By Richard Fidler, Editor
One of the most pleasing aspects of this year has been the renaissance of Sheffield city centre as more and more people returned to work and study.
In the dark days of January to April, when the harshest aspects of Lockdown were upon us, there was very little activity to speak of but life has slowly returned and never more so was this true than during Sheffield Hallam University’s double graduation for the classes of 2020 and 2021.
The graduation with its tag line of ‘We are the class of resilience’ could speak for us all with how we’ve had to grind our way through the past two years.
So, on my daily lunch time walks around the Cultural Industries Quarter where our unLTD and HRM headquarters are based, it was great to see the smiling faces of young people who were finally able to share with friends and family their achievements from their hard work.
I’ve long been a romantic about my home city. Being born and bred in Sheffield I’d like to think I’ve never taken it for granted.
Being heavily involved in sport I’ve always enjoyed the thought of elite sportsmen and women making the city their home with training bases at the English Institute of Sport, iceSheffield or Ponds Forge.
For every Jessica Ennis-Hill, who is a Sheffielder from birth, there is an Anthony Joshua, who resides here when training for his next world title bout.
And it’s the same with students. Thousands flock to Sheffield from all over the world and many remain here to work, put down roots and start a family. Some, like me, stay in their home city at one of the two excellent universities to further their education.
The graduation and the upcoming festivities for Christmas are two lights at the end of what has been a very weird year.
Resilience has been the name of the game for so many people. I think only in years to come will we totally understand the trauma caused by the lockdowns and various tier systems as well as mask mandates for children barely old enough to understand the reasons why.
Let 2021 end in style and may we look forward to a year where we only have to host ONE graduation!
Good luck to our Jill and Si!
unLTD has come a long way over the past four years and behind every single issue – until now – was our feature writer Jill Theobald and designer Simon Waller.
Both have been driving forces at changing the way business news, feature and comment has been presented in South Yorkshire.
This month, from page 60, Jill takes us through her favourite interviews during the previous 44 editions of this magazine. There are some great memories and you could always guarantee that the subject of Jill’s articles would be profiled as much away from their business as in it.
On a personal note I just want to thank them both for their outstanding work on unLTD and as colleagues at HRM PR & Creative. Good luck in your new ventures and we’ll try to keep our standards high on the unLTD business platforms.
