High Hazels Park, Darnall, Sheffield: Shortage of volunteers leaves friends group on verge of closure

Back in 1998, residents were unhappy about their way High Hazels Park was being treated.

Plans to open the Sheffield City Airport, near the Parkway has seen the site bitten into to provide extra space for Tinsley Golf Club, after the airport project had led to three of its holes being taken away for that project.

In return, the club was handed a chunk of the park. It meant it lost a chunk of its facilities including its boating lake, pitch and putt, two tennis courts, a couple of cricket pitches and its circular walk.

As a result, residents got together to set up a group looking after their park – and Friends of High Hazel Park has been fighting its corner ever since.

Numbers plunge

But residents called a meeting after seeing their numbers plunge to just a handful of pensioners.

After 11 people turned up they are optimistic that they can keep going – but have warned that they need new people to keep the group going.

Chairman Paul Campbell has been involved with the group for 21 years. He is now aged 73, and thinks it is vital that new and younger people become involved.

The club’s secretary, founder member Sylvia Hamilton, stood down from her post just a week ago, replaced by Brian Coleman, but plans to remain a member of the group.

Paul said its annual general meeting at the Living Waters Church, on Main Road, Darnall, last week was vital for the group. He said 11 attended, which offered hope for the future.

He said he had considered winding the group up if no new faces had turned up.

He said: “For the last 23 years, we have contributed to the upkeep of this historic and much-loved park, but our members are becoming older and fewer in number.

"I think the people who turned up last week means we are all right for now.

The park is a special place for Paul. He was taken by his grandmother to play there as a child in the 1950s. Later, after he had become involved in the friends group, he also took his poorly mother out there for time away from home when he was her carer.

Boating lake and pitch and putt lost to Tinsley Golf Club

By then, it was a very different place to the one he had used as a child, with fewer flower beds and, and missing the facilities that were lost when the airport was developed.

Paul says that there are still many children who use the park as he did over half a century ago, and added that it had been particularly busy during the lockdowns which hit the city while the coronavirus pandemic was at its height.

But he and the group have enjoyed some important successes, along with a development team that was put in place for a while when the group first started.

They have managed to open two new playgrounds, which are described as well used. Local children had toured other play areas across the city to see what they wanted for their park.

They have also managed to re-open the circular walk, on a different route. They have created two ornamental gardens.

They have recently received good news in terms of their facilities. The Yorkshire Cricket Foundation is going to provide it with a new batting surface for the cricket pitch on the park, to replace a torn and patched-up wicket that is currently there.

And between them and other organisations, they have helped bring the Darnall Carnival to the park in recent years.

They have often worked alongside corporate volunteers, joining them from industry. Before the business collapsed in 2018, the construction giant Carillion used to provide teams who helped with grounds work.

They originally planned to help for a year, but it worked well for them so they continued for three years.

Paul first became involved with the group after it approached the local allotment society for help. He was on the committee and decided to give it a go.

He remained involved and has been involved in working on the flower beds ever since.

But it is not just volunteers working on the land that they are interested.

They are also keen to involve people with an interest in organising events at the park, which the group’s members believe will be a good way to get residents involved.

He said: “A lot of what we have done has been gardening, and we’ve been pretty good over the years at setting up corporate volunteers to do the bigger jobs. At one time we were getting batches of 12 corporate volunteers.”

But none of the volunteers have been able to be as involved as they were before the pandemic hit.

Struggle for volunteers

There is a lot of interest in the group – but it has struggled to convert them into volunteers.

They have a social media group with 450 followers. But many times in the past, when people have turned up at annual general meetings, they have come to ask the group to look at particular problems, rather than offer their services.

Paul says that is why he is pleased and optimistic after the most recent meeting. “That's we’re so glad so many turned up,” he said.

“Hopefully it means we’re all right for now.”

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