Sheffield News

BusinessLive! – brand new series about business startup and growth

Sheffield Live! is thrilled to announce a new series of programmes, every Friday morning, covering business startup and growth.

Featuring interviews with businesses from start-up to fully established, the series will offer advice, news, ‘how-to’ features, discussion and inspiration.

The series will offer content of particular relevance to micro and small firms (0-49 staff), SMEs (small and medium sized enterprises, up to 250 staff), sole traders, and also social enterprises.

Tune in every Friday from 9-10am on 93.2fm or livestream here.

Or download the podcasts afterwards:

22/11/2013 – High growth businesses, traits of an entrepreneur, and social enterprise day. Nigel Brewster described the strategy for launching and growing his recruitment business – and his take on skills. Sam Tarff of The Key Fund and Sam Walby of Opus Independents / Now Then magazine talked about social enterprise. Details & podcast

15/11/2013 – The Sheffield City Region and its growth strategy. James Newman of the City Region’s Local Enterprise Partnership in a 20 minute interview; Fiona Greaves and Johnny Reay on the Start Up Loans scheme. Details & podcast

08/11/2013 -business growth: award winning business leader Jaqui Copley, who has grown her business – which she started from home in 2002 – now to a turnover of several hundred thousand pounds a year. And Jay Bhayani, another award winning business leader, talked through the key elements of employment legislation which businesses need to be aware of. Details & podcast

01/11/2013 – business and the green economy – two Sheffield businesses active and trading in the green economy and a topical debate about energy and insulation. Details & podcast

25/10/2013 – access to finance, investment readiness, crowdfunding, social media marketing and a debate about nuclear and renewable energy. Details & podcast

18/10/2013 – featuring top tips from three very different newly established businesses – podcast here

Got a topic you want us to cover, or want to appear as a guest? Email your suggestions to our presenter Jamie Veitch.  Or want to advertise your professional services to other businesses? Get in touch by email here.

BusinessLive! is sponsored by The Sheffield Enterprise Programme. More about them in our advertisers page.

Library plans discussed in Sheffield Live interviews

Now that the Council have announced their proposed changes to Sheffield’s Libraries, the Cabinet Member responsible, Councillor Mazher Iqbal, came into Sheffield Live! to the discuss the plans.

In a two-part interview with Sheffield Live’s Laurence Peacock, Councillor Iqbal discussed the the financial background of the proposed changes and the question of sustaining independent libraries.

In part two, we focused on the details of the volunteer groups who have so far come forward to take over some city libraries and the feasibility of their doing so.

You can read the council report here, including all the proposals, and from the same link you can also contribute to the consultation.

The interviews were first broadcast on Communities Live on 2/10/13.

In the interests of full disclosure, we would like to state that Sheffield Live’s volunteer presenter, who conducted the interview (Laurence Peacock) is employed by Sheffield library service.

Sheffield chosen to stage European Karate Championships

WUKF Action

WUKF Action

The World Union of Karate-Do Federations (WUKF) has chosen to bring its prestigious European Karate Championships to Sheffield.

The high-profile WUKF event will take place at the English Institute of Sport (EIS Sheffield) from 16-20 October.

More than 1,400 people aged between six and 60 years old will compete in five different categories during the inaugural five-day championships in the sports hall at EIS Sheffield.

Children, cadets, juniors, seniors and veterans from countries including France, Italy and Sweden will take part in an elaborate opening ceremony before bidding to be crowned European champion.

They will be supported by hundreds of coaches, spectators, organisers and volunteers at the Sheffield International Venues (SIV) facility.

As part of the championships, the WUKF will also host a seminar for referees and coaches; and the WUKF presidents meeting. There will also be a technical Kumite seminar delivered by multiple World Champion, Christophe Pinna, at EIS Sheffield. The farewell party will take place at the Holiday Inn Royal Victoria hotel.

Peter Allen, WUKF European President, said: “The event is the first of its kind, combining all the age groups into a European Karate Championships for all ages. Already booked are over 20 countries from Europe.

“Our European Family of Karate Ka will join us in Sheffield which I hope will be the best European Championships to date. I hope competitors, officials and spectators alike, will take back many happy memories of Sheffield and our English culture.

“The opening ceremony is a combination of British music, football memorabilia and world famous Sheffield superstars such as Sheffield’s golden girl Jessica Ennis-Hill. Sheffield is waiting.”

Councillor Isobel Bowler, Sheffield City Council’s Cabinet Member for Culture, Sport and Leisure said: “It is great news to have such a prestigious event come to EIS Sheffield. It sounds incredibly exciting and once again shows what a world class facility we have here in Sheffield to attract such an event as this.

“I wish all the competitors good luck and hope it all goes well.”

Tickets are available online at www.sivtickets.co.uk, through the ticket hotline 0114 223 3777 or in person at the Motorpoint Arena Sheffield, Sheffield City Hall or Sheffield Theatres.

Sheffield hosts British Climbing Championships

A competitor at the British Climbing Championships (Photo: Jamie Veitch)

A competitor at the British Climbing Championships (Photo: Jamie Veitch)

Brand new Sheffield climbing wall Awesome Walls – which we have written about here – opened with a high profile event this weekend (5-6 October) when it hosted the British Lead and Speed Climbing Championships.

Day 1 of the competition featured the youth and veteran lead climbing categories. A full breakdown of scores and results in this categories can be found here.

Day 2 featured the Senior Lead climbing, and the Junior and Senior Speed climbing competitions.
In the lead climbing events:
  • Ed Hamer retained his Male Senior title;
  • 15 year old Molly Thompson-Smith, who’d won the junior Female A lead category the previous day, also won the Senior Female lead category, and won it convincingly by topping out on all the routes! Molly is the youngest ever winner of a Senior GB title
  • A full breakdown of scores and results for the Senior Lead categories can be found here.

The pressure was not only on the competitors – it was on the venue and its build team too. Awesome Walls is a brand new venue, which has been completed just in time for the competition.

Managing director Dave Douglas told Sheffield Live:

“As the deadline loomed for the completion of the new Awesome Walls the pressure was on not only to complete the project but to go one step further and give the competitors a facility that they would next forget. As the keen climbers entered the climbing arena never before has the word ‘awesome’ been
spoken with such truth and enthusiasm!”

What next?

New climbing centre for Sheffield

Sheffield’s climbers are spoiled for choice of where to train and climb indoors, with a new climbing centre, Awesome Walls Sheffield, now open for business.

Located in Newhall, a short distance from the city centre and also just a few minutes from the M1, the new wall aims to cater for climbers from complete beginners through to keen experts.

It is offering vertical, slab and overhanging climbing routes, several bouldering areas and an enormous 23 metre competition wall which overhangs by 12 metres.

Awarded the status of “National Performance Centre” by the British Mountaineering Council (BMC), Awesome Walls will be “officially” opened – by the Lord Mayor of Sheffield – on Saturday 12th October (with a party and BBQ). However, parts of the centre have already opened so climbers and aspiring climbers can visit now.

This weekend the wall hosted the BMC British Lead and Speed Climbing Championships in which “Britain’s best climbers battled it out on the brand new super steep wall in Sheffield, all vying for the title of British Lead Climbing Champion.” We’ll post a news report from the Championships tomorrow.

Awesome Walls joins Sheffield’s roster of existing climbing walls which include the Foundry, The Climbing Works and The Edge. Climbers in Sheffield have access to by far the widest range of indoor facilities of any UK city (as well as the Peak District, with thousands of climbs from easy to very hard indeed, on the local gritstone and limestone cliffs).

Dave Douglas, MD of the centre, provided a quick tour of the new wall in this film from a couple of weeks ago as its build neared completion:

Dave Douglas Talks Awesome Walls from Dave Douglas on Vimeo.

What next?

  • Awesome Walls Sheffield recently sponsored our “Steel Fingers, Steel Wheels” series of programmes about climbing and cycling in and around Sheffield. The series – which you can listen to from the following links – featured interviews with climbers Lucy Creamer (this show also included an interview with Dave Douglas), Andy Kirkpatrick and Mina Leslie-Wujastyk, as well as with representatives from many other organisations involved in climbing.
  • Awesome Walls Sheffield opening party

Interviews with Steve Peat & Mina-Leslie Wujastyk

John Horscroft and Steve Peat

Sheffield Live!’s series of cycling and climbing shows, Steel Fingers, Steel Wheels, today featured a bumper interview with mountain biking legend Steve Peat. Recorded earlier this month by interviewer John Horscroft and Jamie Veitch, the 27 minute interview includes in-depth and candid commentary from Steve.

Steve and John discuss:

– the history and roots of mountain biking
– competing at a high level
– Steve’s plans for the future
– training
– road biking
– the Sheffield scene
– Steve’s three top tips for aspiring riders
– and much more!

And Steve picked three tracks of music which we played between segments of the interview.

Mina in the studio

Today’s show also featured climber Mina-Leslie Wujastyk, excelling in the climbing discipline of bouldering. Mina has recently returned from a trip to South Africa during which she climbed 8 boulder problems graded 8A and one of 8A+ – a brilliant achievement from this Sheffield-based climber. Mina is also a member of the British Bouldering team, competing in the bouldering world cup events and this year came 2nd in the British Bouldering Championships.

Simon Lee of UKBouldering.com was a live studio guest today and explained the intricacies of bouldering and Jon Barton of Vertebrate Graphics featured within a pre-recorded interview too.

This was a bumper 90 minute edition of the show, so our podcasts (available for 3 months) are in 2 parts:

You can listen to the podcast of the first 60 minutes of the show here.

Approximate timings for the 1st hour of the show:

Intro / Simon Lee 0-12 mins; Mina interview 12-22 mins; Simon Lee 22-25 mins; Jon Barton interview 25-33 mins; Simon Lee wrap up 33-37 mins; Steve Peat interview – part one – 37-52 mins; interview with show sponsor, Edinburgh Bicycle Cooperative 52-60 mins.

And you can listen to the podcast of part 2 of the show here (30 minutes total) – which includes Steve Peat’s chosen tracks of music and parts 2 and 3 of our interview with Steve.

Earlier episodes of this series have featured interviews with climber Lucy Creamer, alpinist, big wall climber and author Andy Kirkpatrick, a diverse range of cyclists, and representatives from Awesome Walls, UKClimbing.com, Ride Sheffield, CycleBoost Sheffield, Pedal Ready & more.

The series was sponsored by Awesome Walls Sheffield and the Edinburgh Bicycle Cooperative.

Interviews with Steve Peat & Mina-Leslie Wujastyk

John Horscroft and Steve Peat

Sheffield Live!’s series of cycling and climbing shows, Steel Fingers, Steel Wheels, today featured a bumper interview with mountain biking legend Steve Peat. Recorded earlier this month by interviewer John Horscroft and Jamie Veitch, the 27 minute interview includes in-depth and candid commentary from Steve.

Steve and John discuss:

– the history and roots of mountain biking
– competing at a high level
– Steve’s plans for the future
– training
– road biking
– the Sheffield scene
– Steve’s three top tips for aspiring riders
– and much more!

And Steve picked three tracks of music which we played between segments of the interview.

Mina in the studio

Today’s show also featured climber Mina-Leslie Wujastyk, excelling in the climbing discipline of bouldering. Mina has recently returned from a trip to South Africa during which she climbed 8 boulder problems graded 8A and one of 8A+ – a brilliant achievement from this Sheffield-based climber. Mina is also a member of the British Bouldering team, competing in the bouldering world cup events and this year came 2nd in the British Bouldering Championships.

Simon Lee of UKBouldering.com was a live studio guest today and explained the intricacies of bouldering and Jon Barton of Vertebrate Graphics featured within a pre-recorded interview too.

This was a bumper 90 minute edition of the show, so our podcasts (available for 2 months) are in 2 parts:

You can listen to the podcast [available for 60 days from today] of the first 60 minutes of the show here.

Approximate timings for the 1st hour of the show:

Intro / Simon Lee 0-12 mins; Mina interview 12-22 mins; Simon Lee 22-25 mins; Jon Barton interview 25-33 mins; Simon Lee wrap up 33-37 mins; Steve Peat interview – part one – 37-52 mins; interview with show sponsor, Edinburgh Bicycle Cooperative 52-60 mins.

And you can listen to the podcast [available for 60 days from today] of part 2 of the show here (30 minutes total) – which includes Steve Peat’s chosen tracks of music and parts 2 and 3 of our interview with Steve.

Earlier episodes of this series have featured interviews with climber Lucy Creamer, alpinist, big wall climber and author Andy Kirkpatrick, a diverse range of cyclists, and representatives from Awesome Walls, UKClimbing.com, Ride Sheffield, CycleBoost Sheffield, Pedal Ready & more.

The series was sponsored by Awesome Walls Sheffield and the Edinburgh Bicycle Cooperative.

Interview with alien life Professor, Milton Wainwright

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Professor Milton Wainwright works at the University of Sheffield’s Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology. Last week he attracted national and international media attention after writing in the Journal of Cosmology that he has recovered biological entities from between 22 and 27 kilometres above the earth that – he concludes – may originate from space.

And this week Professor Wainwright spoke with Sheffield Live’s Andy Cooper about his conclusions.

You can listen to Andy’s 49 minute interview with Professor Wainwright here:

Or you can listen to an abridged 11 minute version of the interview within the Communities Live programme from 26/09/2013, here.

Wainwright claims that it would be impossible for particles of the size he has recovered to ascend from Earth to this distance above the earth without an event such as a violent volcanic eruption, and that nothing like this occurred within three years of the sampling (done via a special balloon). He’s also emphatic that no cross-contamination occurred.

“Potentially a history making story,” says Andy. Listen to the complete interview, above.

Great Yorkshire Run: special travel offers for runners

It’s the Bupa Great Yorkshire Run this Sunday – and with around 6,000 people taking part, Travel South Yorkshire is reminding local participants to leave the car at home and take advantage of the special public transport offers available to get there.

Travel South Yorkshire and Supertram have partnered with the event again to offer entrants all day travel on the Sheffield tram for £3. The offer is available through a voucher on all race numbers provided to the runners.

Entrants traveling from further afield can take advantage of free parking at  all SYPTE Park & Ride sites in Sheffield for a 12-hour period (0800 until 2000) on Sunday. The offer is available at the Park & Ride locations at Middlewood, Halfway, Nunnery Square and Malin Bridge. As always, free parking continues to be offered at Park & Ride sites at Meadowhall and Valley Centertainment.

Starting on Arundel Gate, the run heads along Penistone Road to Sheffield Wednesday’s Hillsborough stadium, before finally returning to the city centre.

Youngsters can also get involved in the fun with the Bupa Junior & Mini Great Yorkshire Run taking place on the same day, with 1.5k and 2.5k distances to choose from.

South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive’s Deputy Interim Director General, David Young, said: “We are proud to support this year’s Bupa Great Yorkshire Run and help offer entrants the opportunity to travel around the city as cheaply as possible.

“We hope this will make it easier for runners and their families to get in and out of the city centre by using Park & Ride or leaving the car at home.”

Supertram Managing Director Margaret Kay said: “We hope lots of participants and spectators will use our tram services to get to the race. With road closures affecting traffic, and parking charges now applying on a Sunday, public transport really is the best way to travel. We wish all participants the best of luck for the race.”

Due to essential rail works, buses will replace trams on a section of the Supertram Blue route at Park Grange Road. This will also affect passengers using the Park & Ride site at Halfway. Please allow extra time for your journey if arriving from this side of the city.

  • For more information or to plan your journey visit www.travelsouthyorkshire.com/gyr
  • For more information about the Great Yorkshire Run visit www.greatrun.org/yorkshire

Medal haul for Sheffield’s Special Olympians

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The Sheffield Otters Special Olympic team

The Sheffield Otters Special Olympic team

A team of 30 athletes from Sheffield came home from this year’s Special Olympics National Games in Bath with 44 medals.

The Sheffield Otters, a competitive sports club for people with learning disabilities, formed part of the Yorkshire and Humberside team (alongside the region’s athletics and football teams) which took part in the country’s largest sports event for athletes with intellectual disabilities.

This year’s edition of the games, the ninth in its history, saw more than 1,700 athletes from across the country compete in 12 sports.

The Sheffield Otters swimming team, who compete regularly throughout the region and nationally in the Special Olympics every four years, won five gold, 15 silver and eight bronze medals.

The athletics team came home with five gold, five silver and five bronze medals and the Sheffield Spartans football team won bronze in the 5-a-side competition.

Jayne Thompson, club secretary, said: “We are delighted to return to Sheffield with 44 medals. It was a great effort from the whole team and it makes all the training at Ponds Forge and Hillsborough Leisure Centre worthwhile.

“The Special Olympics is a unique event that provides a life changing and inspirational opportunity for children and adults with learning disabilities to compete in sport at a national level.”

The team held a special event at the Millennium Hall Polish Club in Ecclesall, where The Lord Mayor of Sheffield, Vickie Priestley, was in attendance to celebrate the athletes’ achievements.