Rugby player donates part of her liver to save baby’s life
A women’s rugby player from Royston, South Yorkshire donated part of her liver to save the life of a baby she has never met.
Courtney Evans, 25, underwent the 10-hour operation at St. James’s Hospital in Leeds, becoming their youngest-ever liver donor.
The procedure took place two days after she played in the semi-final of the Women’s Rugby League (League 2) with her former club, the Halifax Panthers.
She told the BBC: "I play rugby, so having scars on my legs from studs and knocks here and there, having one on my sternum doesn't phase me."
She is hoping to return to rugby and play in the first match of the season with Wakefield Trinity on 23 March.
Miss Evans was inspired to volunteer for the surgery because of her day job working in CT Radiology at the Mid Yorkshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, and by caring for her father who is diabetic.
According to the NHS, the average wait time for children needing liver transplants from deceased donors is 74 days, but some wait up to a year and a half.
The liver is the only internal organ that can regenerate, so healthy people can donate part of their liver either to a known friend or family member or to someone on the transplant list.
Patient confidentiality means Miss Evans does not know the details of the baby her liver was donated to, but she has received updates on their progress.
Miss Evans has been nominated for the Yorkshire Choice Awards Inspirational Individual of the Year 2025.
She told the Wakefield Trinity Community Foundation: “Having since heard about the progress of the baby, it's so overwhelming to think, ‘I’ve saved a life!' It’s really hard to put into words, but it is something that I’ll never forget.”
Late rugby league star Rob Burrow’s wife to compete in London Marathon as tribute ‘to his enduring legacy’
Lindsey Burrow, widow of rugby league star Rob Burrow, will be running the London Marathon this year as a tribute to her husband.
Mrs Burrow will be running in the 26.2 mile course. She said, “Each mile I run is a testament to his enduring legacy.”
Rob Burrow passed away in June 2024 due to motor neurone disease (MND), which was diagnosed five years before his death.
Mrs Burrow said that running in this marathon is “not just a physical challenge; it’s a deeply personal journey of love, loss, and resilience."
Her participation in the marathon will contribute towards donations to the Leeds Hospitals Charity and Leeds Rhinos Foundation. Last year, the marathon raised £73.5 million.
The TCS London Marathon will take place on April 27 where Mrs Burrow will participate alongside her brother Mark.
Rob Burrow, born in Wakefield, was a Scrum-half for 17 years at Leeds Rhinos, winning a total of 13 trophies during that stint including eight Super League titles. With over 500 appearances in his career, he retired in 2017. He chose to come out of retirement for just one match in 2019, a month after he was diagnosed with MND.
He was also made a CBE by the Prince of Wales in 2024 for his efforts to raise awareness for MND, having raised over £15 million for MND charities.
The Rob Burrow Leeds Marathon, dedicated to the former Rhinos player, has also added two new events for this year. There will be a new marathon relay and one-mile run during the event in May.
Mrs Burrow was present for the launch at Headingley Stadium in Leeds.
Speaking out, fighting back: the importance of women reclaiming their voices
Desperate for help, Jessica Lynam was 19 the first time she reached out for domestic abuse support. She was told she would need to relocate to be offered refuge. Wanting to stay in her home city, she ended up staying in the abusive relationship.
"This is why women feel they have no option but to stay with their perpetrator," she says. "I didn't feel supported at all. This is why I ended up in another abusive relationship."
Throughout her 20s, Jessica was abused by two separate partners, and during a particularly dark time, it caused her “try to end" it all.
She reported the abuse both times, and eventually faced one of her perpetrators in court, but to her horror, he received only eight weeks for assault by beating and “blew a kiss” at her from the dock.
Jessica, 30, is now taking control and reclaiming her voice, speaking out against domestic abuse and raising awareness for the subject on social media and at vigils.
She plans to take the stage this International Women’s Day, speaking at Sheffield Women’s Collective’s (SWC) vigil in the Peace Gardens on 8 March to share her story.
As a part of SWC’s three-month campaign to help victims and survivors of domestic abuse by raising money for Sheffield Women’s Aid. Jessica is speaking out about the abuse she suffered and how she feels “the blame is always on the woman”.
She hopes by being using her voice and being open about her own experience Jessica will raise awareness and help other women.
Her testimony comes at a crucial time. Last year, the new Labour government pledged to halve violence against women and girls (VAWG) within a decade, promising specialist courts and policing and tougher laws to support the 2 million women affected yearly by male violence and abuse.
However, a year on and following the Autumn Budget and the Chancellor’s speech, Labour seems to have stepped back from their initial promises, with no set funding planned, despite VAWG being declared a national emergency.
“The Labour party does have that desire and motivation to tackle violence against women and girls," says Hollie Venn, the CEO of Women’s Aid Sheffield. "[But] what we’re not seeing is those words translated into funding and projects”.
She explains funding is essential for tackling domestic abuse as a national emergency, and Women’s Aid have had to “beg and plead for funding for [their] services”. Specialist work has been put into place in some areas, such as in Northumbria where police control rooms have stationed domestic abuse specialists to take calls, but Venn feels it is “disappointing specialist organisations like [Women’s Aid] haven’t been asked to deliver the work,” when they have 50 years of dealing with domestic abuse cases.
It’s not only charities such as Women’s Aid who feel let down by the lack of communication from the government, survivors, including Jessica, have said the fact that the government are not showing any signs of delivering on their promises is “further insult to injury”.
On a local level, grassroots organisations such as SWC are stepping in to amplify victims’ and survivors' voices as the government fails to show any sign of delivering on their promises. Venn believes groups like these are “essential” to battling violence against women and girls, since Women’s Aid themselves started as a grassroots feminist organisation in the 1970s.
Amber Millar, one of the founders of SWC, also highlights why grassroots organisations are important. “With volunteer led and not for profit groups, you know that those involved have a personal commitment to the cause," she says. "With local groups, we can focus on local issues, and help local charities, such as our fundraising efforts for Sheffield Women’s Aid.
"We want to focus on calling it what it is - men’s violence against women and girls. There is no mystery entity committing this abuse. We need to educate young people on what abuse is and how to identify it. We need to have conversations with boys and young men about what is and isn’t healthy behaviour in a relationship, especially when we’re seeing the rise of ‘influencer’s’ like Andrew Tate, and we have a sexual predator as US president.”
Giving women like Jessica a platform to tell her story empowers women’s voices, it removes the perpetrator from her story, and spotlights her own experiences and feelings.
Venn says this is an integral way to support women, and often it “helps other women recognise what has happened to them”. She explained when women do speak out, “their confidence grows and they feel empowered to own their experience out of pride of being a survivor rather than the shame of being a ‘victim’”.
Jessica plans to continue using her voice to help other women and girls. As well as speaking at SWC’s International Women’s Day vigil next week, she has also recently started her own podcast ‘Conversations That Matter’, which she hosts live on TikTok. She currently has over 1,000 followers and hopes that it will only grow as she continues to speak both on her own lived experiences, and on other crimes against women and girls.
When asked what she would explain to a woman in the same position she was in at 19, she says: “Be open and honest with your friends and family. If there’s something that’s being held against you, speak on it yourself. Take that power away from your abuser, don’t let them hold that over you. It may be scary to leave and it may be intimidating, you may have to start all over again, but at least you are alive.”
Pair narrowly avoid prison after admitting hair salon drug distribution
A judge told two people they had "escaped going to prison by the skin of your teeth" at their sentencing at Sheffield Crown Court.
Dean Richard Hassan, 46, a self-employed plasterer, and Jenna McGarry, 39, a beauty salon employee, narrowly avoided jail time this morning.
The court heard that The Hair and Beauty Lounge, on Harborough Avenue, in Deepcar, was a “low level distribution centre” for a variety of Class B and C drugs.
More than £7,000 worth were found between the salon and Hassan’s residence.
The pair pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply. Hassan was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment, suspended for two years, and McGarry was sentenced to nine months imprisonment, suspended for 18 months.
In mitigation, the court heard that the ordeal, which had been going on for more than two years, had driven Hassan “to the edge of despair”, and McGarry “bitterly regrets it”, and “feels like the biggest fool in the world”.
Hassan had struggled with debt the court was told, with Judge Jeremy Richardson KC saying: “You had illegitimate debts to those supplying you with drugs, and you felt obliged to peddle drugs yourself."
The court heard both had struggled with mental health problems. Hassan also suffered from underlying heart conditions and McGarry from the death of her partner four years ago, and is the sole carer of her three children, two of whom are under 18.
Both were given court-ordered rehabilitation sentences to aid their recovery.
Judge Richardson said that if the case had been heard by a jury, it was likely the pair would have been jailed, but as neither defendant had any prior offences, it became a “balancing exercise”, and any outcome must be “just and proportionate”.
“It is a tragedy that each of you find yourself in the dock of a Crown Court," Judge Richardson added.
Rotherham United manager Evans proposes ‘new personnel’ ahead of home game against Leyton Orient
Ahead of tomorrow's game against Leyton Orient, Steve Evans suggested some “new personnel” might be employed in the coming game.
Trailing behind Leyton Orient by 12 points, a win would mean a lot for the South Yorkshire side, and maybe the comfort of their home combined with Evans’ anticipated shake up of the squad will do just that.
In their post-match report, Evans reminded us that the team were “without some huge players”. Those included defenders Joe Rafferty and Sean Raggett, and midfielders, Daniel Gore and Liam Kelly. Leyton's suspended defender Jack Currie is expected to return though appearances from injured defenders Jack Simpson and Omar Beckles seem unlikely.
Rotherham United current form
Last week, Rotherham United won their first away game on a Saturday afternoon in three years. He applauded the effort from his team, the Rotherham Untied manager said: “you have to run to win”, and for Evans that philosophy was fulfilled through their win against Bristol Rovers.
The upcoming match against Leyton Orient comes as a part of three “giant fixtures”, alongside Bristol and Wrexham, all in the span of seven days.
Manager Steve Evans thought the early minutes of the game started out “really nervous” and that some of the players, even the experienced ones, were “feeling the pressure”.
United had an overall strong performance, and with six places ahead of Bristol Rovers a win seemed expected.
Evans said the Bristol match was “a big game for us after the reaction to the Barnsley fixture”, where Rotherham endured a one-nil loss to the club sitting in tenth.
Rotherham’s 3-2 win over Bristol Rovers saw a triumphant header scored by defender Zak Jules and two goals from forward Sam Nombe.
Leyton Orient current form
Sunday saw Orient take a home defeat in the London Derby. Head Coach Richie Wellens said: “Our game management was really poor."
Despite Jordan Brown stealing the first goal just after half-time, Orient conceded two 90-minute goals off the back of two corners and mishaps in their defence.
Wellens gave some culpability to the “brutal” schedule yet stated, “We were nowhere near our best”.
Wellens criticized the “ponderous” play seen at Charlton game, looking for a “tempo” that he believes sets the team apart from others in the league.
Leyton Orient have faced a similar tight schedule and suffered a 2-1 loss to Charlton. They have a game tomorrow against The Millers, and a home game against Northampton Town on March 8.
Should they bring the pace and urgency desired by their head coach, Orient may be in with a chance of catching their first win in three games.
Self injury/harm awareness day: one woman’s journey to recovery
Felicity wasn't even 10-years-old the first time she deliberately hurt herself; clawing at her forehead or biting her hands in a desperate bid to block out her own intrusive thoughts.
"In my mind it made sense, to help turn the emotional pain I was feeling into physical pain," says Felicity (a false name).
As a youngster, she quickly moved on to scratching her arms with various objects; marks her older sister would cover up with makeup to avoid others finding out what she had done.
Felicity, now 24, who asked to remain anonymous, has shared her experience of physical and emotional trauma, as part of self injury/harm (SIAD) awareness day.
The warehouse operative who had a troubled childhood due to a difficult family dynamic began suffering with feelings of self-hatred while she was still at primary school.
Growing up Felicity felt she couldn't talk about her self harm believing: "I needed to hide it".
When she was 16, the pressures of home and working on her A-Levels increased to a point that she began cutting her hips.
"The first time I cut myself I nearly passed out," Felicity says. "I saw the blood trickling down my hip, the room started spinning and I had to sit down."
Despite the physical pain she suffered, Felicity saw it as a way of coping with the emotional trauma she was experiencing.
"It was turning all this mental pain into something you could actually see," Felicity, who also started battling against suicidal thoughts, says.
Harmless CIC, an organisation who provide a range of services around self harm and suicide, describe in a video from their Facebook, the 'intense, consuming and unmanageable' feelings caused by increased cortisol (a stress hormone) that can lead to self harm.
When the brain is flooded with stress, the prefrontal cortex which is responsible for logic and impulse control, struggles to cope.
It is believed dopamine is released during self harm acts - a 'feel-good' chemical secreted from the brain which is also involved in addiction.
According to Government statistics, there were 743 self-harm incidents involving young people, reported between April to June in 2024.
"Addiction is a negative word, like something else is controlling you," Felicity says. "Someone said to me once that I could just stop this whenever I wanted, but it's a coping mechanism. Not a healthy one but it is a comfort."
Self harm/ injury is not limited to physical injury such as cutting, it can include alcohol and drug abuse, purposefully starving oneself or binge eating and exercising too much.
Felicity believes not many people understand harm that results in wounds, in the same way they understand an alcoholism as self harm, for example.
"it's not as gory I guess," she says. "It doesn't usually cross someone's mind to cut themselves."
According to Harmless CIC, sufferers will experience a cycle: emotional distress then experiencing the physical sensation of self-harm, a release of endorphins (body's natural painkiller and mood improver) which results in temporary relief. This is often followed by a sense of guilt or shame, furthering the cycle.
Felicity's recovery during her time at sixth form when she began having weekly talking therapy sessions through Service 6, a charity which provides mental health and well-being support.
"I was asked to write down a list of qualities I would want in a friend," she says.
Felicity wrote things like, kind, friendly, funny, and when she had finished the counsellor asked what was the difference between herself and the attributes she had given to the friend.
"I hadn't realised those things about myself," she says. "It was then it occurred to me I am nice, I am friendly, and funny."
But it was only when Felicity started university that she began to understand herself better, aiding her recovery.
"It wasn't a straight forward path, though," she says.
Desperate to fit in, Felicity would attempt to replicate her peers.
"I bought a bracelet like the girls I was living with wore, thinking we would just be friends, almost as proof that I'm healed," she says. "It took me a little while to realise it wasn't that simple."
Harmless CIC says recovery can come from a process called neuroplasticity, which disrupts the self harm loop through adapting, and changing behaviours.
This includes healthier coping strategies such as practising mindfulness, deep breathing, social support, journaling, exercise/movement, creativity and therapy.
Felicity did find therapy incredibly helpful but stresses the importance of 'what effort you put in is what you'll get out of it'.
"it's a journey, a chapter in your life where you have to learn things about yourself and it can be intimidating," she says. "There's a stigma that it's (self-harming) attention seeking, because people don't understand it. But it's more a cry for help, especially in situations where you feel you can't ask for help. If it wasn't for the stigma I feel like more people would say, 'I hear you'."
Being surrounded by new people and ongoing therapy sessions, Felicity finally overcome her battles with self-harm after self-hatred.
Now a budding photographer, Felicity is finally living the happy life she had always hoped for, with her boyfriend in South Yorkshire.
Her advice to anyone in self injury/ harm situations is to 'forgive yourself'.
"You're doing the best that you can and while you can feel a lot of guilt and shame, it is not forever, there is help and it really can make you stronger by the end of it," she says.
For help with self injury/ harm click: HERE
The Notts Queer History Archive comes to Sheffield’s Central Library
A queer oral history project, highlighting the lived experiences of old and young LGBTQIA+ people in Nottingham, came to Sheffield Central Library this week.
The Notts Queer History Archive project, conducted by journalist, CJ De Barra, brings together interviews and stories from over 165 people.
The non-binary author held a talk at the library last Wednesday detailing their work, with support from the Steel City Queer History project.
The archive covers everything: stories from before the partial decriminalisation of private homosexual acts between men aged over 21 in 1967, the radical demonstrations by the Gay Liberation Front (GLF) in the seventies and eighties, the nightclubs of the nineties and the grassroots organisations of the 2010s.
Mx De Barra said they wanted to speak to people, especially LGBTQIA+ elders in Nottingham before the onset of any conditions they developed, like Alzheimer’s or dementia.
One 93-year-old interviewee had the most “crystal-clear memories of the 1960s” and where he used to go, including hidden parties in clubs and bars before the decriminalisation law change in 1967, and the number on the door where his friend lived.
Mx De Barra said: “In terms of Nottingham being a queer city, we are so used to hearing the stories of Brighton, London and Manchester, it is so important that we go to places like Sheffield and Nottingham that don’t get as much time and attention.”
The journalist and author also mentioned that they were the only Irish person that was included in the archive, despite reaching out to multiple communities in Nottingham.
They said: “Every city has [queer] stories. Because our history is predominantly handed down verbally – a lot of it isn’t written down – and that gets more and more miniscule as you go into certain communities.”
There’s also an activist side to the archive: Mx De Barra collected stories from grassroots organisations, activists and organisers fighting for the rights of queer and trans people in Nottingham.
They spoke to a group of lesbians that set up one of the only HIV and AIDS information projects in Nottingham at their time – a time when there was no NHS or public health information schemes.
The interviews were free-flowing, with Mx De Barra inviting some interviewees to the pub for a quick chat that turned into a longer, deeper conversation. They said: “Some of the people I’ve interviewed have now become the people I go to the pub with.”
As a former journalist, they’ve worked in the cannabis and CBD industry, IVF access for queer couples and many more issues, but they said that “this is the best thing I’ve ever worked on”.
They said that this archive has been a challenge at times, and it’s been difficult as they’re unfunded. They said: “It’s taken time. It has taken three years to get to a point where people feel comfortable to come and speak to me or will go to the pub.”
Now, however, they’ve had people leave items from the past with them, as a visual part of their history, as well as recommended friends and family to talk to for the archive.
Being a completely unfunded and independent history archive, The Notts Queer History Archive hopes to inspire regular people to begin queer history archiving in cities like Sheffield, so their queer histories don’t go unnoticed.
Candlelit vigil set to be held in Sheffield this International Women’s Day
A poignant candlelit vigil is set to take place on Saturday in the Sheffield Peace Gardens as “Violence against women and girls remains a critical global issue.”
Organised by the Sheffield Women’s Collective, the vigil will take place at 7:30pm on International Women’s Day and will see attendees’ light candles in memory of women who have died as a result of male violence.
International Women’s Day (IWD) takes place on 8 March annually and each year sees a host of events taking place in Sheffield and other cities.
Jade Wade, 35, Amber Millar, 27 manage Sheffield Women’s Collective around their normal working lives and families, but the organisation is important to them.
Ms Millar said: “We have to keep talking about men’s violence against women and girls until there is no more violence.”
At the event on Saturday they are planning to have a speech from a survivor of domestic violence and read out the names of the 80 women in the UK whose deaths resulted in a man being charged last year.
Ms Millar said: “It would be great to have a good turnout of people coming to show support. It’s our first event as an organisation, so it’s a learning experience in terms of organising community events.”
In a post promoting the event on their Instagram account they state: “Violence against women and girls remains a critical global issue, with alarming statistics highlighting its prevalence both in the UK and worldwide.
“In England and Wales, approximately two million women are estimated to be victims of violence annually, equating to at least one in every 12 women.”
The organisers were initially part of the Sheffield branch of the UK Women’s March movement which saw a significant number of protests take place across cities in the UK earlier this January. After seeing around 500 people turn out to demonstrate in Sheffield, Ms Wade wanted to continue the activism and asked Ms Millar to join as a second manager of Sheffield Women’s Collective.
Of the large turnout at the march in January, Ms Millar said: “It shows that women are angry. We’re horrified by the treatment of women and girls globally. The removal of women’s rights both in America and in Afghanistan has mobilised many of us.
“Creating these spaces where women can come together, with a common purpose, is invigorating.”
Amber said: “While it’s so important that issues of gender inequality are prioritised every day, IWD serves as a dedicated moment to reflect on the progress that we have made and the challenges that still exist.
“While some people might say that ‘we don’t need feminism anymore’ the reality is that much work remains to be done globally. IWD helps remind us that the fight for gender equality is ongoing.”
The Candlelit Vigil will take place Saturday 8 March at 7:30pm in the Sheffield Peace Gardens.
Huddersfield mother’s fight to ban forced beauty treatments gains national support
A mother’s petition to ban mandatory beauty treatments in education has gained support from a local MP after her daughter was told she would have to undergo a bikini wax or change colleges.
Safiayh Mughal’s 16-year-old daughter, Inayah Lynch, was studying Beauty at Barnsley College and was not warned she would have to undergo beauty treatments as part of her course.
Ms Mughal contacted her local MP, Jade Botterill’s office, who said: “This is a very serious failing by Barnsley College.
“I think it is entirely reasonable that insisting on breaching someone’s bodily autonomy when they do not consent should not be fundamental to someone studying at college.”
Ms Mughal, a beauty therapist from Huddersfield, said: “Inayah came home very upset, she didn’t want to leave her course but didn’t want the treatment.
“She’s still a teenager and she’s body conscious, like most teenagers are at that age.”
Ms Mughal took her daughter’s story to TikTok where her video received over two million views.
“Everyone went nuts, what was overwhelming is the amount of people in my inbox sharing their stories.
“I have thousands of kids and adults that have done beauty courses and it was still the same rule.”
She added: “We spend our lives warning our kids that no means no for this to be undone when they go into adult education.”
Ms Mughal arranged a meeting with the course tutors and Barnsley College’s Safeguarding Team.
She said: “They more or less said in the meeting that all the kids have to have treatments, and that it’s something the college has always done.
“Their argument was that students have to feel the treatment to learn the treatment but I am a beauty therapist trainer myself and I know that’s not true.”
Her daughter left Barnsley College and is now enrolled in a new beauty course at Huddersfield College.
Ms Mughal said: “It knocked my daughter’s confidence massively, she has had to go to a college where everyone has already started the course and already has friends.
“She has been made to think that if she doesn’t do something she’s not good enough for a course.”
Barnsley College did not respond to our request for comment.
David Akeroyd, Principal and CEO of Barnsley College, told The Mirror: "Following a thorough review of the video circulating on social media, we can confirm that there are no safeguarding concerns. We want to assure all parents and stakeholders that safeguarding remains our top priority. We maintain an open line of communication with the parent involved to ensure clarity and continued support. The safety and well-being of our students are at the heart of everything we do, and we remain committed to upholding the highest standards of learning and care."
Barnsley College has now changed their policy regarding mandatory beauty treatments, giving students the right to refuse treatments and making it necessary for students to provide consent prior to any treatment.
Ms Mughal now wants to make this policy mandatory for all colleges across the UK and has launched a petition to change this.
“Totally heartbreaking”: Sheffield litter pickers call for action in tackling fly-tipping by cannabis farmers
Volunteer litter pickers are pleading for help in cleaning up an environmentally disastrous dump of industrial waste from cannabis farms in a brook near Dore.
Heat lamps, fertiliser bottles and cannabis roots were among the items found by a team from Sheffield Litter Pickers in the massive fly-tip, which stretches for a quarter of a mile along Redcar Brook - the source of the River Sheaf.
Maggie Ewan, a 66-year-old volunteer from Dore, said the “disgusting” scene is likely the result of years of fly-tipping by cannabis farmers and unlicensed waste carriers, who dump rubbish from a bridge over the brook at night when the road is quiet.
She said: “A few expletives came out when we first saw it. Obviously they can't take [the waste] to the commercial tip, so a lot of it was disguised cannabis plants in cardboard boxes.
Five volunteers from the group began work on the site on 20 February, clearing around 60 bags of cannabis paraphernalia and other household waste.
Mrs Ewan said: “The smell down here was very fragranced. I didn't really know what cannabis smells like, but it seems to permeate your clothes. It sort of lingered in my car for a while.”
However, when the volunteers returned to resume their clean-up two days later, they were horrified to discover that the culprits had struck again.
Julie Gay, a 64-year-old volunteer from Totley, who was recently awarded an honour from the King for litter-picking in the community, said she was left in “tears of utter despair and frustration” after finding that more waste had been deposited by the criminals.
She said: “We all swore a bit, and then we just had to laugh and think ‘right, what are we going to do?’. So we cleared that again, and then I came home and decided to contact the council and anybody else I could think of.
“It's too big for the volunteers to deal with on our own. At the end of the day, it's about working together to help our environment, and teamwork is the only way we can do it.”
As well as contacting councillors and local MPs, the volunteers reached out to environmental charity The Sheaf and Porter Rivers Trust, which has rallied to support the clean-up.
Andy Buck, a trustee at the charity, said: "We don't know exactly what chemicals might be present in the fly-tipped compost, but those chemicals should not be in our watercourses.
"It's bad news for fish, amphibians and invertebrates, and bad news for water-based flora."
Mr Buck said the charity is hoping to enlist a “small army of volunteers” to clear the brook as part of their river clean-up programme along the Sheaf.
He added: “It's utterly dispiriting. We’re relying on volunteers to deal with the consequences of what's a pretty serious environmental crime.
“But we're very fortunate that we've got people in the city who are willing to voluntarily undertake this pretty unpleasant task.”
Mr Buck said he hoped the full clean-up would take place as soon as a 1.8m tall fence has been erected along Sheephill Road by Sheffield City Council to stop people dumping rubbish in the brook.
The new fencing, approved on 31 January, is part of a wider plan by the council to crackdown on fly-tipping, which has already seen measures installed at 15 sites in the city to deter illegal waste disposal.
Councillor Joe Otten, Chair of the Waste and Street Scene Policy Committee at Sheffield City Council, said: “The areas covered in this project were chosen by the respective local area committees (LACs) in Sheffield, who ultimately decide where to spend their portion of funding that is equally divided amongst the LACs.
“We encourage people to continue to report any incidents of fly-tipping to us, so that we can look into rectifying those, as well as keeping detailed records of those areas which do fall foul to this.”
Anyone who spots a fly-tip can report it to the council online here.
Festival of the Outdoors kicks off with paddleboarding event
Sheffield's Festival of the Outdoors set sail this Saturday with the “perfect weather” for the first event, a stand-up paddleboarding workshop.
The annual festival returned to Sheffield, also known as Britain's outdoor city, with events running throughout March. This weekend, DC Outdoors invited locals to connect with nature with their paddleboarding session.
As this was the first event of the month, the organisers experienced a lower turnout than expected with two participants in the morning session, and two in the afternoon. However, the company is hopeful for more participants in their upcoming events.
Ruby, one of the attendees believes that outdoor activities are an important form of self care.
She said: “I moved to Sheffield thinking I will go to the Peaks every weekend, but that didn’t happen so when there’s an opportunity like this, I just take it.”
DC Outdoors is an organisation offering various forms of adventure activities like stand-up paddleboarding, rock climbing, and weaselling. The organisation has been working with Welcome to Sheffield for five years, on small-scale activities.
Dan Crawford, the representative of DC Outdoors said: “The Festival of the Outdoors is a great advertising opportunity for us to bring in a wider audience, and start off the season.”
He believes that outdoor activities help people come out and enjoy nature, and their organisation helps do that in a responsible way which is also sustainable.
There are various outdoor activities set for this coming weekend with an outdoor climbing experience on 8 March, and another paddleboarding event on 9 March. Several other events, like a beer festival, guided walks and a pollen market, are scheduled during the month to celebrate the return of warmer weather.
Dorothy Pax closure another loss for live music in Sheffield
Post updated on Wednesday 05/03/2025 after news regarding Dorothy Pax
Live music venue the Dorothy Pax has announced its immediate closure today, the second to close its doors in Sheffield in two weeks.
In a statement on Instagram, the venue says it has "exhausted every possible avenue over the last year or so to keep on going", but that keeping its doors open has become impossible.
The Dorothy Pax's situation isn't unusual, however. Over 40% of grassroots venues in the UK are losing money, according to figures from the Music Venue Trust.
These costs are weighing on Sheffield’s live music scene, which has already seen two blows recently with the Leadmill set for eviction and the closure of nightclub Hope Works in February.
Venues are facing a squeeze on income amidst rising costs of living, as well as greater expenses through business rates and higher national insurance contributions coming in April.
While the blame is often laid at the feet of poor management, Maurice Champeau, General Manager at Crookes Social Club, thinks this is only a small part of the problem.
He guesses the amount having this issue is “about 20%”, but stresses the need of venues to adapt, with the Social Club hosting comedy nights as well as letting rooms out for functions.
He said: “We've had to look internally at ourselves at all music venues and say, how can I best make this work?
"People's ability to spend cash is reducing year on year. So, we've got to make it more justifiable for people to spend the money on tickets. How can I make it productive?”
One widely discussed issue is the growing chasm between smaller and larger venues.
Ticketmaster owner Live Nation made £17.8 Billion in revenues across 2023, a year that saw 125 grassroots venues close, a 13% decrease.
Mr Champeau believes that rift is only getting larger, and Jacob Kendrew and Scarlet Bishop of the band Flat Moon agree.
With medium sized venues often paying as little as £50 to supporting bands, the step up from smaller venues is near impossible. Combined with smaller margins from ticket sales, growth is harder than ever for artists; Hawley jokes that the band is “essentially a t-shirt selling company”
Discussing how little money there is in grassroots music, Bishop says the issue is endemic.
“This isn't sustainable, and we just accept that, everyone accepts it as if that’s just the case. That’s not going to be able to keep happening.
“It’s going to become so underground that you can’t find any new artists.”
This is no small worry for the UK’s music industry.
Whilst the band describe independent and ‘commercial’ music as two separate industries, the latter is dependent on the former to produce new talent.
English Teacher are a clear example of this. Winners of last years Mercury Prize, the bands’ singer Lily Fontaine told a House of Commons committee that their bands’ genre would be “non-existent” without the smaller venues that groups initially begin touring in.
Financial constraints don’t just threaten UK music’s talent pipeline, they also make it less accessible, says Mr Champeau.
“I would love to put a disabled access lift to my stage, because there are lots of acts who want to play here, but have people who need wheelchair access to the stage.
“I can’t provide them with that.”
Working off thin profit margins, the £20,000 it would cost him to install a lift isn’t feasible.
“These people have got a right to perform their music, and I should be in a position to allow them to perform”
Solutions have been discussed to help support the industry. Levies on arena and stadium shows to support grassroots venues are widely accepted as necessary throughout the industry, but whilst Bristol launched a voluntary levy recently, Sheffield has no such scheme locally or nationally.
Such a levy would be transformative, helping to support an industry that generated over £6 billion for the economy in 2023.
To look at the figures, it becomes clear that the Dorothy Pax's situation is not unusual. Without further support, the future of a cultural scene that the city prides itself on is far from certain.