December 2009 Issue 85

Magid Mah has astounded all those who know him – at the young age of 20 he has reached the peak of the highest mountain in Africa, Mount Kilimanjaro, not only that but he was told he was the first Somali to achieve it! John Mellor spoke to him about his journey…

Over a third of the jobs promised by Tesco at Spital Hill will now be delayed until 2015.

Families on low incomes are being advised to check if they can now get housing benefit to help with their rent or a reduction in council tax.

THe meseenger celebrates its 10th Anniversary; congratulations to Sarah, our administrator, who gives birth to a baby boy;

In recent months Bereavement Services have been doing significant work in Burngreave Cemetery. (Includes full action plan download).

It’s not very often that the Community Forestry Team finds itself digging up trees – but that’s exactly what we did on Friday 23rd October!

Burngreave Community Action Forum’s AGM in October started by demonstrating its links with other Burngreave organisations – by sharing lunch with the Messenger after its own AGM.

Maat Probe Group aims to highlight inequalities in mental health and to do what it can to improve services through communication. Includes link to full report.

A recent Council project to renovate rundown houses in Page Hall opened its doors to residents in November.

The Council has submitted a bid to the government for new council houses in Burngreave and Fir Vale.

The controversial Redwall development gained full planning permission to build 44 new houses at Grimesthorpe Road in November.

Two World War Two veterans who landed at the same beach in Normandy meet each other after 55 years.

Unveiling of plaque to thank all those who contributed to the refurbishment

SOLID is a local group which supports families of prisoners.

Report from University of Sheffield shows Burngreave residents can expect to live 15 years less than people in Lodge Moor and Fulwood.

On Wednesday 17th October 2007, 16-year-old Jonathan Matondo was shot in Nottingham Cliffe Rec. The community was shaken to the core as they tried to come to terms with what had happened.

16-year-old Mahya Abdullah is a Yemeni girl who came to the UK in 2001 aged 9. She was not able to speak any English and started at Hucklow Primary School in Y4. After moving to a number of schools, she settled at Firvale Secondary School in Y8.

The Friends of Burngreave Cemetery celebrated National Apple Day on Sunday 25th October with a variety of activities in the chapel. CHANGE OF DATE: The 14th December tree-planting has been defered to the New Year.

Whilst it doesn’t have the same feel as the corridors of Parliament, Verdon Recreation Centre has long been the venue where Burngreave’s more senior members can be found putting the world to rights.

On Wednesday St Catherine's School held a Pupil Living Library to celebrate Interfaith Week. The idea for our Living Library was that pupils act as ‘living books’ and visitors could come and talk to the books to find out about their lives and experiences.

Burngreave-based 1Ummah1 Islamic Youth Group visited a 99% non Muslim School as part of Islamic Awareness Week in November

Sunday November 15th 2009 saw the start of England's first Interfaith week

Page Hall is an amazing place. If you had any doubts, you only need spend five minutes looking at Richard Hanson's new exhibition to be sure.

Local parents group PITS celebrated their summer of fun and achievement with an exhibition of photos in the City Centre.

Current Home Secretary, Alan Johnson, visited Burngreave last month with David Blunkett to look at work in the community to combat knife and gun crime

‘Beacons – The Final Spark’ was an event not to be missed by fire enthusiasts and families alike in Sheffield on 24th October at Parkwood Springs.

Blastoff comes to Burngreave. Blastoff is the football on your doorstep initiative from Activity Sheffield. It's open to boys and girls aged 11-13 and 14-16 years

More than 150 Somali residents gathered at Sorby House in October for an amazing day of culture and learning.

The Parents Can Empowerment workshop was held at SADACCA on Thursday 12th November. It was one of four workshops to support African-Caribbean parents and was well attended by parents and workers.

A little while ago we were asked by one of our local schools if we could talk to a class of 7-8 year olds about our lives when we were their age. Three of our group were faced with about 30 children bursting with questions about what it was like to live 50 years ago!

Firs Hill’s ‘Walking Wonderland’ took shape in September, with murals, signposts and pavement markings along the journey from Sheffield Academy to St Catherine’s School.

On Saturday September 26th, 300 women and children attended an Eid party organised by the Yemeni Community Association.

On 27th September, residents of 30 houses on Abbeyfield Road met for food, fun, games and – more than anything – to get to know each other better.

These stories are from a group of local writers, who meet in the area once a week. We write poems and stories some fact some fiction, enjoying one anothers company and sharing ideas and encouragement

News from Burngreave New Deal for Communities

News from the North East Community Assembly. Contact 0114 203 7646

I joined the local history class this year and as part of the course we were asked to undertake a research project of our own choice. I went to school at the Convent High School on Burngreave Road which was a large house that had been extended. I thought it would be interesting to find out when the house had been built and who had lived there. Most of you now will know the building as St Catherine’s Nursing Home. By using internet research sites and the local history library I was able to find out quite a lot about the house and its occupants.

A letter to the Burngreave Messenger

A letter to the Burngreave Messenger

Christchurch Pitsmoor is hosting a miniexhibition of photographer Richard Hanson's ‘Light of the World’ project from 28th November, and will continue during advent (the four weeks running up to Christmas)

Soft Soap is an internet community soap opera.

NHS Sheffield Health and Social Care are recruiting a Pakistani Women’s Emotional Wellbeing Worker.

• £20,710 – £26,839 per annum pro rata

• 18.75 hrs/wk

• Closing date: Thursday 17th December 2009

Working in partnership with Sheffield Youth Offending Service (YOS), we are recruiting volunteer Appropriate Adults and Mentors.

If you live near the Northern General, look out for questionnaires from the Council, to see if you think a permit parking scheme could be the answer to parking problems caused by hospital traffic.

Want to stop smoking? Get free support that really works from your local NHS Stop Smoking Service.

Drop-in clinics in Burngreave – free infromation, advice and support to help you stop smoking.

Events at St Peter's Church over the Christmas 2009 period.

It’s a year since the Rainbow’s End shop opened on Spital Hill. We want to say a big thank you for all your support so come to our celebration events!

Are you friendly and enthusiastic? Do you want to help others to eat healthily, be physically active and improve their mental wellbeing? Do you want to gain useful skills and experience through volunteering?

Index of extra content exclusive to the website.