Finding friendly folks in Sheffield
When people move to a new city it isn't always easy to find your feet and get your new life up and running quickly.
One thing that definitely does help with that is friends but finding friends and or acquaitances isn't always that
easy either so we thought we'd write a little post to guide folks to others in our wonderful city.
We put a post out on @HelpSheffield this morning to see what people suggested and we got some great ideas so here they
are. PLEASE GET IN TOUCH IF YOU WANT US TO ADD OTHER IDEAS YOU CAN THINK OF.
Park Runs
We got two votes for Park Runs so can they go first. Although this organisation is a national one people may not realise
how popular they are in Sheffield. They are 5km runs around our local parks undertaken with a mass of strangers
(at first). If anyone thinks 5km is beyond them, but they'd like to work up to it, there are lots of great Apple and
Android apps that guide you through running from "Couch to 5km" so maybe download one of those first. The organisation
can be found here Park Run website and the local ones go off at 9am every Saturday morning (Currently suspended due to Covid but should be back soon, giving you time to train up to 5km). They can be found at:
Graves Park, Endcliffe Park, Millhouses Park, Concord Park, Rother Valley Country Park, Rotherham (Clifton Park),
Chesterfield (Poolsbrook Country Park), Barnsley (Locke Park) and Bakewell (Hassop Station).
GoodGym
A great idea that we absolutely love. Go running to a place and then do something good for the community when you
arrive. They meet every Monday at 6.30pm @ShowroomCinema (The largest independent cinema in Europe and great for indie and less mainstream films), 15 Paternoster Row, S1 2BX. This still seems to be happening during Covid but double check with them on Twitter GoodGym on Twitter or their website GoodGym webpage The activities they do range
from litter picking, to wall painting, to gardening and many places in between.
Timebuilders
This initiative is run from St Mary's Church on Bramall Lane near the Sheffield United football ground. The idea is
simple, people sign up and do tasks for their community, this could involve litter picking, making up and/or delivering
food parecels to the vulnerable and needy but one of the best aspects for many of their volunteers is the meeting other
people along the way. This quote ""I would guess I know more than 50 people now, who are part of my community.
When I see them out on the street we stop for a chat. " is stolen from their website at https://www.timebuilders.org.uk/
Each task that is undertaken earns the volunteer a time credit that can be used for other activities like learning a new
language. Also on TimeBuilders on Facebook Facebook and TimeBuilders on Twitter.
Social Good Sheffield
A bi-monthly meet up of people who are either doing positive things in the city or just want to know what those things
are and lend support to other groups. The next meeting is online (due to covid but usually held in a pub) tomorrow
(Monday the 27th of July)between 5 and 6pm and can be joined here
Meeting link
Follow them on Facebook and Twitter
Sheffield Litter Pickers
With almost 2000 Likes on Facebook Sheffield Litter Pickers on Facebook and almost 2000 followers on
Twitter Sheffield Litter Pickers on Twitter this is a rapidly growing group who who do what you think they do. It's great for the community and a great way to make friends with regular picks organised every single week (mainly solo picking during lockdown but very much getting back on their feet again with organised group picks) in areas throughout the city.
Girl Gang Sheffield
Not exclusively for women as the name suggests but please check before attending their many wonderful and varied
events. This is an active community which organises meet ups, both physically and online with various themes or sometimes
just to meet and socialise with others. We went to one event and had a lot of fun. Try it.
Girl Gang Sheffield on Twitter and Girl Gang Sheffield on Facebook
Volunteering
For those who aren't sure what they would like to do to meet friends have a look at the great resourse at https://www.vas.org.uk/what-we-do/volunteering/ which aims to centralise all the cities many volunteering opportunities in one place.
There are obviously many places that all major cities have such as gyms, sports venues, event spaces and the like but
rather than try and list all of these separately we would suggest looking at https://www.ourfaveplaces.co.uk/
and This is Sheffield Also try and get your hands on copies of Exposed Magazine
Exposed Magazine or read it online during lockdown. For more general information about meeting people all over the place www.meetup.com is a great site.