Hundreds of residents took part in an anti-fracking march this weekend from Mosborough to the Butchers Arms on Marsh Lane, Eckington. The march was organised to demonstrate against plans by oil and chemicals company Ineos to start exploring shale gas reserves in North Derbyshire and South Yorkshire. Simon Thake reports for Sheffield Live!
Site Gallery has announced an ambitious expansion project with over £2.7m investment to create a new gallery and events space on Paternoster Row. Sheffield’s leading contemporary art space specialises in new media, moving image and performance and will treble the scale of its public offer including a new 262 square metre gallery and a flexible event space for education, creative activity and commercial hires. The plans also provide for a 40-seat café, a shop and business units. Work is planned to commence in April 2017, with the existing gallery to be temporarily closed while work takes place. A programme of pop-up events is planned in the interim. Simon Thake reports for Sheffield Live!
Original members of Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners, portrayed in the acclaimed film Pride, were in Sheffield to celebrate Lesbian Gay Bisexual Trans+ History Month. The LGBT+ activists were at the Millennium Gallery as part of a weekend of events which also mark the 50th anniversary of the partial decriminalisation in law of male homosexuality in England and Wales. Simon Thake reports for Sheffield Live
The fifth annual Sheffield Zine Fest took place at the Hallam Hubs, celebrating everything to do with zines, self-made magazines and booklets often given away or sold for the cost of printing. The event included workshops, stalls and exhibitions with a focus not only content, but also designs, styles and print methods. Many zinesters hand print covers, sew bindings, or colour in pages individually. Simon Thake reports for Sheffield Live!
Detectives investigating the murder of Tommy Ward have released CCTV footage in an appeal to witnesses to come forward on the anniversary of his death. Ward died on 23 February 2016 less than five months after he was violently assaulted during a robbery at his house in Maltby. Around £30,000 cash was thought to have been stolen from the pensioner’s home in Salisbury Road. Simon Thake reports for Sheffield Live!
US aircraft manufacturer Boeing has announced plans to open its first European commercial factory in Sheffield, creating at least 30 jobs. If approved, the company will invest £20m to build the plant which will be next to the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre founded in 2001 by Boeing and the University of Sheffield. The company said the factory, at Catcliffe in Rotherham, could also lead to new jobs in the supply industry.
Attempts to ban repeated marches by far right groups in Rotherham have been rejected by the Home Office. South Yorkshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner Dr Alan Billings sought a change in the law to ban marches on grounds of frequency, cost and community impact. Since 2012 sixteen protests have been held, the majority organized by far right groups such as the English Defence League and Britain First, with a combined policing cost of £4m. The Home Office said it had no current plans to change the law. The EDL are planning to march in Rotherham this weekend. Sheffield Live! reporter Simon Thake spoke to Dr Alan Billings.
It will take 25 years to close the gender pay gap in the UK despite significant recent improvements, according to Price Waterhouse Cooper’s Women in Work Index. The labour market report measures levels of female economic empowerment across 33 countries based on five indicators. The UK has considerably improved its performance since 2000 and now ranks thirteen out of the 33 countries surveyed thanks to increasing female employment rates, a narrowing of the gender pay gap and a reduction of the gap between male and female labour force participation rates. Sheffield Live! reporter Simon Thake spoke to Valerie Monti Hollad of Bounce Forward, a Sheffield-based women’s development agency.
The British Humanist Association have sent free copies to Sheffield schools of the book ‘What is Humanism?’ after a successful national crowdfunding campaign. The book, by Michael Rosen and Annemarie Young, is the first of its kind aimed at primary and secondary school children, and was published to support teachers who want to explore non-religious ethics and humanist worldviews. Carrying the subtitle ‘How to live without a god and other big questions for kids’, the book features contributions from well know faces who also identify as humanists, including comedian Shappi Khorsandi, physicist Jim Al-Khalili and actor Stephen Fry. Sheffield Live! reporter Simon Thake spoke with Mike Granville of Sheffield Humanist Society.
The British Universities & Colleges Sport Nationals (BUCS) brought over 6000 student athletes to Sheffield for three action-packed days at venues across the city. Now in its fifth year, the BUCS Nationals 2017 include indoor athletics, badminton, swimming, karate, fencing, shooting, judo, trampolining and climbing. Previous BUCS competitors have included local Team GB stars Max Lichfield and Bryony Page. Simon Thake reports for Sheffield Live!