On Saturday, hundreds of protesters marched from Devonshire green to Bakerspool to protest against what they described as the government’s spending cuts and the deliberate attempt to move away jobs from Sheffield to London. They were joined by many local MP’s and Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell.
Diabetes UK invited the people of Sheffield to join them on Norfolk Row in order to find out whether they are at risk of developing type 2 diabetes. in Sheffield alone twenty six thousand, five hundred and sixty two people are living with type 2 diabetes. However, three out of five cases of Type 2 diabetes can be prevented or delayed through adopting a healthy lifestyle and taking steps to reduce risk of developing the condition. Our reporter Sham joined them to find out more.
Barnsley were in action at Wembley on Sunday in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy Final. They beat League 2 side, Oxford United three, two. It’s been a great last few months for the Tykes, and Sheffield Live’s Sal Saba reviews their season and progress so far.
For the first time in 17 years bin men in Sheffield have gone on strike. Around 40 thousand bins will not be collected throughout the city today as more than a hundred workers held a picket line outside lumley street street service centre this morning. The GMB union, which represents more than 95% of around 180 workers said that although they tried to avoid industrial action, the majority of members supported the decision. Sham went along to the picket line this morning where she spoke to Ian Butler ,the Shop Steward for GMB to find out more.
Thousands of steel worker jobs are at risk, as India’s Tata Steel plans to sell it’s UK business. The decision was announced at a board meeting in Mumbai last night. Tata’s Port Talbot steel plant, as well as sites in Corby, Shotton and here in South Yorkshire are believed to be affected. High energy costs and cheap imports from China have been blamed for the recent cuts in demand.
People gathered at Endcliffe park today, to watch 2500 rubber ducks race down the Porter Brook. The event, organised by the Friends of the Porter Valley was raising money for the Forge Damn Restoration Project. People were assigned a duck, and the first 40 ducks to reach the bottom won prizes. It was the eighth year of the annual event on Easter Monday, and organisers were hoping to beat the ten thousand pounds raised last year.
All schools in England are set to become academies by 2020, or have plans to do so by 2022. This was announced in George Osborne’s budget statement, as well as a longer school day and the possibility of Maths becoming compulsory until the age of 18. Over two thousand secondary and two thousand four hundred primary schools are already academies. The status was originally introduced for schools in urgent need of improvement. Since 2010, schools have been given extra funding to become academies. They are independent, state funded schools that receive funding from central government, rather than the local authority. They do not have to stick to the National Curriculum, but are overseen by academy trusts. The National Union of Teachers held demonstrations across the country to say ‘No to academies.’
People have been paying tributes to Barry Hines, who died on Sunday at the age of 76. The Yorkshire author wrote the novel which Ken Loach’s film, ‘Kes’ was based on, and the BBC film, ‘Threads’ which focused on a nuclear strike in Sheffield. Barry, originally from the mining village of Hoyland Common was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2009. He left school with no qualifications, but then went on to be a teacher. James Whitworth is a news cartoonist, who’s work to commemorate Barry Hines has been shared on social media.
The “Drew Review” has finally been released, which is a report, by Professor John Drew, former chief executive of the Youth Justice Board. The Review was commissioned by South Yorkshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner Dr Alan Billings and covers the period from 1997 to 2016. The findings show that South Yorkshire Police’s Handling of abuse is inadequate, however it also shows that a lot has improved.
South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner, Dr Alan Billings, has received Home Office funding to allow South Yorkshire Police to continue to support the Greek authorities search for Ben Needham. Ben went missing on the Greek Island of Kos almost 25 years ago. His mum, Kerry Needham has always believed he’s still alive, and likely to be in Greece. Last year, police officers and Ben’s family visited Greece to take part in a TV appeal. Since then, the police have followed a number of new leads, and people have come forward with more information. Now, the four hundred and fifty thousand pounds will allow the work to continue until October 2016.