March 2005 Issue 49

The Masterplan is still provoking anger and fear this month. The Plan, which includes demolition and rebuilding of retail and residential areas, is due at Council Cabinet in May for a final decision. But some residents are determined to get their views heard and the plans changed.

On Saturday 12th February 2005, many local people joined staff and management of the Cactus Club for the reopening of the new fully licensed venue.

Despite existing complaints from local residents, planning permission is being sought by Viridor Waste Management to dump more noxious waste at Parkwood.

• The Messenger comments on the reopening of the Cactus Club.

• Messenger information and how to get involved

The Council’s Masterplan has left home owners and businesses uncertain what to do next. They wait for the Council to decide if their properties are to be demolished. And because no decision has been made, reassurance cannot be given about how much owners might receive for their properties or if they can be rehoused in the area. The Messenger’s Rob Smith and Carl Rose went out to talk to those affected.

The Messenger has often received complaints about the poor workmanship of Council contractors. We have investigated residents’ complaints about the facelift scheme and its contractors on Barnsley Road, but we’ve also received praise for builders employed by a local resident. It seems the home improvement game can be a bit of a lottery.

Dorothy Howitt was born in Fitzwilliam Street in 1923, and her sister Mary in Lopham Street in 1930. Both were educated at Pitsmoor Church of England School. After leaving school, the sisters learned hairdressing and worked together.

No one celebrates the return of blue skies, golden sunshine, green leaves and flowers of all colours better than Burngreave’s Hindu community. If you call at the Hindu Samaj on 25th March, the Spring festival of Holi, be sure to wear clothes that wash easily – whatever colour they are when you go in, you’ll look like a walking rainbow when you leave.

Layen Wisdom is a local volunteer for the Burngreave Sports Network.

• Kickboxing Classes

• Running Club

• Ladies Soccer

• Tai Chi

Under 7s, Under 8s and Under 9s results and fixtures January – April 2005

Creative Burngreave’s 2004–05 grant scheme funded sixteen arts projects ranging from theatre and film to photography and dance.

On Tuesday 15th February Osgathorpe Park unveiled its multicultural mural displayed on the brickwork of Firvale Youth Centre – Osgathorpe Park Pavilion.

At the Scout and Guide hut on Holtwood Road, Brownies have been holding meetings for many years and our Rainbow unit reopened in December 2003. Now a new Guide unit is starting on 13th April 2005.

A very special allotment is taking shape in Grimesthorpe – a place where people with mental health problems can come to slowly unwind. John Lawson, who admits he knows ‘next to nowt’ about gardening, told us how seeing something grow can really help people recover from some of the terrible things they’ve experienced.

Join us in using Reflect- Action to improve life in Pitsmoor – you put your whole self in.

Head, Hands and Feet Massage Aromatherapy by Professionals

Work has started on a sanctuary for wildlife at Parkwood Springs on a neglected area of land at the side of Shirecliffe Road. The hawthorn hedge is being laid in the traditional way by expert hedger Jasper Pratchek, using a technique which will allow the hedge to regrow and thrive.

Rangers from the Burngreave Green Environment Programme (BGEP) have uncovered a stone sculpture that was immersed in an overgrown bush in Catherine Street/ Somerset Street Park, Burngreave.

At the end of March the Burngreave Green Environment Programme comes to an end.

Green City Action (GCA) will be running the seed exchange again this year. The scheme provides free vegetable and flower seeds, as well as onion sets and seed potatoes

A few people in the area are interested in starting a fishing club. Are there others who would like to join us? We fish on the River Don or local ponds and lakes with occasional sea-fishing trips.

March 2005 news from Burngreave New Deal for Communities including:

• Novel initiatives hit the right notes

• Thank you

• Poverty Conference

• Life is on the up!

• Help needed

• Youth Project

• Women’s Day

New Burngreave Area Panel Co-ordinator Andy Shallice shares his first impressions.

The Kashmir Curry House is a bit of a landmark on Spital Hill, known for decades for good, tasty curries and an atmosphere of informality. B’sharath Hussain, who owns the restaurant, told me how it all started.

There will be a small exhibition for Burngreave’s International Women’s Day Celebration on “Cooking up A Memory”, to illustrate the creative talent in Burngreave’s kitchens

• A Request to Ex-Steel Workers.

• “Church Spires and Wedding Bells”. An exhibition of photos.

Readers of the Messenger share their views and have their say.