Story: Sheena Clarke
Andrea Hardy, who died peacefully aged 57, on Monday 29th July, after a short but brave battle with illness, will be remembered with love and affection by many people in Sheffield.
Andrea was born in Pitsmoor, but spent most of her life on the Shiregreen estate, apart from the first years after her marriage when she lived in Broomhall. It was in Broomhall that she first became involved in community work, initially helping to run the crèche in the Broomspring Centre and then getting involved in other projects for both the under-fives and older children.
The Broomspring Centre was to become the springboard for Andrea’s involvement in community work in other areas in the city including Foxhill, Wensley Estate, Burngreave and Flower Estate. Everywhere she worked, whether in a voluntary or paid capacity, she was renowned for her dedication, hard work and willingness to put others before herself.
For the last 15 years Andrea focussed her energies on community projects in the Firth Park area. In 2000, together with her good friend Betty Smalley, she established the Firth Park Festival and was a leading light in organising the event with other members of the local community until 2010. In 1999 Andrea helped to launch the Trade Base Trust which operated from the Old Library on Firth Park Road. The building became the focal point for a wide range of community activities which included a recycling centre selling secondhand goods, adult education classes, a lunch club, parent and toddler groups, and a host of other self-help groups too numerous to mention. In 2004 Andrea’s love for gardening blossomed into the Trade Base Community Allotment Project that now bears her name, the HOPE Community Allotment or Hardy’s Organic Produce for Everyone.
From small beginnings HOPE has grown year by year and now has four plots on the High Wincobank Allotment Site on Windmill Lane, one of which has specially constructed raised beds that are suitable for people with mobility problems. At the HOPE Community Allotment local people from all parts of the community, and with diverse levels of ability and disability, work together to grow organic fruit and vegetables, caring and supporting each other and our local environment, guided by Andrea’s vision while she was with us and now following the example she set us, in fond memory of her.
If you would like more information about the HOPE Community Allotment or would like to get involved in the project, contact Sheena on 07792 605 138.