Political asylum seeker fears torture and detention if deported

(As published in the Guardian Northerner 15 July 2012)

Sheffield journalist married local charity worker two years ago, but must return to apply for spouse's visa in Cameroon where he faces persecution.

 

An emergency protest has been held outside Sheffield Town Hall in support of Bernard Mboueyeu, who fears persecution and jail if he is deported to Cameroon first thing tomorrow, Monday 16 July.

Mboueyeu, who is currently being detained at Pennine House in Manchester, was arrested by the UK Border Agency on Tuesday morning. This is the second time he has been held, after being released and allowed to return to Sheffield just six weeks ago.

Mboueyeu fled his homeland of Cameroon in 2007 after he was allegedly beaten up and tortured by the ruling regime for supporting opposition groups. The treatment followed his arrest by President Paul Biya's security forces for taking photographs of students being attacked during protests in 2006. Biya has been in power since 1982.

Supporters say that the journalist, who was working for a newspaper in southern Cameroon at the time, was stripped naked, beaten up and kept in jail for forty days. Mboueyeu's wife Sharon, who lives in Wincobank, Sheffield, said:

They cut his feet with machetes - he's still got the scars on his legs.

Bernard and Sharon Mboueyeu

Mboueyeu married charity worker Sharon in 2010 but the Home Office is insisting that he returns to Cameroon to apply for a spouse's visa. His supporters say that if he is returned as planned early tomorrow morning, he could be arrested, face torture, or be locked up indefinitely.

Bernard and Sharon getting married in 2010

Shaffaq Mohammed, Sheffield's Liberal Democrat Leader, who was at the Town Hall protest, said:

Mboueyeu has offered to return voluntarily to Cameroon if the Home Office guarantees his safety but the Home Office have refused to make that guarantee.

We think Bernard's safety is at grave risk, if not his life. All because a bureaucrat would like a piece of paper to be sent from a foreign country.

Commenting on a 2009 Amnesty Report on Cameroon, Tawanda Hondora, Amnesty International's deputy director for Africa said:

Cameroon has a horrendous record of gross human rights violations, including torture and killings, against dissidents and members of opposition. Political opposition is not tolerated in Cameroon. Any dissent is suppressed through either violence or abuse of the legal system to silence critics.

A UK Border Agency spokesperson said:

Our rules are very clear, when someone has no right to be in the UK we expect them to leave voluntarily. If they fail to do so, we will seek to remove them.

Cllr Mohammed said that whilst in Sheffield, Bernard was making a great contribution to the city. 

He volunteered with the Royal Society for the Blind and another charity called Aspire. Two years ago, when the devastating floods hit Pakistan, one of the first people outside the Town Hall was Bernard. He helped to highlight the plight and to raise thousands of pounds.

Bernard Mboueyeu with his grandchildren

Bernard’s wife Sharon said:

He’s my husband, he’s a step-dad, he’s a granddad and its so annoying that they’re quite happy to take him away from us and not allow him to have a family life.

Square Hole- lovingly assembled live comedy

Professional comedian Seymore Mace at Square Hole

Square Hole, a monthly comedy night held at the Red Deer pub in Sheffield, is a down to earth event, offering laughs, free cake and a welcoming atmosphere.

Usually held on the second Monday of every month, Square Hole has recently changed its format to include more acts from professional comedians.

Host Rich Milner, said that two professional acts would now open and close the evening, with a few new acts sandwiched in between. He said, "I’m trying to book comedians who are very distinctive, where you’re going to go away and remember them."

Rich is keen to keep the original ethos of the night:

I hope to maintain a friendly, relaxed atmosphere where the new acts can experiment a bit. Hopefully it will still be an enjoyable night where everyone can take part.

The name Square Hole comes from the idea of a square peg in a round hole. Rich explained that the ethos of the event is to have a place where comedians can try something different and where everyone is welcome, with an emphasis on originality.

Rich Milner handing out his homemade free cake

Square Hole, which started in December 2010, has become a popular night with a regular fan base. The event originated out of Rich’s frustration with over-priced and badly advertised comedy gigs. He said:

I wanted to do a night that was good value for money. I also wanted to find acts that were a bit more original and intelligent and to give people space to experiment. Whilst the onus is still on being funny.

Rich, 29, has been gigging as a comedian for one year. He entered into comedy after doing performance poetry with Words Aloud, a popular spoken word night which ran in Sheffield between 2006 and 2008. His first comedy gigs were ‘Gong’ shows where the acts get ‘gonged’ off if the audience don’t like them. 

Whilst Rich enjoyed this competitive experience, he decided that he wanted to host gigs that would be enjoyable for the audience but also a pleasant experience for the acts so that they would want to do it again. “So the emphasis is on being friendly and fairly relaxed,” said Rich.

Red Deer pub near West street in Sheffield

Friendliness is also important for the Red Deer pub, landlord Jake Nickles said:

The team at the Red Deer are all down to earth and we try to keep the character of the pub alive by sharing our own characters.

Jake took over the Red Deer in August 2010, which was perfect timing for Rich, “Jake had just taken over and was trying to breathe life into the place.” The pub now hosts a number of events including a Tuesday night quiz, Sunday night movie screenings and live acoustic music every Saturday and Thursday evenings.

The next Square Hole will be held on July 9^th 2012, you can find out more at: http://squareholecomedy.com/

Sheffield asylum-seeker deportation blocked

(Published in the Guardian Northerner on 27 June 2012)

Lemlem Hussein Abdu arriving at Sheffield train station

Campaigners in Sheffield have been victorious in helping to block the planned deportation of an elderly and disabled asylum seeker reported in the Guardian Northerner yesterday.

Lemlem Hussein Abdu, 62, was released from Yarl’s Wood detention centre last night as the result of an earlier meeting between Labour MP Paul Blomfield, Sheffield priest Father Shaun Smith and the Immigration Minister Damian Green.

Gina Clayton, chair of Sheffield charity ASSIST said:

We’re delighted at the outcome of the meeting. This is an exceptional and compelling case. We won't relax until Lemlem has a residence permit, but following the Minister’s intervention we are very hopeful that Lemlem will soon have security and be able to live without fear.

Lemlem was arrested on Tuesday 19 June when she visited the UK Border Agency at Vulcan House in Sheffield to begin a new asylum claim. She was taken straight to Yarl's Wood detention centre, ready for a flight to Ethiopia on Sunday 24 June.

However, a demonstration in Sheffield last week, addressed by both Blomfield, and the city's Liberal Democrat leader Shaffaq Mohammed was followed by an eleventh hour reprieve.

Home Office minister Damian Green cancelled the Sunday flight and agreed to delay further action until the meeting in London with Blomfield and Father Shaun Smith from Sacred Heart Church in Hillsborough.

Friends and supporters applauded Lemlem as she arrived at Sheffield train station. The group paid tribute to the hard work and commitment of Sheffield Central MP Paul Blomfield and the faith leaders.

Lemlem said, “Thank you thank you, I’m happy now,” when she arrived in Sheffield train station last night. She has been released without conditions while the UK Border Agency considers her case for discretionary leave.

Sheffield's campaigners say that Lemlem, who left her home country of Eritrea in 1978, would have been left destitute if she was sent to Ethiopia. She fled after her family was murdered during an attack by Ethiopian forces. Allegedly targeted due to their support for the Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF), which was fighting for independence from Ethiopia.

Sarah Eldridge of Sheffield's City of Sanctuary said:

It’s hard to know exactly which part of the campaign led to the change of heart. But it has been immensely heart warming to watch the spontaneous groundswell of support from hundreds of ordinary people that sprang up in the space of a few days and led to Lemlem’s emotional welcome back to the city.

Sheffield asylum seeker deportation halted - for now

(Published in the Guardian Northerner on 25th June 2012)

Plea for elderly and disabled refugee from Eritrea will be put to the Home Office by MP and Bishop of Sheffield tomorrow.

Lemlem Hussein Abdu

People power in Sheffield has helped to delay the planned rapid deportation of an elderly and disabled asylum seeker whose future now hinges on a meeting tomorrow, Tuesday 26 June.

The Home Office has agreed to halt action against Lemlem Hussein Abdu, 62, who was arrested last Tuesday when she visited the UK Border Agency at Vulcan House in Sheffield to begin a new asylum claim.

Lemlem originally sought asylum in the UK in 2007 but was refused, and after her arrest last week she was taken straight to Yarl's Wood detention centre, ready for a flight to Ethiopia yesterday, Sunday 24 June. But a march and demonstration in Sheffield last week, addressed by both the Labour MP for Sheffield Central, Paul Blomfield, and the city's Liberal Democrat leader Shaffaq Mohammed, was followed by a temporary official change of heart.

Home Office minister Damian Green cancelled the Sunday flight and agreed to delay further action until after the meeting in London tomorrow with Blomfield and the Bishop of Sheffield, Rt Rev Steven Croft. Blomfield says:

We will be highlighting the support that Lemlem has within Sheffield, and that her deportation would shame the UK.

Earlier he posted on the Lemlem Must Stay Facebook group page:

I've written to Theresa May seeking an urgent meeting and calling on her to halt the deportation. I've pointed out the huge support for Lemlem in Sheffield and that the decision to remove an elderly, disabled woman to a country where she does not speak the language, where she has never lived and to which she has no affiliation is a gross error [and] will be quite rightly viewed by many as scandalous.

Last week's demonstration saw a procession to the UK Borders Agency at Vulcan House where a delegation met staff to put the case against the decision to deport Lemlem. A petition was also handed in, with over 1000 signatures asking for Lemlem to be given the right to remain in the UK.

The demonstration and interviews with Paul Blomfield and Gina Clayton. Filming and reporting by Marishka Van Steenbergen

A spokesperson for the agency said that the case had been considered carefully by the department and an immigration judge when Lemlem appealed against an original asylum refusal. He said:

Both concluded that this lady does not have grounds to remain in the United Kingdom.
The UK has a proud tradition of providing protection to those who genuinely need it, but those individuals with no right to be here must leave and if they choose not to, we will remove them.

Sheffield's campaigners say that Lemlem, who left her home country of Eritrea in 1978, will be left destitute if she is sent to Ethiopia. She fled after her family was murdered during an attack by Ethiopian forces. Allegedly targeted due to their support for the Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF), which was fighting for independence from Ethiopia.

Gina Clayton, trustee of Sheffield's City of Sanctuary says:

Lemlem is absolutely terrified to the core of being taken to Ethiopia. She has no family and no connections in that culture and no physical ability to work. She doesn't speak the language and she probably would be reduced to begging. The chances are she would simply die of starvation.


There will be a vigil in London tomorrow morning, supported by friends and supporters of Lemlem and faith leaders from Sheffield.

City of Sanctuary fears for welfare of asylum seekers as housing contract is awarded to private security firm

Protests outside the UK Border Agency HQ in Sheffield after G4S won contracts to house asylum seekers. Photograph: South Yorkshire Migration and Asylum Action Group

Since the Chileans arrived in the seventies, the Kenyans in the eighties and the Kosovans in the nineties, Sheffield has developed a long tradition of offering sanctuary to those seeking asylum from war and persecution in their own countries.

The Sheffield council has played a large role in offering accommodation and support to these new arrivals. They have established an asylum team to deal with accommodation and a drop-in centre to offer advice. They have also set up a multi-agency forum representing the various organisations and charities that support asylum seekers and refugees in the city.

In 2007, with the support of the council, Sheffield became the UK’s first ‘City of Sanctuary’ for asylum-seekers and refugees. City of Sanctuary is a movement to build a culture of welcome and hospitality for refugees and asylum-seekers. There are now more than fifty City of Sanctuary groups all over the country.

Change for the worse

However, many asylum seekers and voluntary sector organisations in Sheffield are worried that this is all about to change. From May 2012 the private security firm G4S will take over the housing contract from Sheffield City Council. In a bid to cut costs the UK Border Agency (UKBA) will give £203m to G4S to house asylum seekers across Britain. 

Myra Davies, founder of Asylum Seeker Support Initiative (ASSIST) said, “ASSIST and the Sheffield council have built up organically as a network in which people co-operate for the well being of asylum seekers. What we fear with G4S coming in is that all the mutual respect and understanding we have built up is going to be wiped out.”

Under its new procurement arm, COMPASS, the UKBA have reduced the number of prime suppliers of asylum services from ten to three. G4S and the two other multinational security companies SERCO and Reliance already provide immigration, detention and removal services to UKBA.

These three companies have now won a total of £620m worth of contracts to provide housing for 18,108 people in asylum accommodation. The Home Office claims this will save £150m over the seven years of the contract.

Accused of brutality

This cost cutting venture has been met with widespread opposition from unions, charities and organisations working with asylum seekers and refugees. Campaigners highlight the unsavoury track record of G4S who have been criticised over their treatment of asylum seekers.

On 6^th October 2010, Jose Guttierezz, a Columbian deportee was badly injured and had to receive hospital treatment after being forced on to an aircraft by G4S. In that same month Jimmy Mubenga, an Angolan asylum seeker, died as a result of his forced deportation by G4S prison guards. Three guards are facing criminal charges and G4S lost their contract to escort deportees after the killing of Mubenga.

Campaign organisations like South Yorkshire Migration and Asylum Action Group (SYMAAG) fear that asylum seekers will be subject to further abuse and negligence and that the UKBA is deliberately intimidating asylum seekers by threatening to install prison guard companies as their managing landlords.

Stuart Crosswaite from SYMAAG said, “I don’t think we should be cooperating with these people, I think we should be putting all our resources into monitoring exactly what they are doing and challenging them about the rights of the children they are going to be moving and the housing that will be sub-standard.”

Myra Davies believes that G4S have a profile that is totally terrifying to asylum seekers. “G4S will not have the same sort of brief that the council has had for the well being of people, they have a brief for the profit margins of their company, for making asylum seekers accept poor accommodation because it will be cheaper. They have also got responsibility for removing asylum seekers, so overall G4S is not someone who will want to listen to humanitarian concerns.”

Lowering of standards

But Stephen Small, the Managing Director of UK Immigration and Borders at G4S, said: “We take the welfare of all people who receive our services extremely seriously. We will use housing assessment specialists to drive up the standard of housing provided and employ dedicated social cohesion experts to work with local authorities, migrant support groups, and health and education bodies.”

However, Jim Steinke, chief executive of the Northern Refugee Centre, believes that housing standards will lower once G4S are in control. He is concerned that the loss of local authority influence will destroy the strong relationships that have been built up between the councils, asylum seekers and voluntary sector organisations.

“The level of service has been better in Yorkshire than in other regions and this is why the campaign against G4S has been so acute; the campaign is not only against G4S but also the potential lowering of standards,” said Jim Steinke.

Councils are cornered

Stuart Crosswaite from SYMAAG said, “Sheffield council has a tradition of being humanitarian and we’ve got a pretty good relationship with them. We have spoken to them about G4S and in the end they gave in and agreed that it would be really bad if housing was privatised. The problem is that they said they have to work with these people, so they have to keep a good relationship with them.

“I suspect there will be a lot of unofficial support from the council and a lot of official silence. I hope there will be official support as well because if you allow housing standards to lower for one group it pulls down the level for everyone else. We want to appeal to them on humanitarian grounds to get involved.”

Sheffield Councilor Mick Rooney, responsible for asylum, immigration and migration said, “As a Cabinet Member I will enter into a working relationship with G4S without prejudice. I cannot and will not allow their past record to colour my relationship.”

However, when asked about how this will affect asylum seekers he said, “I believe the COMPASS procurement process showed that this was a cost cutting exercise. Will it benefit asylum seekers and refugees? That remains to be seen.”

The Cucumber Lounge defies the Monday blues

A brand new Sunday event offering a mix of live music, art and DJ’s has come to Sheffield to remedy those end of the weekend blues. Combining art exhibitions, performance and music, The Cucumber Lounge endeavors to conclude our weekend with some pleasurable entertainment and a little bit of culture.

The event is organised by Sheffield Art Forge, a non-for-profit social enterprise offering arts programming and professional artistic development. Every second Sunday of the month artists and musicians will fill the rooms at Creative Arts Development Space with eclectic sounds and thought-provoking art and performance.

Billy Christmas, a Fine Arts student at Sheffield University, runs The Cucumber Lounge for Sheffield Art Forge. Billy said he was inspired by Thomas Pynchon’s Vineland in which there is a club called Cucumber Lounge. “It’s playful but surreal and as the event is on a Sunday evening I thought ‘lounge’ was quite appropriate. It’s a chilled out event that is about appreciating a bit of culture rather than getting wasted,” said Billy.

Sheffield Art Forge runs the arts programme for Creative Arts Development Space, a multi-purpose arts complex in Shalesmoor. Dan Butlin, Sheffield Art Forge curator and event organiser said this event is part of their outreach programme. “We’re trying to broaden the appeal to people who aren’t the contemporary art crowd by creating a synthesis between art and music.” Dan said that they are also creating opportunities for artistic development by giving artists like Billy Christmas the opportunity and freedom to run an event with the support of Sheffield Art Forge.

Entertainment at The Cucumber Lounge

The first Cucumber Lounge kicked off last Sunday with music from Meat, Motherfolkers and Loveboat accompanying art exhibitions from Jessica Wong and Stuart Faulkner. There was also free face painting, poetry by Stan Skinny and an art performance by Stephen Milligan.

Jessica Wong’s exhibition featured installation art exploring the idea of things that are beautiful and ugly at the same time. Her work explores items such as the human body, which is both beautiful in the way it works and yet its guts and gory insides are also ugly. Stuart Faulkner’s exhibition included paintings with a subversive pop-cultural reference, including a painting of Harry Potter with the body of an imp. This painting refers to the American Christian reaction to J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter novels. 

Stuart Faulkner's exhibition 

The music included a mixture of folk, punk and an eclectic mix of everything in between. Performance poet Stan Skinny, who ensured the atmosphere remained light-hearted and relaxed, entertained the audience between bands.

Stan Skinny

Billy has many ideas for future events. “I want to have people walking around with platters of cucumber sandwiches and I also wanted to have a poet selling custom poems for shrapnel, but he couldn’t make it this time.” Billy also hopes to incorporate The Cucumber Lounge into other Sheffield arts and music events like the SKINN festival and Tramlines or Peace in the Park.

If any bands or artists would like to get involved in future events you can email Billy Christmas at cucumberlounge@gmail.com

Photos by www.joebream.com 

James Dodd’s Olympic Dreams and the stories behind everyday lives

James Dodd is the kind of photojournalist every city needs, focusing on the people that make up the life of the city and portraying them in their everyday lives. James believes that there is an interesting and important story right on his doorstep. Instead of following the crowd and chasing the sensational or the shocking, James is determined to tell the real stories about real life in the city in which he lives.

Olympic Dreams Project © James Dodd

James’s Olympic Dreams project was the first of these stories. Inspired by a quote from David Beckham, the project explores the physical and mental pressures placed on children competing for the Olympics.

“David Beckham said he was so good at free kicks because he dreamt about doing them. This repetition meant that he became so comfortable doing them that is was just like an everyday activity,” said James, Sheffield based photographer and founder of Statement Images.

“These kids were obviously doing the same thing, going through the same routines, doing a dive twenty times over. I tried to convey the emotions that the kids were going through without showing the actual emotions, but showing images of them in this dream-like state.”

Olympic Dreams also questions the role of children in such high-pressure roles in our society. “I wanted to create really strong images which people could remember,” said James. He conveys the children in uncomfortable positions, isolated from everything else, whilst their bodies are tense in mid dive or grasping at the water as they swim towards the surface.

Olympic Dreams project © James Dodd

Neither photojournalism nor art, James said that people struggled to pigeonhole the project. Yet he has gained coverage from publications such as the Guardian, the BBC, Burn Magazine and Newsweek Japan. He also exhibited the project at Bank Street Arts in Sheffield in 2010.

James now has plans to create a photo documentary of life behind the scenes during the Olympics. Following the children who don’t get into the Olympic teams or the younger children who continue training whilst watching their older colleagues compete. James believes that there will be plenty of coverage of the Olympic teams but “these are the stories that need to be told.”

A qualified photojournalist, James believes in the hyper local and the importance of the everyday stories that are never told. “The Olympic Dreams project was the start of this idea that stories exist locally which can have national and international significance,” said James.

From the extremes to the everyday

James was inspired to become a photojournalist through renowned photojournalists like Robert Capa, James Nachtwey, Henri Cartier-Bresson and Don McCullin. Yet, his experience of journalism has led him along a different path to those he was inspired by.

After working as a freelance journalist and experiencing the limitations of news journalism, James began to question the mindset of his vocation. He had reservations about the chase for images of extreme sadness and destruction which newspapers often request. He questioned the virtues of chasing the image that would give him a career-break and the eagerness of his colleagues to travel to war torn countries or places of disaster to cover these ‘extremes’. “I thought, is that really what I want to be involved in? I’m more interested in the subjects within the world where I live, rather than chasing images around the world.”

James decided that he wanted the time and space to work on stories which were important and interesting without the restrictions and limitations of news. So he sought advice from other photographers like Simon Roberts, an award-winning photographer who studied Human Geography at Sheffield University.  Simon, who was also the official Election artist in 2010, has become a mentor for James and has helped him to pursue his dreams.

This idea of exchanging ideas and expertise informed the creation of Statement Images, a collective of photographers from around the world. The collective acts as a support network and a forum for sharing ideas and projects. “We’ve all got similar goals and to some extent it is easier to pull together and to become known under one name.” James’s Olympic Dreams project led to the collective gaining a commission from Channel 4. “We’ve all got different sets of skills and we can pitch for each other,” said James.

An alternative platform- slow journalism

James is also co-editor of Street Reverb Magazine, a website dedicated to promoting, publishing and discussing contemporary street photography. James believes that the agenda-focused media has driven photojournalists to look for alternative platforms like Street Reverb and Statement Images as a means of publishing.

The inspiration to create such platforms has come from photographer Rob Hornstra and his Sochi Project. In 2014, the Olympic Games will take place in Sochi, Russia. Sochi is a largely impoverished region, next to the conflict zone Abkhazia. Rob Hornstra and filmmaker Arnold van Bruggen are spending the next five years documenting the extreme makeover of the region and how Sochi’s ‘economic crises is glossed over as much as possible’.

James marvels at how Rob and Arnold have created their own platform for their stories, without going through the standard publishing routes. He said that by creating their own platform they have ensured a level of control which means they do not have to follow the media’s agenda. “They cover stories that the newspapers aren’t interested in and concentrate on the daily life in the area,” said James.

One of their stories is about the Sochi singers and how in the Sochi culture the same traditional songs are sung in the same settings in every town in the region. James values the everyday nature of these stories, “It’s a very simple sharing of this way of life. It is not an ‘extreme’ of life but it is still intriguing.”

Sunday Morning Sales

  

James is currently working on his own project of similar simplicity and everyday nature. His Sunday Morning Sales project documents car boot sales across the country. James simply captures the people and their objects, portraying the tranquil nature of a car boot sale; a man relaxing in a chair in the middle of a field, a woman standing behind her table of trinkets staring into the sky and categories of books, clothes or toys neatly laid out for someone else to treasure.

Sunday Morning Sales project © James Dodd

James believes that each stall is a portrait of the sellers, “a piece of themselves spread out right there on decorating tables and on the floor for all to see and buy.”

Staying true to the ideas of alternative platforms, James plans to exhibit this work ‘in the context it was created in’. He is buying picture frames from the car boot sales in which he will place the photographs to exhibit at the car boot sales. He aims to use the work to approach new audiences who might not normally step into a gallery and who aren’t going with the purpose of seeing art

“They will also have an interest in the subject because they are part of it, there are few places you can exhibit where you know that 300 odd people will be interested in the subject,” mused James.

Sunday Morning Sales project © James Dodd 

Sheffield as a subject

Taking the idea of hyper local to its extreme, James has been working on Sheffield as a project for the last five months. “I want to find out more about the city which is the single geographical location that has the most connection to me, but I don’t feel this same connection to it,” said James.

He is exploring the idea of the city having seven hills and the fact there are more trees per person than any other city in Europe. James is also interested in where Sheffield’s industry has gone and what has replaced it. “I want to explore whether Sheffield’s identity has changed with its industry.”

Now that he has bought a house in Sheffield, James feels more of a need to explore the city, “I have lived here for 27 years and yet there are still areas I have never been to. I feel like I have explored other cities more as a photographer where as I’ve neglected my own.”

James is currently exploring Sheffield’s past through his Dead Photographers project. Using his father's removals company, James is collecting the unwanted items discarded during house clearances of the deceased. He has found whole photography archives of once keen photographers. James is using this collection to explore the relationship between photography and time, and how people’s attitudes towards photographs have changed.

With each new project James maintains a determination to simply document the everyday lives of people around him, exploring the intriguing stories of the regular person, the ‘stories that need to be told’.

A review by No Culture Icons, a collective of photographers and artists, sums up James’s style perfectly; “The images are without mystery or questioning, but instead revel in the few times in which there are no great unknowns to be fought against: here are the people, and this is what they do, what they buy and sell, what they are and what they want to be.” 

Sunday Morning Sales project © James Dodd

Top UK Mountaineer, Andy Kirkpatrick speaks about pushing the boundaries

With the release of his second book ‘Cold Wars’ one of the UK’s top mountaineers, Andy Kirkpatrick returns to Sheffield as part of his book tour around the UK.

Andy Kirkpatrick as a child

Andy Kirkpatrick was brought up on a council estate in Hull, one of the UK’s flattest cities. He was diagnosed with severe dyslexia at the age of 19 and left school with no qualifications. At the age of 40, he is now one of the UK’s top mountaineers, an award-winning author and an acclaimed motivational speaker.

Kirkpatrick claims it was his father, Pete Kirkpatrick, one of the longest-serving team leaders in the RAF mountain rescue, who motivated him to start climbing. When he was six years old, his parents got divorced and he moved with his mother and siblings to Hull. He remembers his father visiting often to take them climbing and walking in the Peak District. “So I feel like I always had a connection with the outdoors,” said Kirkpatrick.

When Kirkpatrick left school he began working in outdoor shops. It was then that he met other climbers who inspired him to start big wall climbing and winter expeditions. “Andy Perkins was one of my heroes, he is an all-rounder who does Scottish winter climbing, big wall climbing and expeditions.”

Winter Expeditions

Kirkpatrick has climbed the 3000-foot El Capitan, in Yosemite over 15 times and in 2010 he attempted a one-day solo ascent, climbing it in 30 hours. In 2002 he undertook one of the hardest climbs in Europe, a 15-day winter ascent of the west face of the Dru, Chamonix. He has also took part in four winter expeditions to Patagonia and climbed El Capitan with his girlfriend, paraplegic athlete Karen Darke.

Kirkpatrick on the west face of the Dru

Kirkpatrick says that his most memorable climb was when he climbed El Capitan with Darke, with whom he has been for 5 years. “It was such a mad idea, to climb with someone who hasn’t climbed in 16 years and can’t walk and then you’re there, on El Cap without a lot of training or preparation.”

Darke is training for the London 2012 Paralympics in handcycling, as part of the British Cycling Team. We’re both quite obsessed and focused,” said Kirkpatrick musing over how seldom they see each other. He said that he tried to show this in ‘Cold Wars’, “My book shows the reality, there are a lot of downsides to this kind of lifestyle, and I tried to be honest about it.”

The under-dog

Jack Geldard, chief editor of UKClimbing.com said in his review of ‘Cold Wars’, “The running theme in both Cold Wars and in Psychovertical is that of the tormented husband, to-ing and fro-ing between the strains of normal life…juxtaposed with the complexities and simplicities of big wall life and seemingly constant 'near death' climbing.”

Kirkpatrick believes that ‘Cold Wars’ won’t necessarily appeal to all climbers. He said that ‘extreme’ climbers often don’t have family or kids. “They are yet to see the reality of these things, for them I am just whining.” Kirkpatrick has two children who live with him in Sheffield; Ella aged 13 and Ewen who is 10 years old.

He explained, “A very good climber gives 100% so there is nothing left for anything else, even relationships. For me writing is as important as climbing, so I’ll easily put aside six months just to learn to be a good writer.”

Kirkpatrick believes you can only do two things well, “So I do things in binges and sometimes I have to be a crap climber or a crap father.”

Geldard also observes, “Kirkpatrick's style, which both in writing and in climbing, is that of the underdog, the wannabe, the have-a-go hero.”

Kirkpatrick acknowledges this self-deprecating tendency, “It’s because I never give climbing 100%, I just dip in and out of it, so I’m never in a position of being really strong, I always know I’m not as good as I could be.”

He also believes that this tendency to ‘flagellate’ himself comes from having a working class background. “Working class people are like that. Which is why they are working class, because they think they’re shit at everything.”

Pushing the boundaries

Kirkpatrick, mixed climbing in Scotland

However, Kirkpatrick believes that it’s all to do with your parents, “My mum was never an academic, but she always said ‘the world is your oyster’.” Whilst Kirkpatrick admits he never really knew what that meant, he believes his mother inspired them to go further afield and be ambitious.

Kirkpatrick’s reputation for pushing the boundaries goes beyond his climbing, “As a comedian you have to push beyond what people expect, that’s what makes it interesting,” said Kirkpatrick. He said he finds it hard to take himself seriously, “You know your mates will just laugh at you for saying something like ‘I climbed the hardest route in the UK’.”

SKINN, a new network of businesses and organisations in Sheffield, proves that Cameron’s ‘big society’ is already here

SKINN- Shalesmoor, Kelham Island and Neepsend Network, officially launched on the weekend of the 29th of October with a mini-festival and ‘art crawl’. The event featured two free days of art exhibitions, crafts stalls, fashion shows, improve theatre, pop-up bars and live music.

CADS entrance at Shalesmoor

Set up to “share resources, information and skills”, SKINN is a non-for-profit network of businesses and organisations whose aim is to improve the local area and its community.

Studio complexes, including The Nichols Building in Shalesmoor, CADS in Smithfield and Pebble Dash Studios in Burton Road, welcomed visitors throughout the weekend. An industrial area in the past, the SKIN area now comprises of award-winning restaurants, real ale pubs, studios, galleries, vintage stores and designer workshops.

SKINN aims to encourage local people to get more involved in events and workshops held in the studios and galleries, linked into mini-festivals and events held with the restaurants and local pubs.

Creative collaboration

It is one of the many new projects supported by CADS, a multi-purpose arts complex in Shalesmoor, who rent out studios for “all forms of creativity”. Ivan Rabodzeenko, development officer for CADS, explained that SKINN originated from the ‘Ideas Bazaar’ event hosted by Sheffield University in September, for Sheffield’s creative community.

Working with local breweries like Kelham Island and Five Rivers

Ivan said that they realised there was a lack of communication between the different creative and other industries in the SKIN area. So a meeting was organised between the industries and the idea of holding an ‘art crawl’ and other similar events transpired.

“The Nichols building, which only opened in July, is a good example,” said Katja Porohina, communications and development officer at CADS. The building is an antiques, arts and crafts centre, run by an interior designer. “They are really keen to promote their building so they offered us the use of their upstairs space for free. We said, ok we have experience of running events and music nights, so lets do it together.”

Katja believes that the lack of communication between industries is due to a culture of competitiveness rather than one of collaboration. “But if you collaborate you end up with something better, this is the way we want SKINN to work,” said Katja.

A policy of inclusiveness

CADS gallery space

CADS was born from director Steve Rimmer’s frustration with the exclusiveness of artistic communities. Mr Rimmer, aged 25, said that research and general experience taught him that “many creative art spaces don’t accept you if you are not doing contemporary art or fulfil their criteria, but there is so much more to creativity.”

Mr Rimmer acquired his first studio space whilst hot-desking at Stag Works (a building of significant industrial heritage). He then discovered he could hire three studios for the same price as one if he moved to the Shalesmoor area. Mr Rimmer decided to rent out the two extra studios to cover costs, which meant he could take on a larger studio to do more events. CADS soon consisted of eight studios and continued to expand from there. “It just organically evolved as we needed more resources and space for studios, by filling the studios, we were able to re-invest in our own expansion or other projects we were supporting.”

Mr Rimmer explained that CADS works within a mutually beneficial management mode, “everything we set up links into and benefits everything else.” SKINN has mapped out a network of businesses and organisations within the area. During the ‘art crawl’ on the weekend, this map, marked with the various businesses and organisations, was presented for people to look at.

SKINN Map

“We’re asking people what they think of the area, and for ideas of how it can be developed,” said Katja. She explained that they want to be inclusive to all businesses, organisations and residents in the area when deciding how existing resources and spaces can be used.

Utilising empty spaces

“We are also looking into what can be done with the empty buildings in the area, trying to link up with property owners of vacant buildings to find a way of making positive use of those spaces,” said Mr Rimmer. CADS aims to utilise waste materials from these properties, which can be recycled and used on projects such as the urban garden at Pebble Dash studios. CADS is working with volunteers from Sheffield University to build seating and flowerbeds in the studio yard, out of waste material from local building firms.

Mr Rimmer explained how this is an example of drawing on the resources of the network system; he explained that when people are aware of other businesses and what resources they have or spaces that are vacant, others are able to utilise these resources until they are needed again.

“I’ve always said it is better to have collaboration rather than competition,” said Mr Rimmer.

You can find out more about SKINN at http://www.cads-online.co.uk

As "the baton is passed from artisan to artist" can we look forward to a new kind of regeneration?

Sheffield's City Centre is turning into a ghost town of empty shops along The Moor and surrounding areas. This is due to the thwarting of ambitious plans of developers and the city council by the recession in 2009. 

Yet, whilst writing an article about CADS and their new project SKINN, I come across similar fascinating and exciting projects like the 140 year old Stag Works and the adjacent Portland Works. And I wonder whether the halting of urban regeneration is really such a terrible thing?

What other exciting projects are being born out the 'crisis' which leaves us with no option but to 'do it ourselves'?

"Sheffield's 'Stag Works' is a decaying, crumbling curiosity with a fascinating place in the city's cultural and industrial heritage. As the old workshops and artisans give way to new music studios and artists, the building bears witness to a tapestry of innovation, passion and imagination. A metaphor for the modern city?"

As world leaders delay over climate change, Sheffield groups are ‘getting on with it’

This week country representatives debate a global agreement to cut carbon emissions at the UN Climate Change Conference in Durban, South Africa. Unwilling to await their decision, Sheffield groups are calling for voters to help them tackle climate change today.

Friends of Millhouses Park and Sheffield Renewables are two Sheffield groups taking part in a national X-Factor style vote to win over £125,000 towards local community renewable energy projects.

The two groups have made it into the final stage of the EnergyShare Launch Fund, run by British Gas and celebrity chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s environmental organisation River Cottage.

Public voting ends at 5pm this Saturday and the two groups only need to beat one other scheme to win their categories. They are calling for everybody to vote online today.

The Millhouses mill buildings project, run by Friends of Millhouses Park, is transforming the oldest water mill site in the city into a sustainable community centre. The group have already raised £68,000 towards refurbishing the historic 13^th century corn mill in Millhouses Park. If they win, the buildings will be fitted with solar panels, insulation and a ground source heat pump, which will save over .5 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year.

Jane Hunter, executive committee member of Friends of Millhouses Park, said: “It’s all about awareness raising; micro-generation can make a big contribution to the total energy mix.” Jane believes that by installing renewable energy in community buildings they are providing concrete examples of how people can create their own energy. 

Sheffield Renewables, a volunteer-led social enterprise, has already raised over £65,000 towards Jordan Dam, a hydro-electricity project on the River Don, near Meadowhall. The group have been granted planning permission to install a modern Archimedes screw at Jordan Dam. This community owned waterpower scheme would generate enough electricity for 80 typical family homes, saving 170 tonnes of carbon dioxide each year.

An artist's impression of the Jordan Dam Hydro

“We want people to feel empowered about tackling climate change, we’re all about getting things done on the ground, so that people can see what is possible and start spreading ideas” said Miss Cariad Thomas-Cooke, project officer for Sheffield Renewables.

Megg Munn, MP for Sheffield Heeley said: “This project is a great example of how local organisations can work with local people to make a real difference to our environment. I’ve already voted for it- and want to give the Sheffield Renewables team my full support for this project.”

Voting is open until 5pm, Saturday 3^rd December, to vote log on to http://www.energyshare.com/voting/