Community

Community

Eid Mubarak

Sheffield Live! Joined thousands of people in Millhouses Park for the EID Festival in the Park.

The cross cultural event celebrates the end of the month long festival of Ramadan, when millions of Muslims around the world go on a month long fast in which they do not eat or drink during daylight hours. MC Nige compared the main stage, with other entertainment including fun fair rides and stalls.

Sheffield Live! had its own stall with presenter Jawwad Janjua headlining both days, providing entertainment for those at the event and interviewing people who were attending the festival, including the Lord Mayor of Sheffield, Peter Rippon and Local MP Paul Bloomfield. Jawwad was joined by fellow Sheffield Live! presenters Jawaid Qazi, Shafaqat Mohammed and Wajdi Raweh.

New fire safety campaign

By Alice Rose

A fire service campaign which intends to make people aware of the danger of electrical chargers has won European backing.

The campaign was started up by South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue following a house fire in which five members of the same family sadly lost their lives.

It is thought that the fire was probably caused by a faulty charger.

Linda McAvan, MEP for Yorkshire and Humber, is backing the campaign to help stop fires, such as the one in Netheredge, from happening again.

“We are doing all that we can to reduce fires in the home at a European level. MEPS have legislated to standardise chargers for mobile devices to both reduce environmental waste and to save you money.”

The legislation was voted on by MEPS in March this year and was approved by ministers in April.

South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue’s Station Manager Darren Perrott, said:“Most people probably have several electrical chargers lying around at home at any given time, but all we’re asking for is a little bit of common sense when charging them.” Mr Perrot continued “What we’re particularly concerned about is unbranded chargers which can be bought cheaply over the internet. You should only buy chargers which are compatible with the device you are charging, and never leave things charging overnight.”

World-famous actors in “stories to make your heart beat faster”

Leave a comment

Chatsworth House hosts series of short stories read by world famous actors

 Word Theatre will be presenting performances of short stories, read by some of the most famous actors of our time, in the stunning surroundings of Chatsworth House this Saturday 5th July, from 6pm to 9pm.

Performances will include:

  • Simon Shepherd (known as Will from Peak Practice)
  • Brenda Strong (known as Mary Alice from Desperate Housewives and Ann Ewing from Dallas)
  • Lesley Nicol (known as Mrs Patmore from Downton Abbey)
  • Ben Miller (Death in Paradise)
  • John Shwab (Zero Dark Thirty)

The evening has been directed by Kirsty Peart and Cedering Fox – one of the most recognised voices on American television and the “Voice of the Oscars.”

More information and tickets (£25) here.

108 holes of golf – all in aid of Support Dogs

Leave a comment

Support_dogsThree clubs, six courses, 108 holes of golf… this Friday (20 June) Mercury Taxis’ Dermot Griffiths and Peter Holmes will attempt a “Golfathon” – aiming to play 18 holes of golf at six different golf courses in and around the Sheffield area.

And it’s not just for fun – they’re raising money for Support Dogs, a national charity dedicated to increasing independence and improving the quality of life for children and adults affected by autism, epilepsy and physical disability.

Starting out at 4.45am in the morning at Abbeydale Golf Club and finishing (hopefully) at around 10pm in the evening up at Tankersley Park Golf Club, Dermotand Peter will be undertaking their ‘Golfathon’ with the aid of just three golf clubs each.

During the day Dermot and Peter will also be playing at Dore and Totley Golf Club, Beauchief Golf Club, Tinsley Park and Hillsborough Golf Clubs as part of the challenge.

Peter told Sheffield Live:

“If you’d like to make a donation it’s very easy – you can either visit our Just Giving page, or alternatively you can donate via a simple text message from your mobile phone as follows – send a text with our personalised code – HOLE50, followed by the amount you wish to donate – ie £1 to 70070.

“All monies that are raised will be donated to what we consider is one of Sheffield’s best charities ‘Support Dogs’. Please try and help us by supporting our cause, we will be very grateful.”

What next?

Dementia Awareness Week

1 Comment

Don’t bottle it up: Dementia Awareness Week

By Samuel Newton

This week marks the now annual Dementia Awareness Week, a nationwide campaign fronted by the care charity Alzheimer’s Society, aimed at generating a more thorough understanding of dementia amongst the general public. Under the slogan Don’t bottle it up, the charity is encouraging people to speak to them should they have any worries or reservations that either they or someone close to them may be suffering from dementia.

Dementia, an umbrella term which describes a set of symptoms that may include memory loss and difficulties with thinking, is catalysed when the brain is damaged by diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease or a series of strokes. There are currently estimated to be 670,000 sufferers of dementia living in the United Kingdom, while Sheffield is currently home to a figure just in excess of 6,500. Providing quality care to the people suffering from the syndrome, as well as those undiagnosed, is of high importance to Sheffield’s National Health Service.

“The provision of high quality care and support for people with dementia and their carers is a top priority for NHS Sheffield” said Dr Steve Thomas, GP and NHS Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) Mental Health, Learning Disabilities and Dementia Portfolio clinical lead.

This care provision offered in Sheffield has recently been highlighted and celebrated in a report produced by NHS England, published in correspondence with Dementia Awareness Week, entitled Dementia Diagnosis and Care in England: Learning from Clinical Commissioning Groups. Within the report, Sheffield was earmarked for the high standard of its dementia training programmes across all care providers including general practitioners, care home staff and the council. Furthermore, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust was also commended for its endeavours to ensure all new staff within a dementia-relevant role receive the training necessary to fully understand the condition and its side effects.

As well as those directly suffering from dementia, there are also new streams of support for those who may be caring for someone with dementia, such as the newly launched DementiaCarer.net website, a project jointly funded by both Sheffield City Council and NHS.

“DementiaCarer.net has been designed specifically for carers by carers, with support from ourselves and other project partners”, said Kath Horner, Health Improvement Principal from Sheffield City Council. “It provides practical tips and advice with videos of carers talking about how they cope with everyday tasks such as washing and dressing the person they care for. The carer clips also include useful tips and advice about how to stay positive, active and well – all of which is vital for people providing such important care.”

Dementia Awareness Week, which kicked off last Sunday, runs until Saturday 24th May. Detailed information regarding dementia, its symptoms and side effects can be found on the Sheffield City Council website and NHS webpages.

Lyceum lit by a ray of sunshine – “Morecambe” review

Leave a comment

What a treat it was to see Bob Golding’s portrayal of one half of the duo Morecambe and Wise who became the Nation’s favourite funnymen in a partnership lasting some 43 years, write Sheffield Live!’s Paul Gregory and Kevin Resley.

A one man show forged in the West End and brought to Sheffield for an all too brief visit, well suited to the Lyceum stage, it showed the development of Eric Morecambe from a “lanky-shire” lad to comedy genius.

Brilliantly written by Tim Withnall, Directed by Paul Hendy and produced by Gary Morecambe, the one-man show incorporated Ernie Wise “Little Ern” by way of clever use of a puppet. So well integrated as the diminutive straight man it was easy to accept and contributed much to the performance.

Touching on his mother’s guidance and support, it charts the beginning and end of the partnership through war, setbacks and the vagaries of showbiz to the heights of a career where over 28 million watched their Christmas special.

Touching, funny, engaging and totally believable as Eric, Bob Golding had the audience singing the pair’s theme tune “Bring me Sunshine.”

Fantastic and you couldn’t see the join. Pure sunshine from start to finish!

What next?

  • Morecambe is also on this evening (Weds 9 April) – details and tickets
  • Paul also reviewed Morecambe during today’s Communities Live show (every weekday, noon to 1pm)

Listeners have their say in Sheffield Live! survey

“I’m proud to live in a city that has Sheffield Live! as one of its home-grown radio stations. It is a wonderfully diverse and interesting service with something for everyone.”

Wow! We’re very appreciative of these wonderful words from Sheffield Live! Listeners. The comment above was one of many received in our recent Listener Survey, which we created and ran from December to mid-January to ask listeners specific questions about Sheffield Live! – and give them the opportunity to influence some future programmes.

And we’re really grateful to those of you who completed the survey. We’ve been looking at all of your comments, feedback, suggestions and requests – and we’re looking forward to using your input to help make our output even better.

We promoted the survey on air in mentions across our programmes (our weekly listener figures are about 35,000 – 40,000 adults); online on our website and to our 3000+ twitter followers and 1600+ facebook fans; and respondents had the opportunity to win one of many prizes kindly donated by local businesses (huge thanks to these businesses too, and we know how happy you have made the winners!)

What else did listeners tell us?

Listeners love the “wide range of shows” on Sheffield Live!; presenters’ passion for their music; our diversity and variety of programming; “Interesting programmes, presenters you can relate to”;  our inclusivity; “Eclectic mix of stuff I wouldn’t hear on other radio stations”; “The freshness and the variety.”

Our listeners access the station through FM (about 60%), our internet livestream (about 40%), and podcasts (about 30% of listeners use the podcasts); they do so from home (over 60%), work (over 20%) and in the car (over 60%).

But who are they? Well, they’re varied in age:

Where are they?

How long have they been listening?

As far as preferences for types of show are concerned, we’ve got a schedule that most listeners love; in fact the eclectic and varied schedule was very well commented on.

We asked listeners about our coverage of many genres of music, as well as other programming (eg shows dedicated to mainstream and non mainstream sport, LGBT issues, arts, non-English language shows, film reviews, business, and more). For most of these categories of music and types of programming, most listeners think we have things about right.  And there are really no areas of programming in which a significant number of listeners want us to devote less time to.

But listeners (overall) do want more local music, more comedy, more debate about social issues, more arts, and more Sheffield specific-sports coverage.

The categories where ‘I’d like more than there currently is’ significantly outscored ‘it’s about right’ were ‘Comedy’ ‘Local Music’ and ‘Talk / debate about social issues’ and ‘arts programmes’ and ‘Sheffield sports coverage’.

So we’re working to increase our coverage of these areas. We’ll be appointing a head of news as part of our cross-platform media operation with Sheffield Live Television later in the year and will be able to bring listeners regular news bulletins – on radio, tv and the website.

And we’re opening a new call for programme proposals – so if you’d like to be part of our schedule – and can offer comedy, arts, sheffield sports, local music or debate programming, please get in touch!

You can download a programme proposal form here: Radio – programme proposal form [doc] or Radio – programme proposal form [text].

We found out alot more about listeners in our survey too.

Most get around Sheffield on foot and by car – but buses, trams, bikes and taxis are all used by a significant proportion of listeners.

Listeners are active in Sheffield – regularly eating out, going to gigs, clubs and pubs, going to the cinema and theatre, shopping, exercising, and enjoying Sheffield culture:

How often do you: (results show listeners who participate at least monthly – ie daily, weekly or monthly:

Listeners are hugely loyal to Sheffield Live!, with a clear majority not listening to other stations:

And the ads on Sheffield Live! have demonstrably changed the likelihood of our listeners purchasing – with over 80% of listeners saying YES about whether a specific ad had made them “more likely to purchase from / engage with the advertiser.”

Fantastic news for our advertisers too – so do get in touch if you’d like to find out more about how to reach our amazing audience.

Sangita Basudev, chief executive of Sheffield Live!, commented:

“Thank you to all the listeners who took the time to complete our survey. We’re proud of the schedule of fantastic, diverse and rich programming on Sheffield Live! and we are  thrilled that so many of you expressed such positive comments about the station and our shows. We are addressing all of the comments, constructive feeedback and suggestions that you made – which will help us to make Sheffield Live! even better for you.”

Let’s close this summary of the survey with another of those wonderful listener comments:

“Sheffield Live! is going from strength-­to-­strength with its strong line-­up of programmes, which greatly demonstrate the diversity of Sheffield and its residents. It always provides something new and offers a refreshing break from the local mainstream commercial stations that refuse to break away from the mediocre and mundane. May it long continue!”

Your old computer could help save lives

Leave a comment

[Computers 4 Africa are currently advertising on Sheffield Live!] Computers 4 Africa supply unwanted IT equipment to schools, libraries and community projects right across Africa. Working computers that are under 8 years old can change lives. Computers 4 Africa opens the door to IT education for millions of children. IT has revolutionised schools globally with unequalled access to information, interactive teaching and key work skills. A single recycled PC or recycled laptop can impact 24 children’s lives during its first year, offering new hope to break out of the poverty cycle. Your old working IT kit can make this difference. Computers 4 Africa collects redundant IT, which is refurbished and data-wiped before being sent out to African schools, colleges, and community projects. Computers 4 Africa promotes reuse not just recycling, which is greener for the environment and produces better quality equipment with a longer service life. You can bring your old PCs and IT equipment to Computers 4 Africa on Tuesday 12th and Wednesday 13th November at Unit 17 (the former Comet store), Drakehouse Retail Park, Sheffield, S20 7JJ Visit www.computers4africa.org.uk or telephone 03000 112 233 Computers 4 Africa is a Working Name of Digital Pipeline, a registered charity in England and Wales (1118674) SC043181 In Scotland.

Light Night – today, 4pm to 9.30pm

Leave a comment

“Imagine entering buildings and spaces you didn’t know existed, finding performers, art installations and activities around every corner and experiencing Sheffield in a completely different way.

“The city centre will be animated, lit up and celebrated through our city’s artists and performers for one night only to invite you to see Sheffield in a different light.”

As part of Summer Saturdays Art in the Park are running Light Night on Saturday 7th September 2013 in Sheffield City centre from 4pm- 9.30pm.

Light Night will be a city wide takeover opening up spaces, inviting professional and emerging artists to showcase the spaces through various artforms; an open programme of activities, showcases, workshops, exhibitions and performances for people to explore the city in a way they haven’t before.

“We want to unlock the doors of spaces we don’t ordinarily get to see, animate places in a completely new way and celebrate what Sheffield has to offer for all ages. Maybe it’s a film screening in a high street chain, a comedy sketch in the market, dancing in a hotel lobby….we want to challenge our perceptions and engage with new people in new spaces providing an alternative way to spend your Saturday Night!”

What next?

Find a cat – at the click of a mouse!

Leave a comment

Cats Protection

Regular listeners to Sheffield Live! will already know that Cats Protection has launched a new Find a Cat service, which has been advertised across our programmes over the last few weeks.

The new ‘Find a Cat’ function on the charity’s homepage allows people to view all the cats available for adoption within a 30-mile radius of their home.

By entering their home postcode, potential adopters are instantly directed to pages showing pictures and fact-files on all the fabulous felines in their area in need of good homes.

Lee Bishop, Website Manager for Cats Protection, said: “Previously, visitors to our website looking to adopt had to use the ‘find us’ page, search for their local branch or branches, and then visit each site separately for their adoption pages.

“The new tool is an easy to use, one-stop shop for your area, and as we are the UK’s largest feline welfare organisation, it will be the UK’s most comprehensive rehoming web function solely dedicated to cats.”

Cats Protection is keen to encourage people to adopt rather than buy if they are considering getting a cat, as figures from the charity’s national helpline currently show that for every one person enquiring about adopting a cat there are 10 people calling to give up a cat or report a stray. The ratio was one to three in 2009 and indicates a bleak future for cats.

Lee added: “We hope that the ‘Find a Cat’ tool will make it easier for people to adopt a cat from us. Adopting from Cats Protection means you are not only giving a home to an animal in need, but you will also have peace of mind that your cat has been examined by a veterinary surgeon, microchipped, vaccinated, neutered (if old enough) and will come with four week’s free insurance.

“With the launch of the new ‘Find a Cat’ function, we sincerely appeal to the cat loving public to visit the page and consider giving one of our marvellous moggies a loving and responsible home.”

What next?