Walkley all set for return of festival

The two-week event opens on Saturday with a big festival launch at venues along South Road, from the library to the community centre on Fir Street between 11am and 4pm.

There will be stalls on the medical centre car park, as well as craft sessions and other children’s pastimes, both indoor and on Walkley Green.

Organisers the Walkley Forum are putting a particular emphasis on assembling a programme with a wide appeal for people of all ages.

Artists are opening their studios for visitors to look around, and there will be an art show at St Mary’s Church Hall from June 24, under the banner ‘Drawing Walkley Together’.

The Walkley Feral Writers group is inviting people to join them to discover their inner poet or novelist, while the Beeches farm shop is running an exhibition in its window explaining how the suburb’s streets gained their names.

Walkley Community Centre will be the venue for many of the attractions, with taster sessions in hula-hooping, clog dancing and long sword dancing all happening there.

Walks around the local cemetery, highlighting points of historical interest, are happening on July 2, and festivalgoers can learn about beekeeping as well as visiting fairs at the Buddhist Centre and Spiritualist Church.

An open day with the alpacas of Holly Hagg allotments is likely to prove popular, too.

Meanwhile The Big Draw on July 1 forms part of the wider Ruskin in Sheffield festivities, encompassing a full day of free creative endeavours.

Artists will demonstrate their skills at at 11 locations between Howard Road and the Rivelin Valley, at various times between 10am and 6pm.

Activities include terracotta clay sculpture at the community centre, comic book drawing at Walkley Carnegie Library, and a ‘drawing walk’ along the Rivelin Valley.