The Olympic Legacy Park on the old Don Valley Stadium site has begun to take shape, with the Oasis Academy Don Valley school open, and construction work underway on Sheffield’s second University Technical College. Now art work by Leap Design has been installed around the London 2012 Olympic legacy project. The work aims to highlight what people can get involved in when the park fully opens next year.
A scheme is being launched in the Burngreave area of Sheffield, to help tackle loneliness and social isolation. The Toolkit Project, organised by Age Better encourages volunteers to create a digital toolkit, which can be given to over seven thousand residents. It aims to help people realise if they are socially isolated, and offers them advice. The Age Better Campaign is run by the South Yorkshire Housing Association. They received six million pounds in funding over six years from the Big Lottery Fund.
The failure of pollsters to forecast the outcome of the general election last May was largely due to “unrepresentative” poll samples, an inquiry has found. The polling industry came under fire for predicting a virtual dead heat when the Conservatives ultimately went on to outpoll Labour by 36.9% to 30.4%. A panel of experts has concluded this was due to Tory voters being under-represented in phone and online polls. But it said it was impossible to say whether “late swing” was also a factor. The majority of polls taken during last year’s five-week election campaign suggested that David Cameron’s Conservatives and Ed Miliband’s Labour were neck-and-neck.
Over twelve thousand three hundred people have signed a petition to stop the sale of an 18th century cottage in Sheffield. Sheffield City Council expect to receive around eighty thousand pounds from the sale of Cobnar cottage, on Cobnar Road in Graves Park. The money is set to be spent on further investment in the park, including improvements to play facilities and footpaths. Sheffield City Council say ‘The cottage has been vacant for many years, sits outside the park boundary wall, forms a tiny fraction of the park, and has never been part of the public amenity of Graves Park.’ The council have no future use for the cottage, and say they do not plan to sell any other part of Graves Park.
Sheffield Forgemasters are set to cut up to 100 jobs in the next coming weeks. This follows the higher competition in the market and the recent fall of gas and oil prices. Sheffield Live caught up with Graham Honeyman, the Chief Executive of Sheffield Forgemasters to find out more.
Bins for disposing knives have been set in various locations across England to help reduce knife crime. Sheffield have also united with other cities in tackling the crime. Baillor Jalloh has more.
Thousands of junior doctors have taken strike action today, in a row over a proposed new contract. The first walk out in forty years comes after the Government’s plans for a ‘seven day NHS.’ Prime Minister, David Cameron said this strike, and another later this month, will provide ‘real difficulties’ for patients.
12 year old Sam Todd from Yorkshire has become the Boys Under 13’s winner in the British Junior Open Squash Championships. Over four hundred competitors have been taking part from around the world across three Sheffield venues.
Many asylum seekers in Sheffield face difficulties affording public transport. The COMAC Bike Project encourages people to donate their old bikes, so they can be repaired and given to asylum seekers who are referred to the organisation.
Firefighters from across South Yorkshire have been taking part in a charity challenge, to row the distance between Sheffield and Lapland. They rowed around two thousand one hundred and eighty eight kilometers on The Moor. The money raised will go to The Fire Fighters Charity.