A report by MPs on the Women and Equalities Committee has called on the government to speed up the process to tackle what it described as “appalling” higher death rates in childbirth for black women and those from deprived areas. Hora Soltani, professor of maternal and infant health at Sheffield Hallam University said the report is timely and it is important the disparities are addressed. Baillor Jalloh reports for Sheffield Live!
Firth Park care home Abbey Grange is asking for donations of plants, shrubs, trees and garden tools to help their bid to enter the annual Country Court in Bloom competition. Winning the competition will mean securing extra funding for their comfort fund which provides days-out for residents. Sheffield Live! reporter Baillor Jalloh spoke to Michael Nicolls, well-being coordinator at Abbey Grange care home.
Sahira Irshad, chair of Mums United, a charity that works with parents and young people, spoke to Sheffield Live! after the recent killing of 25-year old Abdullah Hassan in Sheffield. Irshad said she is concerned that knife and gun crime is on the increase in the city. Hassan died after officers found him on Callow Drive in Gleadless Valley on 16 April. A post-mortem examination found he died from a single gunshot wound and police are treating his death as murder. Baillor Jalloh reports.
Junior doctors across South Yorkshire joined others from across England in a four day walkout over pay and conditions. The British Medical Association (BMA) is calling for junior doctors to be given a 35 per cent pay rise to make up for years of below-inflation increases. However, the government has argued the union’s pay demands are unaffordable. Sheffield Live! reporter Baillor Jalloh spoke to BMA representative Peter Jackson.
Sheffield charity Element Society has completed a successful crowdfunding to teach cost-of-living kitchen skills and provide ingredients for 1800 meal parcels. The project, started during lockdown, was originally funded to give young people the kitchen skills to cook from scratch, so they were able to help support their families with healthier food options. Sheffield Live! reporter Baillor Jalloh spoke to Element Society project advisor Shaun Davies.
A Stannington resident told Sheffield Live! she is still waiting to have her electric cooker refitted, more than three months after gas pipes were flooded following a water main burst. Mary Aston said there has been no communication or support from Yorkshire Water. More than 2000 properties in Stannington were left without gas in December 2022 following the flooding. Hundreds of domestic gas appliances such as boilers and fires were damaged by water entering the gas main, with many residents seeing water flooding out of their cookers and gas meters. Yorkshire Water said: “We’re doing everything we can to get the issues resolved for customers in Stannington. We can understand how frustrating it must be to still have a damaged gas appliance”. Baillor Jalloh reports.
A new play area and public space, Pounds’s Park, has opened on the site of the former fire station between Rockingham Street and Carver Street. Named after the city’s first chief fire officer, Superintendent John Charles Pound, the park includes two pyramid towers, slides, a climbing boulder and other play equipment. Baillor Jalloh reports for Sheffield Live!
The annual Sheffield Ceramic Festival returned to the city at the weekend with more than 50 ceramic artists, potters and sculptors exhibiting their work at Kelham Island Museum. The festival is into its eighth year and most of the profits are set to be donated to charities including De Paul, an organisation which works with homeless young people. The two day festival attracted hundreds of people from across the city. Baillor Jalloh reports for Sheffield Live!
Teachers in England are set to go on strike again later this month and in early May after the UK’s largest education union voted overwhelmingly to reject a new pay offer from the government. The National Education Union (NEU) has rejected the latest offer and described it as an “insult” to teachers. The offer, which the government has descrbed as “fair and reasonable”, consisted of a one-off payment of £1,000, a 4.3% pay rise and an increase in starting salaries to £30,000. A ballot of NEU members resulted in 98% in favour of turning the deal down. Sheffield Live! reporter Baillor Jalloh spoke to Simon Murch, joint secretary of the Sheffield branch of the NEU.
A Burngreave-based charity from Sheffield is among seven youth centres in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire that are set to share more than £15m in government grants to renovate and build youth facilities. Endeavour, a woodland activity club based in Burngreave, has been granted £1.2m to refurbished its building and to develop new projects. Sheffield Live! reporter Baillor Jalloh spoke to Edward Thatcher, chief executive of Endeavour.