Restoration

I've always liked bandstands - that's a childhood spent watching Trumpton for you - so it has been particularly satisfying watching this one come back to life. This is Sheffield's only surviving Victorian bandstand. It has been restored as part of the major works undertaken in Weston Park. It's not quite finished, but it's back in business.

I do have a 'before' photo somewhere, but I'm pretty sure that was taken with actual film (remember that?) and I can't find it. Suffice to say it was a mess, boarded up and rather run down, it was a sad little bandstand. Not any more.

March 30th 2008
Most of the bandstand is elsewhere being refurbished, rebuilt and (in parts) replaced.


April 21st 2008
The framework for the roof has been put in place. This is so exciting that it gets reported in the local paper. But then again, the local paper does have a lot of space to fill.


May 25th 2008
The new zinc roof is gleaming. I don't remember that beautiful metalwork, but it looks reet smart (as we say round here). The new panels are piled up waiting to be installed. These will hold sash windows, that can be lowered to ground level.


June 1st 2008
A very important detail has been added - there's a band! Everyone sits around on folding metal chairs, in the traditional manner for enjoying a concert in the park. The bandstand isn't quite finished yet - there are a few gaps above the panelling into which stained glass panels will be fitted in the next few weeks.

I don't remember stained glass panels, or a weathervane, but the bandstand was already in a pretty bad state when I arrived in Sheffield, so they probably weren't there. It's looking good now though.

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Originally published here on my main blog http://three-legged-cat.blogspot.com/
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Open Day

One of my favourite places is the Jardin de Luxembourg in Paris. It isn't the gardens that appeal to me so much, although they are of course very nice, it's the atmosphere: it's wonderful.

I think the appeal lies in that sense of a bygone age, a gentler time. The last time we visited it was a bright spring day and we wandered past children playing with toy boats, spinning tops and all manner of traditional toys. We strolled past tables where old men played chess in a relaxed and laid-back manner, despite the fact that every move had to be completed before their stopclocks reached zero. We sat on a park bench and ate ice cream as we watched the world go by. Finally we made it to the Musée de Luxembourg, where we enjoyed an exhibition of Matisse's work and were astounded by the enthusiasm shown by the many, very young French children who were there, most of whom were making wildly inaccurate copies of some of the artwork in their sketchbooks. It was a fantastic day, a day that left me feeling contented and nostalgic.

Yesterday afternoon that feeling came flooding back, but this time I didn't have to go all the way to Paris; Mr TLC and I just strolled to Weston Park in Sheffield where the grand Open Day was in full swing. The park has been undergoing major restoration work, in fact it still is - it wasn't finished in time for the Open Day, but enough was done that it looks pretty good.

We expected to see the carousel and helter-skelter, and whilst we knew that the almost-complete bandstand would be back in use, it was still good to see it come back to life. There were a few surprises: we hadn't expected to meet Queen Victoria, or watch a game of croquet - in which good-natured cheating seemed to be a major factor in the game!

A very small version of Ivor the Engine was chugging up and down, to the delight of small children and childish grown-ups. There were drama groups and bands performing, and (of course) the once-controversial ice-cream van was in attendance.

For me the best part of the day was watching one very talented teacher who was managing to encourage literally dozens of children and adults to walk on stilts, spin plates and catch diabolos. He was unbelievable: relaxed and chatting, whilst doing just enough for his students that they saw success within their grasp and continued to practise and persevere when he moved onto another group.

We rounded off our visit with a final hit of nostalgia: we called in at Weston Park Museum to say hello to Snowy the polar bear. That's where the spell got broken: it's a modern museum, complete with the obligatory bells and whistles. This being both the last day of the half-term holiday and Weston Park Open Day, it was incredibly busy. There were a gazillion children charging about, good-naturedly but noisily, pushing every button and trying everything on offer. "Shall we come back when it's quieter?" asked Mr TLC. I think that's exactly what we'll do.

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Originally published here on my main blog http://three-legged-cat.blogspot.com/
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They're Back!

As soon as I rashly commented on their long absence, they returned! On Thursday I passed Weston Park and realised that the gates are back. As you can see, they are looking pretty good.

The original gates were stolen in 1994, I'm pretty certain that these are replacements - I'll update this post when I find out for sure.

However I have to take issue with the information monolith/minilith just outside the park.


Weston Park Gates
Terracotta park gates, posts and railings are a tribute to the Sheffield artists who in 1859 worked on London's V&A Museum led by Godfrey Sykes, a teacher at the Sheffield School of Art. His work can still be seen, notably in the tea-rooms.


Terracotta park gates? I don't think so! The pillars are terracotta, but most definitely not the actual gates.

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Originally published here on my main blog http://three-legged-cat.blogspot.com/
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Pavilioned in Splendour

The Botanical Gardens, Sheffield contain a surprising number of listed structures, including some beautifully restored glass pavilions. It's not hard to see why these mini crystal palaces are so popular both with local people and with visitors to the city; they are not just elegant buildings, they are also home to several interesting collections of plants.

Of course, the pavilions haven't always looked like this; when I first moved to Sheffield in the mid-eighties they were in a very sorry state. Only the three domed sections remained, the linking walkways had long since disappeared. The parts that were left were in very poor repair, there were plants growing in the masonry, holes in the roofs and many broken panes of glass, some roughly boarded up, others left open to the elements. I remember thinking that the buildings must have been beautiful in their heyday , but I never imagined that I would see them reborn and restored along with the rest of the gardens.

The state of the pavilions seemed to mirror Sheffield's fortunes. When they were first built for the opening of the Botanical Gardens in 1836, Sheffield was a prosperous place, sufficiently so for the purchase of the land and the creation and upkeep of the gardens to be paid for by the selling of shares and subscriptions to well-to-do residents. However both the gardens and the pavilions proved costly to maintain and so, like the fortunes of some of the city's inhabitants, they went through good and bad times.

The upkeep of the pavilions proved to be particularly demanding: the panes of glass were damaged by weather, a hailstorm in 1843 is recorded to have broken 5700 square yards (4800 square metres) of glass; the wooden structure of the linking walkways was difficult to keep in good repair, with the result that they rotted and were demolished in around 1899; the domes even suffered bomb damage during World War II.

By the time I first saw the pavilions in 1987, the gardens had been publicly owned for many years. Of course this was the era of rate capping and cutbacks in public services, it was also a time when Sheffield was suffering economically with many local industries, particularly steel and mining, in serious decline. The council was in an impossible situation: the loss of business tax revenue, cuts in grants from central government and rate capping left them with a serious shortfall in their finances. (I am not suggesting that the council made the best possible financial decisions, that's a separate debate entirely, merely that I believe that whatever they did, they couldn't have made ends meet at that time.) Unsurprisingly maintaining garden buildings was not at the top of the council's list of priorities, so the poor state of the glasshouses was in fact a direct result of the city's economic downturn.

The opportunity for restoration arrived some years later when the Sheffield Botanical Gardens Trust made a successful bid for lottery funding. In 1997 the Heritage Lottery Fund awarded just over £5 million to the Trust for the complete restoration of the gardens, but 25% in matching funds had to be raised. It was a long and difficult project, but they managed it, the Botanical Gardens today are almost unrecognisable compared to my first visit.

The pavilions were once the largest glasshouses in the city (a title that is now held by the Winter Gardens in the city centre), and are often erroneously associated with Sir Joseph Paxton, in fact they are known locally as the "Paxton Pavilions". The ridge and furrow style of the linking walkways is typical of Paxton, particularly of his glasshouse at Chatsworth. Paxton was one of the judges for the competition to design the gardens, but the belief that the pavilions were designed by him is nothing more than a local legend, they were in fact designed by a local architect, Benjamin Broomhead Taylor.

Some necessary changes have been made to the original designs during restoration. The rebuilt linking walkways are similar in appearance to the originals, but have been fabricated, rather appropriately, from stainless steel rather than wood; so hopefully they will last rather longer than the originals. However only the linking sections have been rebuilt, one old photo shows additional ridge and furrow glasshouses attached to each end of the building, but these appear to have been short lived - there are many other images where they are missing, as they are now. Modern environmental controls and a system for collecting and storing rainwater for use in irrigation have been incorporated into the design.

The pavilions now contain collections of plants from the Himalayas, the Meditaerrranean, Australasia and South America; all plants that would not survive outside in Sheffield, but which thrive under glass. The glasshouses maintain their historic appearance whilst being functional buildings that will be used for many years to come. They are certainly pavilioned in splendour, and frequently girded in praise.

Links
Sheffield Botanical Gardens official website
Sheffield City Council official website
Some 360 degree tours of the gardens, including views inside and outside the pavillions
Wikipedia entry
There is also a Flickr group for the Botanical Gardens here

Further reading
Sheffield Botanical Gardens People Plants and Pavilions by R. Alison Hunter, published by the Friends of the Botanical Gardens, 2007. Available from the Botanical Gardens shop, local bookshops and tourist information offices, current price £4.95.

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Originally published here on my main blog http://three-legged-cat.blogspot.com/
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The Pit of dis Bear

We took a stroll around Sheffield's Botanical Gardens yesterday, making the most of a swift return to unseasonably warm weather. Tucked away in the gardens is one of Sheffield's historical curiosities: a bear pit.

This Grade II listed structure dates from 1836 and housed two bears until the 1870s. According to an information board at the site, there is a local legend that the removal of the bears occurred after a child fell into the pit and was killed; however the official website recounts this story as historical fact: you will have to make up your own mind as to whether to believe the tale.

There are two small dens on either side of the main entrance to the pit which originally housed the bears. The first thing that struck me about these was that they are incredibly small: I can imagine that a large bear would become very irritable very quickly in such a small space, but sadly I suspect that was probably the intention. There are large metal grilles at the entrance that can be pulled across and locked to keep the occupants inside; these were re-instated during the restoration of the pit.

The pit itself is around 8 or 9 metres across (large enough to be seen on Google Earth - see below), and is topped off with elegant new railings that helpfully prevent you from falling in and being eaten by bears...

The beautifully restored modern day version of the bear pit also contains a rather splendid bear. David Mayne's 2005 "Bear" sculpture looks fantastic in this perfect setting. It is life sized, standing at around 2m high. The bear looks pretty friendly standing on his back paws with his front legs dangling down at his sides (and of course with just one bear, no fights can break out). The sculpture is made from mild steel with a rusted finish that is perfect for a brown bear's pelt.

Children (and adults) can find a clue from the riddle trail written around the base of the sculpture. The riddle is one of a series, written by well known local author Berlie Doherty, to encourage people to explore the gardens.

I'll certainly be exploring further in the not too distant future.


View Larger Map

N.B. The aerial images on Google were taken during the period when the Botanical Gardens were undergoing major restoration work.


--Originally published here on my main blog http://three-legged-cat.blogspot.com/
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Winter Garden

The Winter Garden may be one of Sheffield's newer buildings, but it is certainly one the best loved.

When the plans for a giant greenhouse in the heart of the city were first published, they didn't create much of a stir, possibly because the local population were still suffering from development fatigue after the less than joyous experiences of building for the Student Games and then the Supertram. Of course, once the incredibly beautiful arched structure started to take shape, everyone simply fell in love with it. People stopped to stare as the giant wooden skeleton was gradually transformed into a stunning building.

Since then the Winter Garden has been planted, has matured and has become a much loved part of the city centre. The finished building is around 70 metres long and 22 metres high and holds around 2500 plants. It's a place to walk through, to sit and watch the world go by, to visit temporary exhibitions, to enjoy a cup of coffee or even (if you are really lucky) to attend an exclusive event with a select few. Despite the name, the building is open for 364 days a year and is popular all year round. A Winter Garden is for life, but not for Christmas.

The Winter Garden is now officially five years old. Many Happy Returns!

Links:
Take a 360 degree tour of the Winter Garden, inside and out

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Originally published here on my main blog http://three-legged-cat.blogspot.com/
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