Fargate and High Street to receive £15m to save Sheffield’s struggling retail scene
Sheffield's historic high street will be receiving £15,817,001 in funding to restructure the city's struggling retail economy.
Sheffield Fargate and High Street were one of only 15 areas across England that would be receiving the full amount of funding requested under the Future High Streets Fund from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.
A new cultural hub called 'Events Central' will be opened to provide a space to host exhibitions and events, as well as a café and a co-working space. The council believes this would create an environment for an experience that would attract visitors to spend more time in the city centre.
The report claims the proposal can attract an additional "110,000 visitors to the City Centre, and create up to 505 jobs."
The council will also be implementing a ‘Front Door Scheme’ to work with landowners through grant assistance and open-up new direct front door access to upper floors to enable their conversion for new uses.
Fargate and High Street account for one-tenth of city centre retail space, with 103 retail and leisure units. A year ago, vacancy rates stood at just under 25%, above national trends. However, vacancy numbers have increased due to closures under the impact of Covid-19.
Proposal for Fargate:
Proposal for High Street:
Five books which detail the East Asian and Southeast Asian experience
As Asian hate crimes soar, understanding the community has never been more important. Last week’s events in Atlanta sent a wave of terror through the ESEA community, both in the US and around the world. A man’s shooting spree across massage parlours in Georgia killed eight people, six of whom were women of Asian descent. USA Today unveiled the personal stories behind each of the tragic victims, who were hard workers, dedicated mothers and business owners. This racist hatred is not new, nor is it only prevalent in the US. According to the advocacy group End the Virus of Racism, there has been a 300 per cent increase in hate crimes towards people of East and Southeast Asian heritage since the start of the pandemic. In February 2020, international Singaporean student Jonathan Mok was assaulted so badly he needed surgery. In broad daylight. This escalation of attacks led to the trending hashtag #StopAsianHate – both a collective gesture to show solidarity within the ESEA community, and a plea to the world to lend support in the anti-racism movement. These hate crimes, spurred on by racist rhetoric from politicians like Donald Trump, project Asians as monolithic. Stories by people of Asian heritage, from East and Southeast Asia to the Pacific Islands, provide a much-needed window into their lives, emotions and experiences. This piece brings to the fore books which illuminate what it is to be East and Southeast Asian, dispel the clichés and change the cultural narrative – currently so saturated with outdated stereotypes – one story at a time. To read them is to begin a journey of allyship, which is needed now more than ever.
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Go Home! – edited by Royan Hisayo Buchanan, foreword by Viet Thanh Nguyen
This collection of works explores the meaning of "home" through an array of fiction, poetry and memoir. Published in collaboration with the Asian American Writers' Workshop, the book complicates the idea of home as a physical place, and instead shows how its meaning can be found in food, relationships, journeys and language. While this reflection on home is a universal human concern, it becomes particularly dire for those whose identities make them vulnerable to the threat of never belonging. Like many Asian immigrants, our experience with racism has traditionally occurred through being painted as the perpetual foreigner, the yellow peril or brown terror, with unbreakable ties to a land of origin. The beauty of a home in storytelling is that it allows us to create a multiplicity of homes which no one can completely take away.
Image credit: AK Press
Ru – Kim Thúy
On a starless November night in 1978, crowds of Vietnamese people, including Kim Thúy, huddled aboard a storm-battered boat bound for Malaysia. Crouched in darkness, refugees became numb to the smell of urine, sweat and fear that engulfed them. Night and day became indistinguishable. Thúy was ten years old when the Vietnam War ended with the fall of her hometown Saigon – old enough to recall the deathly silence that besieged the once-lively capital, and the transformation of red gao blossoms into bomb craters. Following the communist takeover of Saigon in 1975, a million so-called “boat people” like Thúy took to the oceans, braving the threat of not only starvation, but rape and murder at the hands of pirates. Ru is a work of autofiction, blending the author's lived experience with fiction. Readers witness the immense hardships faced by the narrator Nguyen An Tinh, who, like Thúy, journeys from Vietnam to Canada, struggles to integrate into Quebec society, returns to Vietnam as a lawyer, and experiences motherhood. Watch the video below to hear more from the author. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oq0wrDVXS9EAll You Can Ever Know – Nicole Chung
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous – Ocean Vuong
“‘On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous’ is a letter from a son to a mother who cannot read," the blurb says. Expressing the pain and agony of the Asian experience is not just challenging in the wider world, it can be a struggle within our own families and communities too. In the Vietnamese-American author's debut novel, Ocean Vuong captures the emotions and sacrifices of a poor immigrant family – along with the trauma of that journey handed down multiple generations – which are almost impossible to explain. The book begins during the narrator Little Dog’s childhood, as he collects fractured memories of his mother to share with her. Vuong, who was born in Ho Chi Minh City before immigrating to Connecticut when he was two, untangles the threads of queerness, class, drugs, and depression which shadowed his upbringing. Each beautifully crafted sentence reads like poetry, inching us closer to Vuong's voice, his feelings of shame and desire.
Portrait of Ocean Vuong in the playground behind the house where he grew up in Glastonbury, Connecticut in 2019. Image credit: The Atlantic.
The Kiss Quotient – Helen Hoang
This romance novel centres on Stella Lane, an autistic heroine who hires an escort in order to boost her confidence with sex, relationships and setting boundaries. The author, Helen Hoang, is of Southeast Asian descent and was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder as she was writing the book, aged 34. We are immersed in Lane's triumphs and anxieties as she takes charge of her life and her sexuality on her terms, while also learning how to lean on someone for help, for support, for intimacy. In her quirky fun way, Hoang insists that there is power, and with it, agency, in self-love.
EXCLUSIVE: Meadowhall employees enraged over staff parking policy: “Nobody should be expected to walk that far to a car park in the middle of nowhere at those times of the night.”
Staff members at Meadowhall are furious over the shopping centre's policy of fining workers for using the main car parks, amidst rising fear for women's safety. Employees are required to park 10 to 15 minutes away from the mall on Alsing Road, forcing them to risk their safety in the dark after shifts.
Photo credits: Charlotte Bamford
A spokesperson for Meadowhall said they will be taking the feedback into consideration.
“We want everyone to feel safe making their way to and from our centre and encourage anyone using our staff car park to use the dedicated footpath which is fully lit and monitored with CCTV 24 hours a day.
“The car park already has dedicated security marshals and we will be increasing this provision to provide further comfort to our colleagues in the coming weeks. We also work closely with our onsite community policing team to ensure the safety of everyone visiting and working in our centre.”
Sheffield divers return to Ponds Forge after a year of challenges
This year has been full of challenges for Sheffield Diving Club. Last week marked the first anniversary of the closure of their training facility, Ponds Forge, when divers were asked to leave the pool and the country headed into lockdown. Things did not get much better from there. When indoor facilities were allowed to reopen last summer, Sheffield City Trust decided that Ponds Forge was too expensive to reopen and announced it would remain shut until April 2021. After a huge campaign to overturn the decision, the council invested £1.6 million to allow the pool to reopen at the end of October. However, 10 days later, the country went back into lockdown, and the pool was forced to close its doors once more.
Ponds Forge Diving Club.
Sheffield diver Rebecca Vega. Credit: David Keep Photography.
The Sheffield Divers try an Australian Style quiz and fitness session. Credit: Sheffield Diving
Sheffield councillors squabble over school crossing ahead of upcoming election
An ongoing social media spat between Sheffield city councillors has seen a Liberal Democrat candidate accused of spreading fake news. The claim was made on the 'Mosborough Ward Labour Councillors' Facebook page over the weekend, where it was also claimed Liberal Democrats have "jumped on the bandwagon" to claim credit for a new crossing.
More Lib Dem Fake News Lib Dem candidate trying to claim credit for the hard work put in by local Labour Councillor... Posted by Mosborough Ward Labour Councillors on Saturday, 20 March 2021
Posted by Mosborough Community Forum on Thursday, 18 March 2021
Barnsley’s beloved boxer, Lee Noble, passes away after brave battle with cancer
A boxer from Barnsley described as "an inspiration to all that knew him" by his partner, has passed away peacefully on Sunday morning after a long battle with cancer. Lee 'Lightning' Noble, 33, was forced to hang up his gloves in 2014 after being diagnosed with leukaemia after 47 fights, in which he won both the British and International Masters Championship titles under the tutorship of the historic Ingle gym in Sheffield. His career also included bouts against future multiple-weight world champion Billy Joe Saunders, former British and Commonwealth champion Martin Murray and WBA & IBF International champion, John Ryder. After completing his intravenous radiotherapy in June 2017, Lee announced in early 2018 that the cancer had returned and spread to his brain and bone marrow. Despite undergoing a successful bone marrow transplant, he confirmed that the cancer on his brain was terminal and there was no further treatment available. Ever the fighter, Lee promised "I'm still walking tall, chest out chin up. I won't stop fighting till it's impossible to fight." In light of his prognosis, the president of the WBC, Mauricio Sulaiman, announced that he would make Lee the Honorary Champion of the WBC due to his "bravery and courage to confront adversity." Lee's death has rocked the boxing world, with tributes flooding in from friends, former opponents and promoters across the globe but none are more poignant and heartfelt than that of his partner, Nicolle Beal. She said of Lee, "He was, and still is, the most amazing man I have ever met and truly an inspiration to all that knew him." "I'm so grateful for all the years I had with him." The outpour of emotion from the boxing and wider communities has touched Nicolle, "the amount of love, support and well wishes we have received is so overwhelming and it means so much to myself and his family." "A massive part of us has gone, but we can take great comfort in knowing that now he can rest." His best friend and former housemate, former European light-heavyweight champion Danny McIntosh offered this touching tribute to Lee: "He was a funny, energetic, crazy joker. We lived together, trained together and partied together." "Lee always remained positive, he took everything with a grin on his face. He was never knocked down in the ring or outside of it." "He was a such an incredible man and he'll be sorely missed by all."
Lee received support from the entire boxing community including former opponent Saunders and former world champion Kell Brook. Credit: Twitter @cassius_connor
Hospital charity share snapshots of beautiful art exhibition in Sheffield’s Northern General
Mosaics and printed artworks created by Sheffield Teaching Hospitals' staff over a series of professionally-led workshops have been assembled into an exhibition in Northern General Hospital. Guided by Sheffield-based mosaic artist Coralie Turpin and illustrator/printmaker Jamie Mills, members of staff attended virtual workshops to help craft their pieces for the display which is only accessible online to the public, due to restrictions. Running sessions via Microsoft Teams, Ms Turpin said: “I found it very interesting working with the staff from all departments of the hospital and the different ideas they had reflecting on their time during the pandemic and focusing on something they love. “I think this project was very good for people during the pandemic. Some had been off shielding, some had been tackling huge admin increases, some at the coal face of the ITU. This was a welcome distraction and mindfulness activity, learning a new skill and meeting new people in a safe space.” Funded by Sheffield Hospitals Charity and Arts Council England, the staff art club forms part of Sheffield Teaching Hospitals' In & out of Hospital programme, aiming to support staff health and well-being. Born from a partnership between Sheffield Teaching Hospitals' Arts in Health team, Yorkshire Artspace and Museums Sheffield, the staff art club enabled 31 staff members to get involved in the two six-week courses which focused on mosaics and print-making respectively. Registered nurse Amber Webb, who works at the Spinal Injuries Unit in Northern General hospital, designed a mosaic poppy flower for her piece. "My favourite part of the process was beginning to get in touch with my creative side. I’ve never done anything like this before, I found it helped distract me from stress and I found the process of planning and designing relaxing. "The online workshops worked really well, everyone managed with the technology well and it worked to deliver the sessions. The only downside was we haven’t been able to meet other members of the club which is a shame." Involved in the print-making classes, Consultant Eye surgeon at Royal Hallamshire Hospital and Northern General Eye Centre Zanna Currie created a lino-print of a swallow flying over a roof at night. "I really enjoyed it and it was something to look forward to every Thursday. It was nice to meet people (virtually) from other parts of the Trust and the teacher and trained artist was very encouraging and a lovely teacher. My favourite part of the process was the time to relax, be creative, try something new and forgetting the 'day job!'"
“Nothing to be sorry about here”: Meet the families changing the narrative around Down Syndrome
Liam and Amos both have an extra chromosome. It's just one of the many extraordinary things about them.
Liam Froggatt has so many social media accounts his mum can’t keep up.
He uses them to post about his hobbies: dancing, football, horse riding, and mountain biking, to name just a few.
As well as these clubs, which have been side-lined during the pandemic, 16-year-old Liam has a purple belt in Taekwondo, and a modelling contract.
He also has an extra chromosome.
It hasn’t been long since people with Down Syndrome were resigned to lives in care; in the 1960s they were institutionalised from birth, and while it’s been an uphill battle away from that point, Liam’s mum Lucinda says the family have never faced negativity as a result of Liam’s condition.
Positivity emanates from Liam and Lucinda as they fit a Zoom call into their busy Saturday evening, recalling how Liam has become an ambassador for Wouldn’t Change A Thing, a charity which is doing away with old-school perceptions of Down Syndrome.
In his new role, Liam will show the world that Down Syndrome doesn’t have to be a barrier to achieving anything. Post-Covid, he hopes to continue walking runways at fashion shows, and will ride his favourite horse, Bailey, for team GB in the Special Olympics.
Liam riding Bailey
Lucinda feels people are very accepting of difference these days.
“When I was at school, if you wore glasses or a hearing aid or had braces, your life wasn’t worth living. Now you’d be the coolest kid on the block.
“Having said that, we didn’t have children with special needs in our schools.”
Something that seems universally acknowledged among the Down Syndrome community is that the positive shift in attitudes is largely down to representation - seeing people with Down Syndrome living their lives to the max.
But what’s the most important thing for people to know about the 40,000 people with Down Syndrome who live in the UK?
“I think, just give them the opportunity and let them have a go at things, and don’t stereotype and say, well because they’ve got Down Syndrome, they won’t be able to do it.
“If Liam has wanted to have a go at something, he’d have a go at it. There’s not much he hasn’t done.”
Liam is an ambassador for Wouldn't Change A Thing
In the UK, there is a conflict between advocacy groups trying to change the conversation around Down Syndrome and a recent rollout of pre-natal NIPT testing, which screens a blood sample from a pregnant woman to test for a range of genetic conditions, including Down Syndrome.
The tests are being offered free on the NHS to women with a higher chance of carrying a foetus with a chromosomal condition, but can also be accessed in private clinics.
They are causing controversy in the Down Syndrome community, as many fear an increase in terminations and feel people with Down Syndrome have been left out of the conversation.
Bess Popplewell didn’t know her son, Amos, had Down Syndrome until four days after he was born. She can’t imagine her family of four without him.
Amos is five now, and runs into school every morning because he loves it so much, so excited he forgets to say goodbye.
He’s learning the names of his school friends and his teachers, and his big sister is his favourite person in the world.
“Down Syndrome has never been something we’ve been afraid of, something we’ve not wanted in Amos,” Bess says.
Amos with his dad
Bess is the treasurer at Sheffield Down Syndrome Support Group (SHEDS). In this voluntary role, she operates under the approach that “It’s the unknown that’s scary, not the Down Syndrome.”
“Down Syndrome is seen as this big thing, and actually it’s just a collection of different conditions that are more likely to occur if you have the extra chromosome.
“It seems scary, but actually, it’s the heart conditions and the respiratory problems and the sleep apnoea. The things that actually do occur in other people.”
“Actually it was when Amos was having epileptic seizures that I was like, I don’t like this, this is not what I want. This is the bit that’s upsetting me and hurting my child. It’s not the Down Syndrome.”
More positivity is needed to remedy the fear surrounding Down Syndrome, says Bess.
“At Sheds, we want to get in touch with families from a really early stage and say hey, congratulations, you’ve got a baby.
“Because so often it depends on who’s on duty when you get the diagnosis as to whether you’re celebrated because you’ve got a new baby who happens to have Down Syndrome or whether it’s oh, I’m sorry. And there is nothing to be sorry about here.”
“We don't gloss over the difficult bits at all. We understand there is a high chance your child will have heart surgery within a few days of being born.
“There’s no point in saying that's not going to happen, but we also want to kind of share with families, especially newer families, that we've been there and we can support you and make it feel less scary.”
Bess doesn’t want to dwell on the controversy surrounding the termination of pregnancies due to Down Syndrome, but notes her sadness at a recent Emmerdale storyline where a couple terminate a pregnancy after finding out the unborn child had the condition.
The storyline was widely criticised and hailed as “insensitive” by viewers at the time.
Bess feels it was a missed opportunity to challenge an outdated message.
“Had they continued that pregnancy, they could have had an actor with Down Syndrome and that would have been really positive representation.
“There definitely needs to be a call for these platforms to really think about the damage they can do.
“Anyway they’ve done it now. There’s nothing we can do to undo that. As a community, we’ll just have to work a little bit harder to make that narrative positive.”
She’s among other advocates currently fighting for termination rates to be in line with the national rate. Currently, foetuses with Down Syndrome can be terminated up to 40 weeks.
Bess is used to people telling her they don’t know how she does it, but advocating for Amos and others like him has become a “purpose.”
“I don’t sit at home thinking, gosh, I just want a day off advocating.
“Every evening I just sit with Amos as he’s going to sleep. And I’m just like, actually, you’ve given me a different life than I thought I would have, but it’s not a bad life. This life is really important.”
“A child with Down Syndrome will bring so much to your family. Even if they can’t talk or do what other children are doing, they bring so many other things.
“They change your life. Even if it’s only for a short while they change your outlook on life quite significantly.”
Sheffield Steelers sign Sondre Olden ahead of the 2021 Elite Series
Ice Hockey club Sheffield Steelers have signed Norwegian international Sondre Olden ahead of the 2021 Elite Series. The Norwegian international, 28, had previously worked with Steelers boss, Aaron Fox at Medvescak Zagreb between 2017 and 2019. Olden arrives from Vålerenga having scored five goals in twenty appearances last season. Speaking to BBC Radio Sheffield, Fox expressed his delight at being reunited with Olsen: "It will be good to work with him again, we were together in Zagreb and he was a top player for me and in our League." The winger, who stands at 6'4", was drafted by the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2010 but has spent the majority of his time playing in Europe. The signing will be a timely boost for the Steelers who begin their new campaign on April 3rd away at Nottingham Panthers. It is the latest of an influx in new signings in the past week, with the club confirming the additions of Adrian Saxrud Danielsen, Tanner Eberle and Kevin Schulze. The Elite Series will be contested between four teams after the previous two Elite Ice Hockey League seasons have been shelved due to the impact of the pandemic. You can watch some of Olden's goals here. https://youtu.be/5bBxGN3mGHc
Element Society launch Community Responders Scheme for youth-led social action
A Sheffield-based charity is giving the young people of the city who have been silenced by the pandemic their voices back. Youth-led initiatives have been at the heart of Element Society’s mission since their conception in 2013. The charity provides young people from underrepresented backgrounds with the resources and guidance to step up and implement the changes they think their communities need. Since 2013, they have worked with Sheffield's young people to complete over 3000 social action programmes, from handing out food parcels to the homeless to launching a podcast keeping their peers up-to-date with the latest COVID-19 guidance. However, the coronavirus pandemic has left many young people disconnected, with feelings of isolation becoming increasingly prevalent. This is where Element Society’s new Community Responder Scheme comes in. Aimed at 16-to-24-year-olds from across Sheffield, the scheme intends for young people to “be encouraged to devise social action projects that they feel are important to them and their communities” in the context of the social challenges resulting from the pandemic. David Green, the coordinator of the project, said: “The project involves young people coming to us and saying: ‘This is what really fires me up, this is where my values are, this is what I think should be done.’” Tanshinga Matewe, 20, first participated in one of the initiatives organised by the charity when she was 16, working on a project to promote awareness of child exploitation. Four years later, she has a job with them and the charity still runs child exploitation workshops within local schools. She said: “It just started off as just being something fun to do during a summer, but actually I was really able to see how much of an impact it was making on me, my friends and the community around me. “What is better than young people educating other young people?” Once candidates have successfully pitched an idea, the charity will provide them with the funds, resources and guidance to implement it. They will also teach them the necessary skills to carry it out successfully, including safe-guarding, risk assessment, project planning and communication skills. Anyone who wants to get involved can find the application forms via the Element Society website.
Sheffield-based anti-street harassment group to shine a light on the issue of women’s safety in the city’s parks
Following the murder of Sarah Everard, Sheffield’s businesses and organisations have pledged donations of lights for an anti-harassment protest in one of the city’s parks. To highlight the risks women have to take every day, the anti-street harassment organisation, Our Bodies Our Streets, are organising a Safer Parks After Dark campaign. They have called on local businesses and community groups to donate lights for a temporary installation and are encouraging people from across the city to collaborate with them at their meeting tonight.
Our community collaborators meeting is tomorrow. Everyone is welcome so sign up now! Can’t wait see you all there ⭐️ Posted by Our Bodies Our Streets on Sunday, 21 March 2021
Ultimately, Our Bodies Our Streets, backed by Hallam MP Olivia Blake, are calling for Sheffield City Council to improve lighting in parks across the city so that women can exercise after dark safely and without fear. This comes after a recent petition received over 4000 signatures.
The petition, started by member Evie Hairsine, states of the lack of lighting: “This is stopping us from accessing green spaces after 4pm in winter, which has negative implications for our mental and physical health, especially during lockdown, and prevents us from feeling like equal citizens with a right to use our city.”
The recent tragedy of Sarah Everard’s murder has provided an undeniable impetus for conversations around women’s safety and there remains a sense of outrage around the official responses to this.
The forced cancellation of vigils across the country for Miss Everard two weeks ago, after police threatened organisers and attendees with steep fines for breaching COVID-19 regulations, caused public backlash.
Kerry Lindeque, a member of the Our Bodies Our Streets organisation, said: “The response of the Met police was a violent overreaction. The threats, arrests, and use of force was entirely unnecessary.
“Considering that Sarah Everard was murdered by a Met officer, to see them violently shutting down these protests was sickening.”
A second member, Connie Rigby, added: “I think they made the situation so much worse because obviously right now there isn’t much trust in the police at all within so many communities. So, to play the safety card is just unbelievable right now.”
To get involved in the campaign, contact Our Bodies Our Streets on Facebook or sign the petition here.