
High Green

High Green is the northernmost suburb of Sheffield, England, located about 8 miles from the city centre. It is found to the north of Chapeltown and is served by a number of buses; the nearest rail station is in Chapeltown 1 mile away. The suburb falls within the West Ecclesfield ward of the city Council.
High Green has expanded rapidly to fill its green belt limits within the last 20 years, now merging building-wise with Chapeltown. The scenery of the Wharncliffe Crags is not far from High Green, and Westwood Country Park is within easy reach. The dam set in the country park is a favourite place for fishermen, runners, walkers and local children. The older, council-owned houses were part refurbished about 10 years ago, and later modernised to the council decent homes programme.
The centre of High Green has a Post Office that has recently moved to the local shop, a local pub, a dentist, two doctors' practices and a few shops along the main street, Wortley Road. High Green has 5 primary schools: 4 mainstream schools (Angram Bank Primary, High Green Primary, Greengate Lane Primary and St. Mary's Primary) and 1 non-maintained special school, Paces School formerly High Green Secondary, for both primary and secondary age children. High Green does not have a mainstream secondary school; pupils instead usually go to Ecclesfield School, approximately 2 miles away in the Ecclesfield suburb. Other mainstream secondary schools that children in the area commonly got to are Stocksbridge or Notre Dame.
Since 1997, High Green has been the home of Paces, a registered charity managing services for children and young people with cerebral palsy and their families, including Paces School which uses the Conductive education approach. The school is at the heart of Paces Campus, a regular local community centre that offers a range of child-care, IT, training, sports, arts and health activities open to all. Paces Campus is an inclusive community centre and business hub which specialises in enterprise development, children, disabilities, sports and arts.
The Campus serves the local communities of Chapeltown, High Green and the wider north Sheffield, south Barnsley and north-west Rotherham areas. People come here to meet others, play sport and other leisure activities, learn and to do business. The Campus offers a range of activities from childcare, after school clubs, art sessions, sports centre groups, computer sales and recycling, training including ICT and micro business incubation. It also houses a specialist resource for children with disabilities (A non maintained special school for children with physical and sensory disabilities registered with the Department for Children, Schools and Families) and programmes for adults with disabilities.
High Green has two main estates based around their equally named parks. Mortomley Park and Angram Bank Recreation Park. Mortomley has a Tenant & Resident Association that is based within Newgate Close Sheltered Housing. Angram Bank also has its own group; Angram Bank Community Development, based within the Angram Bank Pavilion running a weekly Youth Club and Lunch Club. Also within the Pavilion is a Mother & Toddler group that runs each Thursday morning. There was a church group that has since failed after the leader left through ill health. As one of the poorest estates in the country Angram Bank has some dedicated volunteers trying to improve the lives of the community.
The popular band Arctic Monkeys comes from High Green. Their frontman Alex Turner usually presents the band in concert saying, "We are the Arctic Monkeys from High Green, Sheffield!" Their song "Red Light Indicates Doors Are Secured" includes the lyrics, "I said, it's High Green, mate / Via Hillsborough, please!" At the end of another song, "All My Own Stunts," Matt Helders shouts "Because I'm from High Green, I'm from High Green!" The band's drumhead features the numbers 0114, the dialing code for Sheffield.
High Green hit the national headlines over Christmas 2012 when the organist at St. Saviour's parish church was murdered on his way to midnight communion on Christmas Eve. Two men were later convicted and jailed for the attack, and more recently when the Parish Priest at St Mary's Church received a letter threatening to petrol bomb services and stab congregation members one by one.