Building Stories

Robin Hughes is taking the stage at Showroom Cinema on Tuesday 2 March, with a talk called Building Stories that looks at the narratives tucked away inside the buildings we walk past every day. It's presented by the SY Victorian Society, and the whole thing runs from 7:30pm to 9:00pm.

If you've ever looked at an old building and wondered who lived there or what it used to be, that's exactly where this starts. Hughes talks about the stories embedded in the built environment and the challenge of actually digging them out. He doesn't just stick to the theory, either; he takes you along on a few specific journeys through the city. There's a pub with no beer, heavenly voices in a churchyard, missionaries and moneymen in Mayfield, and a yarn about a cotton mill in Kelham. It's a good way of seeing how a single building can hold a whole history if you know where to look.

Robin Hughes himself is a Sheffield born-and-bred, born here in the 1960s. He spent his career in IT and is now retired, and in that time he's become increasingly concerned about the loss of heritage, particularly historic buildings. He's a trustee of Hallamshire Historic Buildings and Joined Up Heritage Sheffield, and he spends his time campaigning for a more positive attitude towards heritage and researching the stories that give the historic environment its meaning. Outside of all that, he's also a singer, a pianist and an occasional composer.

Tickets are £6.13, and the talk runs from 7:30pm to 9:00pm at Showroom Cinema on Paternoster Row, Sheffield S1 2BX.