Welcome

Pictures of Sheffield Old and New started life as a Facebook group in 2007, created by Hedley Bishop with the idea of documenting the historical and architechtural changes of his hometown in South Yorkshire, England.

Within a year the group had gained 1,500 members from the local area and further afield from as far as Australia and New Zealand. Moving into 2011, the group has added over 12,000 photos including archive material from people's own family albums and amateur and professional photographers collections.

"It is important for people to see how their city was in past years," says Hedley. "I encourage people to share pictures of Sheffield as it is now, too. The city has changed a lot in the last decade and I believe the photos we take now will be of interest to future generations. The group grew surprisingly fast and it was good to find others who shared my passion."

Since the initial success of the group, Hedley and fellow Facebook group member Jim Lambert approached the Sheffield City Council who are supported the group's first historical exhibition at the Castle Market Art Space in Sheffield, which opened on the 25th January 2010 and ran for an extended period of 10 weeks.

Following on from the well attended Castle Market display the group have moved on to exhibit their work at the Cambridge Street Showcase, the Northern General Clock Tower Art Gallery, the Winter Gardens, The Riverside, the Dog & Partridge where there is an ongoing display and most recently, the old B&C Co-Op building on Castle Street.

In April 2011, the group filmed a feature for BBC Look North Yorkshire, which went to air on 14/04/11, about the use of social media and Facebook in society today. One thing is certain, when Hedley started the Facebook group one Saturday afternoon, he never imagined it would become so popular.

We always welcome contributors to the group, you don't have to be a proffessional photographer as we welcome all photographs. To find out more about how to get involved you can write to us on the contact page and take a look at our gallery page.

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