On 29 September 2024 we achieved 10 years of STAND (Stannington and District Library Group) taking responsibility for managing Stannington Library. Monday 29 September 2014 was the date on which our team of volunteers began delivering the service, which has continued ever since.
In 2013, 16 libraries across Sheffield, including Stannington, were chosen to be closed by Sheffield City Council unless communities agreed to take them on. Despite much campaigning the libraries were only able to stay open because teams of volunteers stepped forward to take on the multiple tasks needed to keep the doors open.
Stannington Library joined in celebrating this success at a gathering at Park Library on 26 September which was attended by the Lord Deputy Mayor, Safiya Saeed, the Head of Libraries, Hilary Coulson, and many other library volunteers from all across Sheffield. At the event a video was showcased which explains the history of Sheffield's volunteer libraries and gives snippets of how they have developed and blossomed. You can view the video here: VLiS 10th Anniversary Video
or you can view it on YouTube by clicking this link: https://youtu.be/qw_U7pR1018
Volunteers from Stannington Library also celebrated at an event held at the Peacock. We are very proud of our success and we would like to thank all our patrons for continuing to use the library and keeping it at the centre of our community.
We are trying to find out more about people’s experiences of our lending offer, and their habits in borrowing and buying books, to help us improve it and ensure that it meets the needs of borrowers.
Complete our survey to win one of six prizes, inc. £100 shopping vouchers & £50 book tokens.
1 DECEMBER 2023
We are sorry to announce that the Sheffield Libraries mobile application is no longer working. This is an unexpected issue affecting libraries worldwide, and we have been told by our app developer to expect that most functions on the app will not be available for the foreseeable future. We do understand this will be frustrating for many people who use the App, and we apologise for that.
Some features may still appear to work, when in fact they are showing outdated, incorrect information. We are delisting the app from mobile stores, and recommend you delete it from your mobile device.
You can still search the library catalogue and access your account on your mobile device, to reserve items, manage holds and renew loans. You can do so by following this link or typing the following URL into your web browser:
https://library.sheffield.gov.uk
All you need to log in is your Library Card number and PIN. If you have forgotten your PIN, a member of staff at one of our libraries will be able to help you.
Sadly, there is no timeframe for when a new application will be ready. Once we have more information, we will provide information in our libraries and on our social media channels.
If you have any questions, please let us know at libraries@sheffield.gov.uk
Sheffield Libraries, Archives & Information Service
Thank you to all our local Coop customers who kindly nominated us as their Community Fund cause. Back in 2022 we asked for help to fund our library groups – the Tuesday Club, StoryTime and BabyTime. The funding collected came to £2354.23 which will cover our costs for at least a year! Some of our volunteers attended the Community Fund event this week to celebrate the great work done by the Coop to support local causes.
Thank you to everyone who helped us by shopping at our local Coop branch. You’ve made it possible for us to help our local community and that’s a wonderful thing to achieve.
Thanks to the Coop Local Community Fund for being there! #CoopCelebration @CoopUk
Download a pdf version of the programme here
From 4 May 2023 you’ll need to show photo ID when voting in person in some UK elections or referendums.
If not, you will need to apply for a
Voter Authority Certificate
by 25 April
or register for a postal vote by 17 April.
Stannington Library can help with
online or paper applications
for a Voter Authority Certificate
– including taking photographs.
Leave your name and phone number with a volunteer in the library (either in person, by phone call or by email) and we will contact you asap to arrange an appointment.
NB: If you know someone who might need this support, please pass on the message!
0114 234 8732 library.stannington@gmail.co.uk
Information about the new voting rules can be found on the GOV.UK website – this is the direct link: https://www.gov.uk/how-to-vote/photo-id-youll-need
You can register for a postal vote here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/apply-for-a-postal-vote .
You can also use one of the following travel passes as photo ID when you vote:
NB: The photo on your ID must look like you.
NB: You can still use your ID even if it has expired.
If you’re voting as someone’s proxy
You’ll need to take your own ID when you go to vote on someone else’s behalf. You do not need to take theirs.
If you’ve changed your name
The name on your ID must match your name on the electoral register. If it does not, you’ll need to either:
There is an online Voter Authority Certificate application form: https://www.gov.uk/apply-for-photo-id-voter-authority-certificate as well as a paper form.
You only need to apply for a Voter Authority Certificate if:
If the name on your photo ID is different, you can register to vote again or take a document with you to vote that proves that you have changed your name.
It’s free to apply. You’ll need:
You can still apply if you do not have a National Insurance number. You’ll need to provide other documents to prove your identity, for example a birth certificate, bank statement and utility bill.
On the Voter Authority application form it states:
You must supply a recent photo of your head and shoulders, with your face uncovered, as part of this application.
It’s recommended to write your name, house number and postcode on the back of your photo.
Your photo must be:
• clear and in focus
• in colour
• against a plain, light-coloured background
• your true likeness, with no photoshop or filters
• at least 45 x 35 mm (height x width) in size, and no bigger than 297 x 210 mm (height x width)
• undamaged (e.g. not torn, creased, or marked)
In your photo you must:
• face forwards and look straight at the camera
• be alone, with no other objects or people
• have a plain expression
• have eyes open and visible, with no hair in front of them
• not wear sunglasses, but normal glasses are fine if you typically wear them
• not have a head covering (except for religious or medical reasons)
• not have ‘red-eye’, glare or shadows over your face
If you have ticked the box on page 3 to say you have a disability, the photo you supply:
• doesn’t need to have a plain expression
• doesn’t need to have your eyes open and visible
If you have not provided a date of birth and National Insurance number. You must provide either:
• copies of THREE documents from the lists below with at least one document being from list A (the other two can be from either list) or
• copies of FOUR documents from list B.
Please include copies of the documents when sending your application form (do not send
originals), or tick the box at the bottom to say you cannot provide the required documents.
Supporting documents list A:
Unless otherwise stated, these documents must be issued in the UK, Channel Islands,
or Isle of Man.
• Birth certificate
• Marriage or civil partnership certificate
• Adoption certificate
• Firearms certificate (granted under the Firearms Act 1968)
• Paper driving licence (not photocard)
• Record of a bail decision (issued in England or Wales)
• Driving licence with photo (not issued in UK, Channel Islands or Isle of Man) which must be valid for at least 12 months from the date the applicant entered the UK
Supporting documents list B:
• Bank or building society statement, or account confirmation letter
• Utility bill
• Credit card statement
• Benefits (or benefits entitlement) statement
• Mortgage statement
• P45 or P60 form
• Pension statement
• Council tax statement, or demand letter
12th December 2022
A burst water main has caused havoc with gas supplies in Stannington and the surrounding area. Because of it, December 2022 has seen unparalleled scenes in Stannington - homes without gas, homes without heat, homes without the wherewithal even to cook. Whilst work to put matters right continues, Stannington people are doing all they can to ward off the cold.
At Stannington Library, we want to create a record of the events of the last few days and the days still to come so that, in the future, people can read how the community coped in these testing times.
We want the full story of how people coped, how bad it felt, how good or otherwise was the information you received, how much help you received.
We want pictures, photographs, videos, even drawings and paintings if you or perhaps your children have them.
It’s a story with real tension, real drama, and real examples of self-sacrifice. It’s a story that Stannington Library wants to tell.
What emerges will depend on what we receive. It may simply become a dedicated page on the library’s website. It may be enough to create a written record to be kept in the library. There may even be enough material for a printed booklet. We will not know until you send it.
Whatever you have, email it to library.stannington@gmail.com or, if you prefer, deliver it by hand to the library (Uppergate Road, S6 6BX). We can’t promise to include everything, but we will try to produce something that honours the courage of everyone involved, something future generations refer to and learn how the people of 2022 dealt with a situation no-one ever expected.
Thank you.
Stannington Library
Pat Chapman, treasurer of STAND, the charity that manages Stannington Library, attended Bradfield Parish Council’s offices at the end of November to collect a £2,000 cheque from council chairman Cllr Vickie Priestley. These funds will be used to buy new books that will help keep the library’s shelves fresh and up to date.
Bradfield Parish Council has supported the work of volunteers at Stannington Library since they first assumed responsibility for managing the facility in 2014. The relationship is an important one as Pat explains. “Donations such as this latest one from Bradfield Parish Council are a huge help in keeping Stannington Library open and serving our community in the way that we want it to."
“We still receive a large amount of support from Sheffield City Council, but not enough for us to be able to run the library in the way we know it ought to be run. A great deal of volunteer time is therefore spent on fund-raising, and significant donations such as this one gives us a real boost."
“Any library needs to keep adding new books to its shelves, titles from new authors and from old favourites as well, so that readers can always find something they want to read when they visit. This is especially true in our children’s section which this grant will support.”
Books added recently to Stannington’s children’s collection include Julia Donaldson’s ‘The Baddies’, Diary of a Wimpy Kid ‘Diper Overlode’ and Jacqueline Wilson’s ‘Operation Fairy’. Click here to browse all the brand new Latest Additions to our Yellow Sticker Collection.
As well as a children’s collection, the library also boasts wide and expanding crime, thriller and family saga sections, and a host of other books.
Stannington Library is on Uppergate in Stannington, immediately next to a bus stop served by routes 62 and 81. It is open on four days in the week – Monday 1.30-7.00 pm, Wednesday 10.00 am-12.30 pm and 1.30-6.00 pm, Friday 1.30-7.00 pm and Saturday 9.30 am012.30 pm.
Since 2015, and with the obvious exception of 2020, either late September or early October has seen Stannington Library volunteers deliver an event to mark the anniversary of volunteers assuming management responsibility for the library.
From the humblest of beginnings in 2015, the festival had built to a multi-day event in 2019, when the highlight was without doubt the spectacular music and fire-dance performance by Mister Fox. Those who saw it have still not forgotten it
After an enforced gap in 2020, the festival returned last year and celebrated Stonehenge, the Storrs Henge installation in the Stoneface Woodland Gallery and various cardboard-box structures on the theme Stannhenge.
“It was great to be back last year, even in such a small way,” said volunteer Bob Mynors. “This year though we are able to up our game a little thanks to the financial support we are receiving every time one of our supporters buys from the Coop and scans a Coop membership card. And there is still time for people to choose STAND, the library management charity, to be the organisation that benefits from those purchases."
2022’s event is receiving funding from the Coop’s Local Community Fund, and its theme is ‘trees’ with stories selected specifically to reflect that theme. Performers at the event will include the ever-popular Carmel Page who is not yet revealing the stories she will perform, whilst Hallam89 Theatre Club, also experienced story festival hands, will bring their interpretation of the Roald Dahl classic Fantastic Mr Fox to the show
Other attractions on the day include The Sawheads, a folk trio featuring not one but two musical saws and, all the way from Wantley Wood, the mighty dragon Hal of Hallamshire, How appropriate these last two acts will be in a festival themed round trees remains to be seen, but organisers have every confidence.
The whole event starts at 1.00 pm on Saturday 1st October, and runs till 5.00 pm.