Woodseats Scouts Venture Unit

Woodseats Venture Unit after their St Georges day performance of 'The Good Samaritan'.

A Right Royal Street Party

Sheffield residents have come down with Royal wedding fever as over 31 street parties are reportedly going to take place.

A right royal knees up on  Cardoness Rd, Sheffield

The 29th April is an official holiday and so the streets of Sheffield will be filled with people who have the day off work.

Sheffield City Council has already had 31 applications for street closures and they are expecting to get a few more before the big day.

Royal Wedding activities include a party at Spa Sensations day centre on Spa Lane, Woodhouse.  A party on Devonshire Street on the edge of the city centre.  Residents across Sheffield are also expected to hold their own street parties.

Julie Freeman of Woodseats, Sheffield said; "I am not having a party myself but my neighbour two doors down are having a barbeque and they have invited everyone on the street.  I will be going with my husband."

The Devonshire street party has been organised as a part of Sensoria music and film festival and will run alongside the new Devonshire market which will have around 70 stalls.

Sarah Nulty, co-founder of Tramlines and market organiser said; “With the market we are aiming to recapture some of the Tramlines vibe. When we heard Sensoria were already planning a street party on the bank holiday it seemed like the perfect fit.”

There will be a bar as well as food stalls as the green has got a license for the day. 

The event will run from noon until 8pm on April 29^th.

Graves Park Faces Budget Cuts

The entrance to Graves Park

Graves Park in Woodseats, Sheffield faces budget cuts as the Government tries to cut down on spending.

Graves Park is Sheffield's largest park and the cuts are bound to have a serious impact on its facilities and maintenance. The Council have produced a report which acknowledges that Sheffield's residents are currently more satisfied with their parks then the residents of any other major town or city. 

The proposed cuts will include:

Reducing management costs and maintenance budgets for parks and playgrounds.

Charging for car parking at Graves Park.

Increasing the charges for the hire of facilities in the park.

Reducing the money provided to voluntary organisations to help improve the city's greens and open spaces.

Reducing the number of rangers and community foresters, which will lead to a reduction in community activities such as: tree planting, youth engagement, supporting volunteers and events and activities in the park.

There will also be cuts to Activity Sheffield who run activities in the park.

The Aiming High for Disabled Children programme that has paid for the new accessible playground will also end.

These cuts will not just affect Graves Park; they will affect parks across Sheffield.

Woodseats resident and frequent visitor to Graves Park, Alan Cox said: "I think the cuts are disgusting.  We love the park as it is and we don’t want it to change."

The Council have stated that they will continue to work with 'Friends of' groups to see what they will be able to do with the resources available.  By focusing on the basics and working with Sheffield people, they hope to achieve a lot.

University Shut Down During National Strike

Protesters in London making a stand against education cuts

Lecturers at Sheffield Hallam University went on strike today in an attempt to make their pensions more secure.

The strike took place across Sheffield city centre and involved students and lecturers from Sheffield University as well as those from Hallam.  Throughout the day, petitions were signed and protests were held.  So many people made a stand against education cuts and pension rises that by lunch time, two of Hallam's buildings were shut down completely.

When walking through the university, there was an eerie silence.  The normal routes through the campus were empty compared to a normal day where you cannot walk straight through without having to move out of people's way.  Instead of walking past hundreds of people I walked past just 5 and they did not seem very eager to study.

Although the strike focused on the lecturer's pensions on the day, press releases and leaflets given out throughout the previous week focused on the government's proposed increase in tuition fees and cuts in education fees such as EMA.  This led to a mass protest involving both students and lecturers.

Not every teacher's pension was under threat as it is only the University and College Union that is proposing change.  The Government is contemplating major cuts to the value of the Teacher's Pension Scheme as well as increasing employee contributions.  This means that teachers will be paying more money into the scheme and getting less out of it.

In 2010 the UCU began to try to reach a national agreement concerning job security.  In both further education (FE) and higher education (HE) there were disputes over pay as FE were offered an increase of 0.2% and HE were offered 0.4%.

Sheffield Hallam lecturer Alan Patterson, said: "We need to make the university aware how disconcerted we are.  We have already had a review but they are still asking for more money.  It is just not good enough."

Fellow lecturer Dr David Clarke, said: "There is no justification for it.  I worked as a freelance journalist for 20 years with no pension.  I expected teaching to have more security."

As a part of its programme cuts, the government is demanding cuts of up to £852 million from the Teachers Pension Scheme.  They propose to increase the average payment for around £100 a month.  Lecturers will also be expected to work longer as the retirement age will be moved up to 65.  They plan on changing how they measure the inflation on pensions which could lead to a loss for FE £36,000 and for HE £65,000 over the course of their retirement.

No if's, no buts, no education cuts

Although a lot of people turned up to help with the protest, there is another side to the story.  Whilst all the lecturers were outside, university students were missing their lectures.  Whilst some students enjoyed the thought of having a day off, others were getting nervous as deadlines were getting ever closer.

Laura Griffiths, a Hallam student taking Communications, said: "I travelled all the way to Sheffield from Nottingham only to find that my lecture has been cancelled.  I needed to talk to my lecturer about an assignment which is due in soon.  I'm not happy about this I think they are being a bit selfish."

Executive Assistant to the Pro Vice Chancellor, Michelle Elliot said when asked about university lecturers on strike. "I can see that they have a point of view.  I think they should think of students and how it affects their university experience." She went on to say that she could see no positive outcome from the strike as the lecturers need to get their message through to the government or their university scheme specifically. 

Protesting outside the door of the university would not accomplish anything as there was no one within the university who could do anything about it.  "At the end of the day it is important to have job security but are they damaging the universities reputation in order to get their point across?"

Technical Services Operator Philip Slingsby, said: "I am aware of the strike and why they are doing it.  What people don’t see is that people like us have to make cuts all the time.  We have to always do what is best for the students but the lecturers don’t see this side of things.  The strike is totally misplaced.  A much more effective way of making their point would be to travel to London on Saturday. I personally think they have thrown in tuition fees to get people on side."

On Saturday 26^th March the Trades Union Congress is holding a national demonstration in London.  This will be a march for the alternative: jobs, growth, justice, focusing on the opposition of Government spending cuts.  Young people, students, workers, service users and pensioners are expected to attend.

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT EDUCATION CUTS AND STRIKES TO IMPROVE EDUCATION IN THE FUTURE?

Sheffield United are relegated making Sheffield a city on the move once again…

Sheffield United after yesterday's relegation

In the 1970s, Sheffield City Council commissioned a video called ‘City on the Move’, four decades on the footballing city is on the move once again.

This promotional video was intended to promote Sheffield as the steel city of tomorrow; vibrant, lively and full of promise. However yesterday, the scenes of Sheffield United’s relegation could not have been further from those of the 1970s.

The camera hovers over Bramall Lane whilst the team gains it’s promotion to the old first division in front of packed crowds after a season of playing impressive football. Yesterday’s scenes, however, showed Sheffield United being relegated after a 2-2 home draw with Barnsley in front of a crowd which has depleted by a 1/3 since their premiership departure in 2007.

Before yesterday, their fate had all but been decided for them anyway, relying merely on other teams results going in their favour. However after all they could muster was a draw at home, they were put out of their misery after a disappointing season.

Following the relegation of Sheffield Wednesday to league 1 last season, England’s sixth biggest city does not have a team in the top two tiers since 1980.

Despite pre-season hopes of a play-off place, United have been in a relegation battle for much of the season, and their relegation represents a major fall from grace for United who were playing in the Premier League four seasons ago and reached the play-off final at Wembley in 2009.

Unlike the usual cycle relegated teams go through because of promotion, overspend and then relegation- this was not the case for Sheffield United. Instead, a competitive division coupled with subsequent under-investment and a plague of injuries has caused stagnation in the team.

Micky Adams' future is uncertain

Off-field instability hasn’t helped either. Former manager Kevin Blackwell departed in August and his replacement, Gary Speed, lasted four months before transferring to the Wales job; then after John Carver acted as caretaker manager Micky Adams was hired from Port Vale.

“Up until last year, I’d had three managers in seven years,” says captain Nick Montgomery to The Telegraph, who has spent his entire career at Bramall Lane. “To have four in one season is just ridiculous.”

“Sheffield United’s been a selling club. Financially, the club’s not the power of eight years ago. Getting relegated from the Premier League was a massive blow.”

However it’s the speed of the decline that has shocked him. “I never for a second thought we’d be where we are now,” he says.

“I’m devastated we’re even close. But a lot of teams in the division have gambled on their futures by spending so much money. For the rest of us, it’s a real scrap.”

United have become a selling club in recent years with the departure of locally sourced players such as Phil Jagielka, Kyle Walker, Kyle Naughton and Michael Tongue and quite simply the players left over were not good enough.

In stark contrast Sheffield United’s youth academy team will play Manchester United in the final of the FA Youth Cup next month. It is this youth squad that United hope can pull them out of League 1 and restore the fan’s faith in the team.

However, higher league clubs could poach their promising youth payers and stronger squad members and plunge United in to a downward spiral.

A disappointed fan looks on

 Sheffield United fan, Chris Horner from York, says he is disappointed with his team. “At the start of the season, on paper, we had one of the strongest teams in the Championship. To see the team I have supported since being a child relegated is frustrating. The club has just been too unsettled this season and it’s shown through injury and lack of goals being scored.”

Chief executive Trevor Birch spoke to The Telegraph: "The club has to hold its hands up and acknowledge that we got it wrong,"

"We apologise to the fans that have so steadfastly stood by the club. They deserve success and we will work like hell to build a solid foundation on which we can base a team capable of not only promotion back to the Championship, but also the Premier League.

"Even though we have run with a higher average wage bill for players since relegation, we have made mistakes and ultimately the board has to accept responsibility."

So now the question remains- will Sheffield remain a city on the move, in footballing terms anyway, and in which direction will this be?