A new heritage trail opening in the Hillsborough and Wadsley area, known as GOSH, aims to help people understand Sheffield’s deep cultural history by walking through its beautiful green spaces.
The Green Open Spaces and Heritage trail, also known as GOSH, will link six community spaces with the wider historical culture of the area.
Calvin Payne, one of the developers of the trail, regularly shows people around Sheffield and has a strong fascination with its history, which is one of the reasons he wanted to help out with the GOSH project.
He said: “It’s interesting for me because I’m involved with the gardens, I like the green spaces in Sheffield, but I also like talking about the history of the city so it was great for me to join the two things together.”
Calvin explained how he believes that there is a large interest in Sheffield’s greenery and heritage, and that he hopes this walk will inspire people to learn more about the city.
He said: “When you show people little corners of the city they’ve never seen before they always come and they’re always interested.”
Local Sheffield residents have been working on empty spaces, such as sites of former housing, in places such as Malin Bridge, establishing small community gardens and spaces.
This is to provide more green areas for the residents and visitors of Sheffield.
More green spaces allow for such trails to be created, and Calvin wants to bring attention to these small, newly developed areas which the wider public may not be aware of.
Calvin said: “The thing I like doing is showing people little bits of an area they’ve never seen before even if they’ve lived there a long time.”
GOSH was introduced last year during Sheffield Heritage Open days, where Calvin led a walk of the planned route. It was very well received by the people that attended and it will be featured in Sheffield Environment Weeks.
Sheffield Environment Weeks are running from the 2nd May to the 14th June, with the GOSH trail walk taking place on Friday May 29th at 6pm.
Calvin said that further information about the upcoming GOSH walk can be found on his Facebook page, Hidden Sheffield Walks.