doing all this for her.”

Naomi had lived in Sheffield for several years, and her mum said she loved the city, and felt it was somewhere she could settle down.

"This means a lot to us,” said Sabine. “That’s why we have come up here. Naomi loved events that brought people together, so she would have loved that about this.”

Naomi lived in Highfield, but worked in Kelham Island, for catering design firm HK Projects.

She was also well known locally for her voluntary work, and helped out at a foodbank in her spare time.

Resident Craig Wolstenholme, secretary of the Kelham Island and Neepsend Community Alliance, said there had been plans to open the space in the area, with a number of temporary benches put in initially. He hopes Naomi’s Corner will be used by everyone, to improve emotional and social well-being and for those simply wishing to relax and maybe read a book.

He said he did not personally know Naomi, but the more he heard about her, the more he wished that he had.

Simon Wigglesworth-Biker, an artist who lives nearby at Kelham Mills, created an artwork, depicting Noami’s name, at the site. He said the space was already being used by local people every day, and he often used it himself.

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