Moving

ECUS has been comfortably ensconced in Endcliffe Holt as long as I’ve been there. It’s a lovely old building owned by the University of Sheffield and leased to us. Someone told me that it used to be the Master Cutler’s house. It must have been very grand in it’s time. Not so much now. It’s looking very tired and most of the land that must once have surrounded it has had student accommodation built on it, leaving a small amount of green where we have built a pond to attract wildlife. It could be made really lovely again but a huge amount of money would have to be spent on it.

We’re all torn about this move. When we go I won’t miss the poor insulation leading to nasty chills in the winter, the antiquated heating system leading to nasty chills in the winter or the freezing loos and kitchen. I will bid a happy farewell to the nasty chills. I will, though, miss the beautiful high ceilings (in the summer), the ability to push up the sash windows to the top and welcome in the honeyed scent of the enormous Buddleia (in the summer), the magnificent views over the valley to my house, the tremendous old trees surrounding the place and the fabulous birds you can see flitting around the place; owls, nuthatches, long tailed tits etc. I will also miss being able to walk to work in 20 minutes. And the rich diversity of charity shops, and eateries, and the York, in Broomhill.

The new place is, I understand, pretty much under the M1 at Meadowhall. There are many good things to say about it. It will be much easier for our training delegates to get to, being just off the M1 but also within 5 minutes walk of the Meadowhall interchange where there are buses, trains and the Supertram. It’s well insulated, we will be open plan so our little enclaves will open up to a wider social interaction and it backs on to the Transpennine Trail with Concord Park on the far side of the railway line. It’s amazing how much green there is around this formerly industrial area. I looked it up on Walkit.com which says it’s 7.4 miles, door to door and would take me 1 hour 59 minutes to walk if I walked fast. I’m undecided about how best to get there. If I go by public transport it is two buses or a bus and a tram or a bus and a train. And quite a lot of time. I’m thinking it might be worth investigating biking to work. It would mean using the roads (scary) to get into town but following cycle routes and along canal paths going out the other side. And then, of course, there is always car share. I feel a green travel plan coming on.

In the meantime we are bidding a lingering farewell to the old place. Lingering not because we hate to break away, although that too, but because the company providing the cabling to the new building have utterly failed to get it done by the deadline set in the contract. We had an evening saying farewell to Broomhill last week and there’s probably going to be another one this Friday. We could keep this up for weeks. Our nice desks and filing cabinets have gone over to the new place so we are using old and broken desks and living out of cardboard boxes. It’s amazing how much Stuff we’ve all accumulated too. I’ve been here four years and have had to dispose of huge amounts of paper. I must learn to put it out for recycling in a timely manner instead of hoarding it.

We’ve had a lot of fun at the old place. The barbeques were awesome. The car park Tetris was interesting. But who will rescue the baby foxes that fall into the cellar from now on? Who will feed grubs to the resident robin? And will I ever walk through Endcliffe Park again? Ah well. One era draws to a close and another one opens, ripe with possibility and excitement! I’m quite looking forward to it.