This is our first mail as the new committee of Friends of Meersbrook Hall. Hello to old members and welcome to the new people joining.
Thank you for your interest in and support of Meersbrook Hall, which we all wish to see come back to life as it stands in the very heart of our community.
Over the past few months we (FOMH) have held three well attended public meetings where people stated overwhelmingly they want to see the hall stay in public ownership, sharing many ideas including: toilets, a café, a play area for children, an evening space for events, shared office space for local small businesses and people working from home, a yoga space, the list goes on.
The energy and vision of local people for the future use of the Hall inspired a group of us to get together and think about how we can make this happen.
How we got here:
- We agreed to revive the dormant ‘Friends of Meersbrook Hall’ group which formed in 2014 with the same aim of saving our hall.
- The original group worked in partnership with the Heeley Trust. However, after Covid and increased costs for its upkeep and the failure to secure a long term lease, Heeley Trust handed the keys back to Sheffield Council in 2023
- Local people continued to watch with dismay as the vacant hall began to fall into disrepair.
- A public meeting was called in February 2026 to highlight awareness of the deteriorating state of the hall and to create some action for what should be done with it.
- People attending that meeting were clear and unanimous in supporting action to bring it back into productive use and a new group of people came forward to progress those demands from the meetings.
- Following a general meeting, we elected a new Chair and committee of thirteen local people from in and around Meersbrook who are all willing to give time to working with the community and the council to reopen the hall.
So, here we are, working on your behalf to save our historic hall in the park. We meet once a fortnight on Mondays 6.00pm to 8.00pm. We’ve met on four occasions, and we are just getting to know each other and understand the task ahead of us. We aim to send a monthly newsletter and keep our Facebook page and website updated with all progress. Your support and involvement in revisioning the hall is vital to us.
We know you are all keen to get inside the Hall and start work either on its renovation or planning for future activities, however, we are not yet at a position to gain access to the hall.
The Council, Fundraising, Donations and Decisions!
Sheffield City Council were initially very supportive and seemed to really want to encourage the community in taking a stake in the Hall and to work with us to progress the Hall to be back in the hands of the community, however they have now informed us that our access would need to be limited to only include guided tours until we have raised significant funds to cover utility costs. Naturally, we are disappointed about this and we are engaging the support of our local councillor Marieanne Elliot and setting up meetings with council officers to continue to make our case for opening up the Hall this summer.
On a more positive note, we have received confirmation that we now have a bank account so we can begin some serious fundraising! We are starting to raise a fighting fund to demonstrate we can cover utility costs. We think the cost of running the Hall will be somewhere around £2000 per month. If you are able to donate to this or pay a monthly £2, £5, £10, £20 this would make all the difference. Donations will hopefully soon be able to be made directly via our website www.meersbrookhall.org.uk however if you are able to make a donation in the meantime you can use this QR code:
And please let us know if you have any ideas about fundraising activities and events.
We are also giving some thought to the future legal structure of the Friends of Meersbrook Hall group whether that be a charity, co-operative or similar organisation with community benefit and social objectives at its core.
Friends of Meersbook Hall Members and Volunteers
Nearly 800 people are in the Friends of Meersbrook Hall group, which is so pleasing, and we will need you ALL over the coming months and years if we are to get the Hall back into our community! Please keep reading and sharing our updates and get involved where you can. Fundraising is going to be high on the agenda!!
We are in the process of forming subgroups to focus on areas such as: communication, fundraising, building and trade work, cleaning, community engagement and anything else that is needed. If you have already offered specific interests or skills we will be in touch at some point, or do follow up with us if you are aware of something you’d like to be involved with.
Our local historian, Ken Dash, who knows all about the Hall is ready and willing to train people about its history so we can offer heritage open day tours of the hall. Please let us know if you’d like to join the group of volunteer tour guides. (Full training is provided).
On Saturday 20th June we will have a small stall at Small Park Big Run ( raising money for Palestine) in Meersbrook Park. Do come and say hello if you have the time. We also, fingers crossed, hope to be open for Heritage Open Days in September so keep your eye on our social media and mails.
Thanks for your ongoing support
Regards
Friends of Meersbrook Hall