East Region News
Legendary Richmond Park customer is the official Pride of Britain
John Burkhill has been living in Richmond Park, Sheffield, for a long time, and has been known locally for decades as the ‘man with a pram’. Now, he’s known nationally, having won the Pride of Britain award in October 2023 for his exceptional fundraising work for various cancer charities.
John’s daughter, Karen, sadly passed away in 1991 aged just 29 following an operation. As if this wasn’t hard enough, his wife’s health soon deteriorated, and she died of cancer a year later. John had a deep appreciation for the support provided by Macmillan through his wife’s illness; because of this, he decided to give something back. Having been involved in races since 1967, he soon started to fundraise for the charity through his races.
One way to stay connected to his daughter and wife whilst racing up the Sheffield hills was by pushing the pram he bought for his daughter back in 1961. And when his fundraising manager eventually suggested he don a green wig for Macmillan, he soon became a very recognisable character around Sheffield. Speaking with John, he said he was proud to be ‘from the only city in England with a madman with a pram’ and prouder still to ‘be that man’.
Over the years, John has taken part in 1,044 races up and down the country in his wig and with his pram in tow, raising money for Macmillan and other cancer charities, and also inspiring the film ‘One in a million’. He even held the Olympic torch in 2012, yet he was still surprised when his fundraising manager told him he was nominated for the Pride of Britain Award this year. Having already won the regional award, it was truly something else to be recognised down in ‘the big smoke’ and to come to the national awards broadcast by ITV in London in October.
Even whilst at the awards, John didn’t expect to win. All the nominees, as far as John was concerned, were winners and it doesn’t matter how much you raise as long as you’re making a difference; as even if you raise just 10p for a cause, it’s ‘still 10p more than they had before’.
Now aged 84, John is determined to carry on taking part in races and raising money for as long as he feels able to. His most recent race in December was the annual Percy Pud Race in Sheffield, which rewarded all participants with a beanie hat and Christmas pudding at the finish line – and well deserved!
Let’s get digitally active!
The MyPlace portal and Our Voice digital platform are fantastic tools for our customers to raise any queries with us and offer their insight, but we know that there can be obstacles to using these for our customers who aren’t as confident using smartphones, for instance.
This is certainly the case over in Richmond Park, a vibrant and diverse community in Sheffield, where we have a large neighbourhood of customers, not far from our Anchor Neighbourhood, Wybourn. Lots has gone on in this particular community in the past year, with the community centre re-opening this summer having been refurbished, and celebrated with a Family Fun Day. There is a range of community offers at the centre, such as the children’s ‘Kicks’ sessions delivered by Sheffield Wednesday Football Club Community Partnership, and digital support sessions for mostly older residents have long been in the pipeline.
Of course, ‘digital skills’ can mean a lot of things, but with mobile phones becoming more and more essential for day-to-day life, ensuring our customers have the skills to use these devices securely seemed like a good place to start for our Community Partnership Manager, Steven Gayle. Steve recently approached the mobile network company EE to see if they could provide some specialist in-person support sessions to some of our older customers who till now have often felt uneasy about going online – and understandably so given the rise in scammers, hackers and phishers. EE responded positively, offering to deliver a session on online safety and how to navigate mobile devices, which one of their staff, Neil, delivered in November to some of our older customers at the community centre in Richmond Park.
The session lasted for two hours, and EE staff answered any questions our customers had about using apps, managing contacts, accessing emails and staying safe online. As Steven Gayle told us, it went down very well:
“The session was well received and our customers later told me that the information provided was extremely useful and made them feel more knowledgeable about staying safe online. Customers were particularly grateful for the 1-1 support EE staff were able to offer.”
EE are now looking to expand these sessions to our other regions, and what’s more, their sessions at Richmond Park are to be followed up with a wider programme of various digital skills, delivered through our partnership with Sheffield Lifelong Learning, Skills and Employment.
St. Wilfrid’s Place – tackling homelessness in Sheffield
St. Wilfrid’s Place in Sheffield is one of our Independence and Wellbeing schemes that provides low level support for those who are at risk of homelessness or who struggle with dependency issues.
So many of our customers who are referred to the scheme turn their lives around with the support of our colleagues, and we’re proud of the hard work of our colleagues who work there, who have worked hard to build the place up since the pandemic.
The building, owned by the local diocese, has seen a lot of change over the past few years. During the pandemic, a lot of its support offer from external organisations had been stripped back, such as its counselling service provided by the charity Caritas. Colleagues have worked to overcome issues with staffing, police presence, substance abuse and high demands on the council, and they have gone above and beyond to offer customers a highly personable support offer.
Working with Crisis and other Sheffield-based groups aimed at tackling homelessness, a lot of our customers are referred to St. Wilfrid’s through these groups, as well as the local council and women’s safety groups. There they are supported with their own individual needs and goals, whether that’s holding down a property, gaining skills for employment or cooking skills. Most are referred to stay for two years, however some stay longer if needed.
Our customers come from all walks of life and often have higher support needs. One former customer, Jack (not his real name), had a professional job role before suffering from mental health problems, which spiralled to him sleeping rough. Jack was a resident at St. Wilfrid’s who needed round the clock support from our colleagues. Like many of our customers, however, Jack managed to turn things around and has managed to secure permanent accommodation with Great Places.
We’re proud of the progress Jack has made, it is testament to his own resilience as well as the hard work and dedication of our colleagues who supported him. It’s great to see our customers truly turn their lives around at many of our schemes like St. Wilfrid’s.
Trick or Treating in the Local Community
Back in the autumn, our customers in Sheffield made the most of spooky season, with Halloween parties being held at two community centres.
Over at the Richmond Park & Birklands Community Centre, lots of fun was had as the kids, mums and dads donned their scariest outfits and enjoyed an evening of halloween-themed games, arts and crafts, face-painting and food, glorious food!
The party was also attended by Jayna Patel and Lucy Pierce from the Premier League Charitable Fund, who support the National Kicks Programme. Sheffield Wednesday Football Club Community Partnership run football sessions every Thursday at Richmond Park, and partnered with us to run the event, so they invited the PLCF to highlight this excellent project and enjoy the spooky festivities.
And over in Wybourn, the Pat Midgley Community Centre did not disappoint. A party on Halloween night was well attended by mums, dads and children with some very scary costumes from witches and skeletons, to power rangers and Cruella De Vil herself! Plenty of party food and sweets were on offer as well as an exciting visit from the local entertainer, Barney Baloney, who delivered a fantastic magic show that was enjoyed by everyone.
Big thanks to our Community Partnerships Manager for Richmond Park, Steven Gayle and the Pat Midgley Hub Centre Co-ordinator Christina Grant for organising the spooky fun!
