Big thank you to Dukes for continuing to donate 10p from every tea / coffee sold to the Save the Rose Garden Refurbishment Fund. Since the reopening of the internal seating on August 7th 2024, 19,248 hot drinks have been sold! That is £1,924.82 donated to the restoration!

Following the public consultation last year, we invited people to meet the project architect, Chris Hill from Wainwrights and to see the latest design scheme for the cafe, costed at £2.6m. Many thanks to all those that joined us and asked questions. Click here to see the latest architectural drawings.

‘We feel that we have incorporated many of the ideas from the public consultation into the design scheme’ says Chris Hallam, Independent Chair of the Rose Garden Cafe Partnership. “The plans include repairs to the front wall, new roof covering, new windows and patio doors, the renovation of the clock tower along with improved toilets and access. ‘There will also be a new kitchen and extended exterior seating areas’. ‘Graves is Sheffield’s largest park and it’s only right that we have sought to increase access, participation and inclusion in our design scheme’. ‘The design proposals also include for increased community use and hire which was ranked the number one priority out of the consultation’, adds Chris.

‘The reaction to our plans was really positive and encouraging. We hope people liked what what we have produced and the challenge now is to secure the funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund and other sources to secure its future for the next 100 years’, concludes Chris.

The meeting was also attended by the Deputy Leader of Sheffield City Council, Cllr Fran Belbin and Richard Williams, the Chair of the council’s Charity Trusts Sub-Committee along with other local councillors.

Come and join us on Monday 10th February in the Rose Garden Cafe from 6.30pm-8.30pm to see the latest restoration and refurbishment design ideas and plans from the Rose Garden Cafe Partnership with architect Chris Hill from Wainwrights. Everyone welcome!

Huge thanks to:

Norton Players

Kindling Choir

Nether Edge Voices

The Night Chorus

for their spectacular performances. They put on such a show and it was brilliant to hear their amazing voices and sing along. Thank you for supporting us and bringing cheer to the cafe.

Thank you also to all the amazing fundraising members who shook buckets, sold raffle tickets, was our santa, manned stalls and spread the word, you're amazing.

Finally thank you to all the members of the public supporting us. We have a long way to go but hope you will stick with us, this was only one of many fundraising events. Thank you!

Thank you for thinking about Fundraising for the restoration of the Rose Garden Cafe!

To register your Fundraising event with us, please complete the application form at this link: https://forms.gle/K2JDHupEqTfhWV5PA and we will be able to send you an "Authority to Fundraise" certificate if you need to prove who you are fundraising for.

We'll also then be able to include your Event on our Fundraising Dates, promote it on our social accounts and support you in achieving your goals!

Useful Documents

Below are some documents that you may find useful to download (open in new tabs):

• A-Z of Fundraising
• Fundraising Event Risk Assessment Template

Supporting image by Glenn Sontag from Pixaby

Thanks to Carol and all the Aqua Girls team from Graves Leisure Centre, Friends of Graves Park, Save the Rose Garden Cafe Campaign and Julie and all the staff at Dukes for organising and supporting the recent Craft Stall in the Rose Garden Cafe.

Together they raised an amazing £1,227.72 towards the restoration of the cafe! What an amazing result.

And HUGE thanks to everyone who purchased an item from the stall or placed an order :)

FOGP have signed up to Easy Fundraising so that its easier than ever for you to support the restoration of the Rose Garden Cafe!
By signing up, whenever you shop online a percentage is donated to the FOGP Rose Garden campaign.

By shopping at over 4,000 registered shops and sites – including eBay, Argos, John Lewis, ASOS, Booking.com and M&S – you'll be donating and it won’t cost you a penny extra to help us raise funds.

All you need to do is:

1. Go to https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/fogravespark/?utm_campaign=raise-more and join for free.
2. Every time you shop online, go to easyfundraising first to find the site you want and start shopping.
3. After you’ve checked out, the retailer will make a donation to Friends of Graves Park at no extra cost to you whatsoever!

There are no catches or hidden charges and the Partnership will be really grateful for your donations.

On Sunday Gertie led the first of her 'Putting People of the Past into the Park' fundraising walks. Many thanks to those who attended and their donations. Listening to everyone it became incredibly clear how important the park was to people’s lives, with all sharing their fascinating memories of the park and café. The next fundraising walk is at 6pm on Tuesday 3^rd September if you would like to join then meet in front of the Rose Garden Cafe.

The reopening event was attended by hundreds of people who were queuing out of the door by 9:30 for their egg and chips, muffins coffee and cake. People were jubilant and overjoyed to see the café reopened and cleaned up with its new floor and the staff sporting their ‘Dukes on the Rose Garden’ logos. At about 10:30 am we had some speeches from Caroline Dewar the Chair Of Friends of Graves Park retracing how we got here and what the future holds.

Liz Hnat spoke about the impact of the 11,000 signatures as one of the predominant reasons for the victory and getting the café reopened and Councillor Richard Williams, Chair of the Council Charity Trustee Sub Committee who congratulated everybody on their hard work and perseverance. Richard has stood by us from the beginning and was at the early protests and lobbying. At some stage in the future, the café will have to be closed temporarily to undertake the structural work on the front wall and a new roof along with the full refurbishment which people asked for during the public consultation. Our next job is to arrive at a fundraising target based on the estimates for those works, and we’ll be asking everybody to get behind a mammoth fundraising campaign and we will be seeking individual donations, grants and support from the likes of the Heritage Lottery Fund and others.

It was nice, after nearly two years to walk into the reopened café and to really believe that we’ve been instrumental together in saving such an important part of Sheffield‘s Heritage, which people love and want to see preserved for the next 100 years.