Anne and Flo have become stalwarts of the Firshill estate, and the voice of the tenants and residents on Firshill over the years. When the TARA was set up in around 1997, Flo was one of the founder members after having supported the old Community Association – along with Jean Hayden and Julia Pidd. With Anne, they both became stalwarts of the tenants association – attending the area committee meetings at the Area Housing offices, asking questions, raising concerns, keeping the Housing staff on their toes and eventually becoming the official catering contractors not only for Firshill TARA but also for the Area K tenants and residents federation (AKTARA).
Anne and Flo came to live on Firshill as the first tenants in the early 1970s having both been re-housed from the Petre Street area. Before becoming tenants’ activists, Anne had worked as a conductress on the trams during the war and subsequently as a housekeeper at the old remand centre at the top of Shirecliffe Lane/corner of Shirecliffe Road. Flo on the other hand had worked at the Sheffield giants of both Bachelors, Stanley Tools and then on the Council home help service. Their collective knowledge of both the Firshill estate, the Pitsmoor area and the city as a whole will be greatly missed by the TARA – as they’ve both recently stood down from the committee – but greatly looked forward to by another vibrant local organisation – the Firshill local history group (every Wednesday at the TARA office and no-one’s ever missed a meeting in the last five years!!!)
The nomination describes Flo and Anne as “unique”; another supporter and nominator put it like this: “they’ve down a bloody good job and thoroughly deserve this award”.