BBC Radio 6 Music Celebrate 35 Years Of The Leadmill

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Mystery Jets @ The Leadmill

By Daniel Rose

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Always at the center of Sheffield’s thriving music scene, on Monday The Leadmill took a moment to look back on its 35 year hold this iconic venue has had on the city. Sheffield rock ‘n’ roll royalty like Jarvis Cocker was in attendance to see BBC Radio 6 Music pay tribute with a flurry of live bands.

Tickets for the event were made available for nothing with organisers ensuring that 75% of attendees would be local. With queues winding round the derelict streets the state of exciting was palpable to say the least.

Sheffield music royalty Jarvis Cocker. Credit – Sheffield Telegraph

The festivities kicked off with Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker unveiling a plaque outside the venue and crowds were soon ushered inside for the main event. BBC 6 Music’s Steve Lamacq introduced Sheffield locals Slow Club who dazzled the audience with their pop melodies with lead singer Rebecca Taylor thanking The Leadmill “for giving me a place to try to kiss boys for 28 years”.

Sandygate Road: The World’s Oldest Football Stadium

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Hallam F.C’s Sandygate Road. Credit: Hallam Football Club

By Daniel Rose

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Milan’s towering San Siro, Liverpool’s magical Anfield, Madrid’s majestic Bernabeau, are all among the most historic of football stadia. But none of them can boast a history as long as that of Sandygate Road, in the Sheffield suburb of Crosspool. This unlikely venue is the oldest football stadium in the world.

First built in 1804 for cricket, in 1860 it became the home of Hallam Football Club, and has been ever since. To find out more about this football heritage site, I made my way to Sandygate Road to talk to the co-chairman of Hallam F.C, Chris Taylor. I was interested to find out how well known Sandygate is among football fans around the world. As the world’s oldest football stadium, is it a place of football pilgrimage?

“Yes! In fact, we have visits from a group of stadium enthusiasts known as “Ground hoppers” who love to visit football grounds around the country. We have also had visitors from Ireland and Germany, and some from as far away as the USA!”

I wondered if these enthusiasts included any stars of the beautiful game.

“Yes we have regular visits from football stars. Chris Waddle runs our Sunday League team and a number of local ex-footballers have played at the stadium. Sandygate was also used as the location for the film “When Saturday Comes” with Sean Bean.”

Hallam chairman, Chris Taylor. Credit: Hallam Football Club

With such a famous home, it sounds as if Hallam F.C, should have no difficulty in marketing itself, and attracting new fans. But Chris pointed out that this is not the case:

“It is still very difficult to generate interest in the club within Sheffield 10 itself, however we do get media coverage linked to the stadium and our part in the history of the game, but probably not as much as you would expect.”

Perhaps the ground’s claim to fame helps to bring new players to the club? Again, not as much as you would expect, as Taylor explains:

“I think it may help a little but most players go where the money is and that’s not Sandygate!”

Record Store Day 2015: Punters Flock To Celebrate Sheffield’s Independent Record Shops

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Inside LP Record Store on Record Store Day – Source: LP Record Store

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By Daniel Rose

Record Store Day fewer gripped the Sheffield public again on the 18^th April with thousands routing through the record racks of Sheffield’s independent shops searching for their musical ‘cup of tea’.

Vinyl lovers young and old were lining the streets in the early hours of Saturday morning outside the cities record shops in order to be first in line to grab exclusive records being brought out to celebrate the eighth annual Record Store Day.

Starting in the UK in 2008 after success in the US Record Store Day is growing in popularity and appears to be a catalyst for the rise of vinyl sales in stores across the country.

No one knows the impact of Record Store Day like LP Record Shop’s Mark Richardson, who opened his first shop in 1995.

“Back then the sales was pretty dam poor. Interest in vinyl was suffering. New releases were barely pressed unless it was dance music and the only stock I was shifting was the second hand stuff”

“With RSD, you make more money than you do on any other day. For me, it’s gets me through summer time when the students leave after May. When the students have gone you know, June, July, August, it’s a killer”.

For Mark vinyl is definitely on the up and he believes the rise in vinyl sales goes hand in hand with the success of the day.

World Peace Café: Why Not Find Your Peaceful Place

Vegan and gluten-free food on offer

By Daniel Rose

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Situated on the Hunter’s Bar roundabout, the World Peace Café is no ordinary café. Its tranquil atmosphere and view of the park makes it the perfect place for a spot of tea and cake. But there is more to this café than meets the eye…

So what does a World Peace Café serve? In keeping with Buddhist values, the Café serves up the very best in vegan, gluten-free food. They use only organic produce, and their cakes are all homemade.

We spoke to volunteer Daniel Garcia about the Café and its relationship with the Buddhist religion:

“It’s called a World Peace Café because we help to build temples that in turn help to spread peace across the world. Also, a lot of people come here and find a peaceful place; they come to seek something different.”

“Cities like Sheffield can be very busy and there is always a need for a peaceful place.”

Daniel came to the Café as a volunteer from Mexico. Daniel had problems at school, and started to visit the Buddhism centre in his hometown.

Shepherd Wheel: The Wheels that Made Sheffield Turn

Inside Shepherd Wheel, Sheffield

By Daniel Rose

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Walking through the Whiteley Woods you could be forgiven for ignoring a small brick hut tucked away in the Porter Valley, but this relic of Sheffield’s industrial past was instrumental in making it the city it is today.

The Shepherd Wheel was an integral part of a series of metal-working workshops along Sheffield’s rivers, producing everything from pocket knives for the finest dining, to machetes used for exploration in the far-off jungles of Brazil.

So, what happened here? Steel blades would arrive from a forge and a ‘little master’ would put a cutting edge on by grinding them on a high velocity spinning sandstone, and then sell them on.

The workers would be paid for every blade produced and therefore would work at perilous speeds, so accidents were frequent. Working in such dark and dingy conditions could be very dangerous work, as Shepherd Wheel engineer Keith Wall explains: “Yes, it could be very dangerous work. The most frequent hazard would be exploding sandstone. If the stone had any kind of flaw then because of the speed it was turning it could just explode injuring any grinder using it.