February 2006 Issue 58

Longstanding community figure and activist Mr Muhammad Iqbal has been awarded an MBE in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours.

On 4th January 2006 we received reports of a large police presence in the Spital Hill area. At around 11.30am the following day we witnessed five uniformed police units station themselves on Brunswick and Burngreave Roads, Spital and Earsham Streets, Bressingham Road North and Spital Hill.

• The Messenger comments on New Deal’s decision not to renew funding for some projects.

• Information about the Messenger.

Residents, workers and projects have expressed their deep unhappiness with New Deal’s decision not to renew funding for many valued projects.

The Kashmir Earthquake Relief Fund’s recent multicultural delegation to Kashmir included Abdul Assim from the local Kashmir Educational Trust. The visit had two aims, to deliver relief to the victims of the earthquake and to find out what was going on…

Spital Hill's shops remain ‘open for business’ despite the Council's notices to the opposite.

The facts around exclusions in Burngreave are complex. There were fewer exclusions of secondary pupils in Burngreave last year than in previous years but primary school exclusions in Burngreave are three times the city average.

Due to severe shortages of places in local primary schools, the Children & Young People’s Service and St Catherine’s Catholic School are increasing their Reception class places from 30 to 60, starting from September 2006.

Within Sheffield there are over 100 languages and dialects used and within Burngreave there is a higher concentration of people who do not speak English and require assistance in order to access various services.

Inspired by the Palace and Mosque exhibition, a wonderful feast of beautiful textile creations were produced last November during a short practical course, ‘An Introduction to Islamic Textile Design’ at Firshill Community Primary School.

Would you like to take part in making a quilted wall hanging and learn some of the techniques of quilting, embroidery and painting on cloth?

A fantastic exhibition of Islamic Treasures of the Middle East from the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Ben Masters grew up in a ‘crafty’ household and, taught by her grandmother, has as she told me “been making things for as long as I can remember.”

A Burngreave resident has been awarded a rather impressive position. Kevin Christopher Jones, aged 20, is the Methodist Youth President for 2005–06, a post which has been running for ten years.

Sarah-Jane Madden is one of over 200 entrants into this year’s Miss Sheffield competition. She is 21 and is currently in her third year at Sheffield Hallam University studying psychology.

The Bay Horse, on Pitsmoor Road has been a favourite pub for as long as I can remember, and longer as some regulars recall. The pub is now Pitsmoor’s only family-owned hostelry.

December 2005 saw the start of the Deliver It Green (DIG) project and the appointment of the first Green City Stewards.

Fuel charges have increased several times recently and are set to keep on rising. Here are a few tips which would cost you very little and help to keep your fuel bills down.

The Council’s Trees and Woodlands Team has just published a collection of stories, poetry and artwork about the trees of Abbeyfield Park, featuring storyteller Shonaleigh and Marvel Comics illustrator Graham Higgins.

Community forestry is about developing the urban forest. Trees provide a wealth of benefits for people living in urban areas – air pollution can be reduced by being absorbed through the leaves of trees.

March 2005 news from Burngreave New Deal for Communities including:

• Your questions answered

• Member needed

• Burngreave’s in fashion

• Partnership Board Meeting – Wednesday, 21 December 2005

• News in brief

The view from the school

Six months ago, we reported on how local children and students from Burngreave were getting on at school. We said that the Area Panel was going to discuss these findings with local schools and see how successes could be maintained, and any difficulties could be overcome.

Passing by Verdon Street, you could easily mistake The Furnival for a 6O’s pub: from the outside it is just a dreary, characterless brick box. Inside, however, a different story is told by the people who use it, of faith, determination and hope that turned the building into a church.

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