Hello my name is Simon Thake and I present the Monday Uprising here on Sheffield Live 7-9 every Monday morning. I’m running the Sheffield half marathon this year to raise money for Sheffield Live so if you’d like to sponsor me that would be very lovely of you. See the horribly unflattering picture of me above. I’m the one on the left looking red faced and sweaty.
Please use the button below to sponsor me! Thank you for your support.
By Amna Kaleem
Policies on education have been amongst the most unpopular initiatives taken by the coalition government. A look at the tuition fee protests all over the country is enough to gauge the anger of students. While most of the protests were focused on rise in tuition fees, almost every protest had a group of students from sixth form colleges and schools who were out to protest the scrapping of Education Maintenance Allowance.
The EMA is a weekly allowance of £10, £20 and £30 paid to students who are 16 to 18 years old. The amount paid varies according to the student’s family income, those living below £20,817 qualify for £30, those between £20,818 and £25,521 are eligible for £20 and the students whose family income is between £25,522 and £30,810 get £10 per week. The money is paid directly into the students’ bank accounts and is stopped if they fail to be punctual or attend their classes regularly.
The fund which was set up by the Labour government in 2004 is now being scrapped, which means from next academic year around 647,000 students across the country cannot claim their EMA. In Sheffield alone, there are little over 6,000 students who benefit from EMA. There has been a lot of debate on the subject, some feel students spend the money on iTunes and PS3 games, a claim which may not be completely unfounded as some students who qualify for EMA do not need it to support their education. However, there are also students who would not be able to pursue education if this small weekly payment is withdrawn.
At Longley Park Sixth Form College around 75% of students receive EMA. Here is an interview with college students Abby Thompson and Shanice Wright and their teacher James Finlayson:
One of the success stories of EMA is James Mills who used the programme to pursue further education and was able to go to university. James now works as a parliamentary researcher and has started the Save EMA campaign. James talks about how EMA helped him and how the campaign to save this fund is gaining momentum, nationally:
James Mills
For more information on the campaign, visit http://saveema.co.uk/
The report was aired on Communities Live on December 17, 2010.
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Well, we did it! On Saturday the 30th of October, as part of the ‘Off the Shelf’ festival, the ‘Cornucopia Radio Show’ was broadcast live from the Sheffield Winter Gardens, for 6 hours between 11am and 5pm.
The day featured poets, storytellers, comedians, performers, actors, musicians, singers and local amateur dramatic groups. Yes, it was a little chaotic (let there be no doubt about that!) but it was also pretty amazing, because amazing is the thing we do best!
Click here for an image gallery featuring every performer or click on the audio player below to listen to each and every act (and if you want to download them as individual mp3s click here)
And if you’d like to get involved in any of our future live events or help with the recording of our studio pieces, then our email address would be a good place to start: studio@cornucopia-radio.co.uk, or if that’s too hard, just try visiting the website.
Are you aged over 18, unemployed and not doing any other training? Interested in learning new digital media skills?
If so, then this is for you…
Sheffield Live! are running the following free workshops:
INTRODUCTION TO ADOBE PHOTOSHOP
25th November 2010 – 10am till 4pm
INTRODUCTION TO DIGITAL AUDIO PRODUCTION
26th November 2010 – 10am till 4pm
INTRODUCTION TO RADIO PRODUCTION
27th November 2010 – 10am till 4pm
RADIO PRODUCTION – PRACTICAL PRODUCTION
28th November 2010 – 10am till 4pm
Come and Join us at ‘Sheffield Live, 15 Paternoster Row’ for these exciting free workshops. There are only 8 places available on each course and will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.
For further information and to book a place contact zoe@sheffieldlive.org
This summer, 12 young people worked alongside Sheffield Live! to produce two radio shows under the banner ‘Creative Voices’. One show looked at people’s attitude and opinions of ‘gang culture’ and another show looked at the negative and positive effects which music has on the culture of today.
You can now stream these two shows direct from this webpage. We hope you enjoy them.
SHOW 1: GANG CULTURE (36 minutes)
[audio:http://web.sheffieldlive.org/podcast/get.php?web=j8452.mp3|titles=Creative Voices: Gang Culture]SHOW 2: NEGATIVE AND POSITIVE EFFECTS (20 minutes)
[audio:http://web.sheffieldlive.org/podcast/get.php?web=j8453.mp3|titles=Negative and Positive Effects]
Have you ever felt the hairs on the back of your neck stand up, the chills going up your spine until you feel like you have to shake this feeling off your back? No matter how silly it feels?
Or how about those times when you feel like someone is looking over your shoulder? So much so, that you can almost feel someone breathing down your neck?
Listening to this ‘Cornucopia Halloween’ special (broadcast as part of our annual allnight weirdathon), as you are right now; alone in a darkened room, the disturbing feelings become stronger than ever and so intense that you feel the need to keep looking behind you; just to reassure yourself that you’re still alone.
And that’s when it will strike…
[audio:http://www.cornucopia-radio.co.uk/Cornucopia%20Radio%20Podcast%2025.mp3|titles=Cornucopia Halloween Special]
You can also listen to the rest of the all-night weirdathon by clicking here
Credits: Produced, Written and Edited by Peter Beeston. The story “Dracula” was taken from the Woody Allen book “Getting Even” and was adapted for the podcast because we think it’s brilliant. Please don’t sue us!!
Performed By: Jonathan Syer, Rob Atkinson, Duncan Miller, Christopher Bellamy, Rex Davies, Wendy Davies, Renate Reynolds, Chris Drury, Sangita Basudev and Phil Mason.
Music Tracks:Night Of A Thousand Orgasms – Genre Lectric
Copyright © 2010 – A Cornucopia Production
Spain has been famous for its somewhat controversial tradition of bullfighting, which is still a big part of the country’s fiesta culture. As a spectator sport, it is still widely popular, with several thousand Spaniards attending each week.
Despite this, in July the parliament of Catalonia voted to ban bullfighting after a petition was brought against it. The petition was signed by 180,000 people who believe this tradition to be barbaric and outdated. In the vote held on July 28, 68 voted in favour of the ban, 55 voted against and nine abstained.
Communities Live reporters Carlota Calderón and Emma Wass interviewed three Spaniards to ask for their opinion regarding this new legislation, which will take effect in January 2012.
Carlota is a Spanish native from the northern city of Pamplona, where San Fermines, the “running of the bulls” festival is held every summer. Emma spent a few months in the same region, Navarra, so has also experienced the fiesta culture first hand.
The interviewees are Hisham Melara from Granada, Andalucía, Oscar Floristán from Navarra, and Nacho Vázquez from Zaragoza.
The report discusses the moral issue regarding bullfighting i.e. animal welfare and the political issues behind the ban which relate to Catalonia’s fight for independence from the rest of Spain.
While the big society initiative may still be limited to speeches made by Prime Minister David Cameron, a Sheffield neighbourhood has already put it to test. Darnall Forum, a Darnall based charity rescued their local post office with the help of the Sheffield City Council. The community-run post office will be inaugurated on Tuesday, August 21. The post office was one of 65 in South Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Huddersfield and Colne Valley selected for closure by Post Office Ltd in 2008.
Sheffield Live! reporter Nick Mosley chats with Rob Russell, manager of the Darnall Post Office about this unique initiative, the effort that went into it and what it means for the local community.
DarnallPostOffice-NickMosley.mp3
The report was aired on Communities Live on August 27, 2010.
‘Cornucopia Radio’ is a local ‘audio drama’ group which works closely with Sheffield Live! to give opportunities to local writers and performers to have their own work produced, performed and broadcast via the FM frequency (and networked around the world via various podcasting systems). It is both a platform for established Sheffield writers & performers and anybody wishing to gain experience or exposure for their work. If you wish to get involved yourself, you can email the production team at studio@cornucopia-radio.co.uk
Over the past few months, they have produced the following work.
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In the far future, humanity has expanded out to explorer the outer reaches of the solar system. In the process, leaving behind the radioactively poisoned planet once known as Earth, now more commonly referred to as the “Forbidden World”. However, ‘Captain Robert Newsam’ is about to discover that the planet is not as desolate as he once imagined and that sometimes the only way to get where you’re going is… “The Drop”
‘The Drop’ is the first in our series of updated radio sci-fi pieces from the forties and fifties. Re-recorded with new actors, modern sound effects and atmospheric music. During these productions we try to stick to the original script as closely as possible; in-turn seeking to create modern, yet strangely old fashioned pieces of radio drama…
[audio:http://cornucopia.jellycast.com/files/audio/thedrop.mp3|titles=The Drop|artists=John Christopher]
Cast: Nic Bowden, George Webster, Joe Lister Yates, Matthew Scott, Jason Greenwood and Roderick Shearer Written by John Christopher. Original version broadcast on ‘ABC Radio’ April 9, 1953,
Directed and Edited by Peter Beeston, Copyright ©2010 – A Cornucopia Production
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What is the ideal bodyguard? The most ferocious looking? The most efficient killer? Or the most devoted? On Earth, you might find a combination of all three, but it’d never be as effective as the curious creature which came back from Mars with Dr. Clyde Curtis; the first human to ever step foot on the red planet…
“Martians Never Die” is the next in our series of updated radio sci-fi pieces from the forties and fifties. Re-recorded with new actors, modern sound effects and atmospheric music. During these productions we try to stick to the original script as closely as possible; in-turn seeking to create modern, yet strangely old fashioned pieces of radio drama…
[audio:http://cornucopia.jellycast.com/files/audio/Cornucopia%20Radio%20Podcast%2022.mp3|titles=Martians Never Die|artists=Lucius Daniel]
Cast: Tim Rutherford, Christine Bellamy, Ian Carter, Stephen Bullivant, Peter Beeston and Claire Hodgson. Written by Lucius Daniel, Original version first broadcast on ‘ABC Radio’ March 12, 1953 Directed and Edited by Peter Beeston, Copyright ©2010 – A Cornucopia Production
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‘Digging Deep’ tells the story of a community and a friendship that struggled to survive during the 1984-85 UK ‘Miner’s Strike’. Two people coming together for the first time in 25 years; remembering the decisions that they had to make and the consequences that were bound to follow…
[audio:http://cornucopia.jellycast.com/files/audio/Cornucopia%20Radio%20Podcast%2020.mp3|titles=Digging Deep|artists=Alice Collins]Cast: Alison Fell, Gill Butter and Dave Ridley
Credits: Written & Produced by Alice Collins,
Directed and Edited by Peter Beeston, Copyright ©2010 – A Cornucopia Production/
Biscuits for Tea
This is “Biscuits for Tea“, the story of two young flatmates who have recently left university and now find themselves considering what life might have in store next. Faced with broken relationships, dead end jobs, empty bank accounts and too much spare time to fill; they quickly work out they’ll have to help each other out if they’re going to get through this. That is, as long as they don’t irritate each other to death first…
[audio:http://cornucopia.jellycast.com/files/audio/Biscuits%20For%20Tea.mp3|titles=Biscuits for Tea|artists=Matthew Brown]Cast: Renate Reynolds and Robert Perkins. Written By Matthew Brown
Directed and Edited by Peter Beeston, Copyright ©2010 – A Cornucopia Production
Over 1,000 people are reported to have died in recent floods in Pakistan. Many millions have been directly affected. In the aftermath of the floods there is a serious risk to survivors from potentially deadly diseases which will spread as a result of contaminated surface and drinking water.
Sheffield Live! is supporting the UK Disasters and Emergency Committee (DEC) Pakistan Floods Appeal with broadcast announcements in English and Urdu running throughout this month. The money raised will help support the efforts in Pakistan of the DEC’s members which are leading UK aid agencies.
You can donate now online or call 0370 60 60 900.
