Sheffield bus passengers are set to benefit from cleaner, greener bus journeys thanks to a £1.3 million of government funding confirmed by Transport Minister Andrew Jones. Sheffield and 12 other local authorities across England were awarded £30 million funding to buy low emission buses and install charge points and other infrastructure. Sheffield’s £1.3 million will be used to fund 44 new buses which will be fitted with hybrid technology to reduce carbon emission in the region.
Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council have launched a campaign to ‘break the silence’ on suicide. The campaign, which has been supported by South Yorkshire Police and the NHS Rotherham Clinical Commissioning Group aims to support middle aged men, and encourage them to talk about their concerns. This comes after suicide figures increased to just above average in the town, and national figures highlighted that men aged 45 to 59 had the highest suicide rate from 2014 to 2015, for the second year in a row.
A Sheffield production company have taken two local wake boarders beneath the city to film them in action along the storm drains. ‘Low Line’ by Salt Street Productions aims to rediscover what is known as the Megatron. The drains were built by the Victorians and were designed to hold back the flood water, then release it back into rivers. Salt Street Productions specialise in adventure sports videography, and previously produced ‘Red Run’ on the abandoned Sheffield Ski Village.
A group of volunteers who support people with Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes have been honoured with a ‘Local Group and Community Award’ at Diabetes UK’s National Inspire Awards. The Sheffield Diabetes UK group is chaired by Andy Broomhead who campaigns for better diabetes services, offers emotional and practical support to others with the condition, and raises awareness. Andy, who has Type 1 diabetes himself, told Sheffield Live how he felt to win the award.
As Eid celebrations began, hundreds of people gathered at the Tesco car park on Saville Street this morning to pray. Muslims are celebrating the end of Ramadan which is a month of fasting to commemorate the first revelation of the Quran to Muhammad, according to Islamic beliefs. As well as fasting, they also give money to charity, in the hope of becoming more appreciative and spiritually connected.
Thousands of pupils across the country faced disruption or schools closures as teachers take part in a one day strike over school funding and conditions. Members of the National Union of Teachers walked out over a number of unresolved issues. They are calling for schools to be sufficiently funded to cover the increased staff costs and are protesting against the Government’s plans to turn schools into academies. Hundreds of teachers, students and members of the public gathered for a rally and march from Devonshire Green to Barkers Pool.
Officials from the Special Olympics have been in Sheffield this week, visiting a number of venues across the city where the games will be taking place in August 2017. 2600 athletes with learning disabilities will take place in 19 sports. The tour of the venues began at Bramall Lane, where the opening ceremony will take place. Kathryn Muffett went along to find out more.
South Yorkshire police hope that joint campaigns with Europe on issues such as modern slavery alongside cooperation on International arrest warrants will continue but say that at the moment how that will happen is unclear.
President of Sheffield Chamber of Commerce Jillian Thomas, welcomed a report, which favoured the city centre option, for the HS2 train stop. The report also said it would save £768 million pounds on the overall budget of the project to go for Midland station.
The election results for Sheffield came through at just before 3:30 on Friday morning with 136,018 voting to Leave and 130,725 voting to Remain. Following the trend in the North of England Sheffield voted for Brexit.