A young ballerina from one of the toughest housing estates in Leeds is about to have all her dancing dreams come true, thanks to the kindness of strangers who've pooled together to raise over £100,000 for her to go to school.
Thirteen year old Constance Bailey made headlines earlier this week after her mum, Laura, launched a crowd fundraiser on the website Go Fund Me pleading for help to cover the costs of her daughter's ballet school fees.
Constance had been accepted into The Hammond School in Chester, which is one of the country's top four ballet schools, but as her mum wrote on the crowdfunding page: "I am a single Mum in a council flat, I work full time in a low paid NHS job, I do not get maintenance from my ex husband, this is simply impossible for me to afford."
Explaining that school fees for the year totalled more than £30,000, she turned to the generosity of strangers for help, explaining that there are "no bursaries on offer and both Leeds council and my local Cllr Paul Drinkwater have told me there is no money to pay."
"The Wayne Sleep Foundation scheme for funding talented dancers to go to ballet scheme no longer exists," she added.
Constance auditioning for a place at the Northern Ballet summer school / Image: Academy of Northern Ballet
"I know it is a long shot, I know that people are very broke at the moment [...] But this is a real chance to change my child's life."
The story was covered by The Guardian on Monday, and following the paper's highlighting of the appeal thousands of readers flooded in to help cover the cost of Constance's education and board at the school - smashing the original £90,000 target out of the water.
At the time of writing, the amount raised on the page now stands at £105,169.
Sharing her immense thanks with all of those who donated, mum Laura said: “I am dumbstruck but so incredibly moved by the messages. I feel so very humbled."
“Constance hasn’t stopped smiling and grinning. She keeps saying: ‘I keep thinking I’m going to wake up and it was all a dream.’ Our emotions are overflowing. This really is beyond our wildest belief. People who have donated have changed Constance’s life forever.”
"You the great British public are incredible. We have reached our goal (plus expense of uniforms, insurance, travel and equipment etc).
"We have been on a roller coaster of emotions today and have been genuinely taken aback by the love, kindness and support people have expressed."
The funds will be used to fund three years board at the school, plus covering her yearly medical insurance and the cost of school unfiroms.
Anything leftover will be put into a new fund that mum Laura plans to start in Leeds to help other disadvantaged children go to dance school in the future.
Feature image - HANDOUT.
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Sheffield’s Peddler Market to relaunch as FREE monthly mini music festival
Peddler’s 13th year marks a bold new direction for the free monthly event.
Peddler Market began its life 12 years ago as a street food night market with a sprinkling of live music and DJs.
Now that they're synonymous with bringing some of the best street food the UK has to offer to Sheffield, the organisers are now heading in a new direction.
Peddler will now offer a five-stage monthly music festival, spread across their Kelham Island footprint - maintaining its ‘free entry’ ethos for customers.
Image: Supplied
But don't worry, food will still be a key component all whilst increasing their to platform some of the best local promoters, record shops, DJs and bands across Sheffield.
But now, they're bringing five stages to Peddler, working with some of the best up and coming and well established promoters in and across the city.
“Twelve years ago, we filled a gap that Sheffield really needed,” Jordan Roberts - owner, says. “Since then, it’s nourished this huge gastronomic change within the city. Now there’s food halls and street food everywhere, which is great because people have choice – at peddler amazing street food is a given but now you can expect much more”
Image: Supplied
"I wanted to create a labyrinth of exploration like that you find at a proper festival, tread the zones, sample the delights and find your vibe. It’s like a little mini festival,” Jordan says.
“With Tramlines and We Out Here being huge inspiration for the next gen development. There’s a car park stage, the inside main stage, a courtyard stage, the factory floor and activities happening in the basement underneath too,” Jordan explains. “Bands, DJs, the whole thing.”
Image: Supplied
“We’ve always been a street food event with two music stages,” he explains. “Now we’re excited to bring five stages, working with some of the best up and coming and well established promoters in and across the city. After more than 100 Peddler Markets where we’ve always hosted a free entry gig.
"We’ll still host our street food partners, who love seeing all the Sheffield foodies. However, the changing music line up will help you ‘save the date’ making each month even more unmissable”
The first edition of the reformatted Peddler lands on the usual first Friday and Saturday of the month on 5-6 June and promises a sprawling, multi-space experience inspired as much by classic city festivals as warehouse parties and independent culture.
Plans have been revealed for ‘Sheffield’s smallest cinema’, plus record shop and gallery space
Clementine Hall
Sheffield based curator and archivist Alex Wilson is taking over a refurbished Victorian unit down the historic Chapel Walk.
The space will be transformed into a record shop, gallery space and micro cinema dubbed 'Sheffield's Smallest Cinema'.
The space will be rooted in, and be a champion of, Sheffield/Yorkshire/Northern cultural heritage; focusing specifically on sound, moving image, design and photography.
Titled 'Memory Dance', the opening exhibition, WE'LL MISS THEM WHEN THEY'RE GONE, will reboot a popular display held on The Moor, Sheffield back in 2012.
Images: Supplied
The exhibition will explore the history of record shops in the city, from Bradleys to Virgins, and includes original 78 RPM sleeves, old and new record shop bags, related ephemera from lost Sheffield vinyl retailers, alongside prints by designer Simon Robinson responding to the imagery of these old sleeves.
They're also asking the Sheffield community to come down with anything relating to the history of Sheffield record shops and if suitable, Memory Dance can scan the items on site and hand back a digital file. Or, they can hang them in the venue for the duration of the exhibition.
The ground floor will also open its racks for the first time to a curated selection of used vinyl for sale drawn from some of the best collections the city has to offer, with a real focus on Sheffield artists and labels past/present to carry the legacy forward.
At the end of June, the walls will be refreshed for the first ever exhibition telling the amazing story of 'SHEFFIELD CABLEVISION TV (1972-76)'.
With newly printed photography from surviving staff members and crew, plus archive artefacts and merchandise, the Memory Dance micro cinema space will also be launched with an exclusive, rarely seen collection of Cablevision TV Station archive video.
Memory Dance at Chapel Walk will soft launch on 05.06.26, and you can find out more here.
Georgina Pellant -
24th August 2021 
