Peile House Partners with iceSheffield

Homeless women’s shelter Peile House partners with local leisure provider iceSheffield to give new experiences to young women.

This summer, residents from Peile House, Sheffield, were treated to an experience-day at iceSheffield, thanks to the generosity of local leisure provider Sheffield City Trust and iceSheffield Coach and Team GB British Figure Skater, Nina Povey.

Peile House is one of three YWCA Yorkshire projects supporting 250 young women, children and families to create better futures in South Yorkshire.  When the call came for Sheffield businesses to help Peile House give residents new and fun experiences this summer, iceSheffield Programme Manager Ryan Ruddiforth was quick to respond.

Peile House, in North Sheffield, is home to 14 women aged 16-25. It is a safe space for young women and their babies to live, access trauma-informed support and develop skills to help them move on into their own tenancies. Women living at Peile House often don’t have the wrap-around support of family and friends and the charity YWCA Yorkshire works with local partners to empower people with compassionate and expert support, building life skills and confidence. Collaborating with leisure providers to deliver experiences and grow aspirations is one of the ways that the charity supports women to build better futures.

For one 19-year-old young person, this was a brand new experience. They explain; “I've never done something like this before. I couldn't even walk in the skates when I first put them on. By the end of the session, I was skating without holding onto anything. It was brilliant.”

Seventeen-year-old Renaz and 17-year-old Ella had both skated previously and embraced the extra lesson from professional figure skater Nina Povey; learning new tricks and supporting each other, and the rest of the class, to push outside their comfort zones.

Nina Povey moved to Sheffield in 2017 and has been coaching at iceSheffield for the last four years. Nina started skating aged just nine, and is the current national champion representing Great Britain in competitions and training for the 2026 winter Olympic qualifiers. Nina explained why she was keen to support Peile House: “Many people take experiences like ice skating for granted. It is something we do as children, with our parents or our friends. For too many young women, access to the facilities and the joy of this sport is out of reach - either financially, or because of other complexities. When I heard that the charity wanted to do something special for the women that live at Peile House, I jumped at the chance to get involved. It was incredible to meet women overcoming such difficulties and spend time together having fun, bonding and learning new skills.”

Ryan Ruddiforth, Programme Manager at iceSheffield, praised the work of Peile House: "Supporting Peile House has been truly fulfilling. It's inspiring to see the impact these experiences have on the residents. Peile House does incredible work, and we're proud to contribute to their mission of bringing joy and new opportunities to the young women they support."

The iceSheffield partnership was organised by University of Sheffield graduate, Marina Farhan, during a recent Partnerships and Fundraising Internship with YWCA Yorkshire.

Claire Harding, YWCA Yorkshire Project Manager, said: “This was a really special day. It was incredible to see how people's confidence grew over the course of the ice skating session. As well as it being a brand new experience for some, this was an opportunity for all to be care-free and have fun with friends - too many young women at Peile House have not had that in their lives.  I'm so proud of the women that attended and I'm incredibly grateful to Ryan, Nina and Marina for supporting us in this way.”

If you are a business that can support Peile House to provide fun, educational and social experiences for young homeless women and their children in Sheffield, please contact mandy.bond@ywcayorkshire.org.uk