Climbing for All Sheffield is a registered charity that runs sessions for children, young people and adults with disabilities so that they can enjoy climbing and be visible and included in the climbing community.
Our sessions are mainly run at The Foundry Climbing Centre in Sheffield. We try to run them throughout the year, with some during the week in the daytime and evening, and some at the weekend.
We welcome people of any age and level of experience in climbing, and are able to tailor sessions to the needs of our climbers. We want to remove some of the barriers that exist to participating in climbing, whether these relate to disabilities and health conditions, resources, age or perception. We work with everyone from young children who have never climbed before and their parents who have no idea about climbing, to people who have previously climbed and now want to do so in a different set of circumstances, and people who participate in paraclimbing and other sports at high levels.
Climbing for All Sheffield was registered with the UK Charity Commission on 3rd May 2016, Charity Register Number 1166860. You can find our charity registration on the Charity Commission portal.
Our story
The story starts in 2013, when a 14-year-old girl decided that she wanted to climb. Some were doubtful, wondering: is it really possible to climb as a wheelchair user who needs a ventilator to help you breathe? The answer is YES! One thing led to another, and two or three other interested climbers also had a go. Soon we had some school groups climbing; we ran those sessions with Foundry instructors, who grew in their ability to support differently able groups, and with founding instructor Nick.
By 2016 we wanted to set up a sustainable climbing club so that more people could try climbing – a sociable club, where disabled children, young people and adults could enjoy climbing and be part of the climbing community. We met people from other centres, and ran a ‘Climbing for All’ workshop for instructors and volunteers. We applied for charitable status, and we raised some money. People gave us kit, and added their enthusiasm to ours.
Eight years on and we have a well-established group of climbers. A few have climbed with us since 2016, while others have joined in more recent years. Apart from a 14-month break in 2020 due to COVID-19, we’ve run sessions every year. We had a bit of a relaunch following a period in late 2023 when we decided to pause, take stock and think about how we could up our game. Our sessions are now more grouped so that climbers get more of “what matters to them” out of sessions, and we have broader involvement in session management from a core team of volunteers.
How we do what we do
Our wonderful set of volunteers make all of this climbing possible, and everyone who is involved in the charity does so on a voluntary basis. Fundraising events and donations from like-minded organisations and well-wishers help keep us afloat, while climbers make a suggested contribution towards costs on a “Pay As You Feel” basis (we never want finance to be a barrier to anyone). We pay Foundry instructors to oversee sessions, and have helped the Foundry to develop instructor experience in assisting differently able groups. We also help groups and individuals to become independent outside of our sessions. More recently, we have begun working towards formalising our programme of volunteer development. All of this is part of working towards making disabled climbers visible and included in the climbing community. We’re proud of what we’ve achieved!
Our News and Events page has recent updates about our sessions and goings on. Or Contact Us us if you want to climb or you’d like to volunteer or talk about ‘Climbing for All’ initiatives or other topics of interest.
Or check out our Facebook page.
Climbing For All Sheffield 