Give Blood!

We need you!

Blood donors in Sheffield are being asked to come forward help build up stocks.

New and regular donors are welcomed to go to the Sheffield Donor Centre at Cathedral Court, Church Street in the city centre. No appointment is needed.

Due to a postal strike in some parts of the country last week, regular donors might not have received reminder letters about the sunday session, which was from 9.00am-2.30pm. If the location or time is not convenient, visit www.blood. co.uk or call 0300 123 23 23 to find out your next donor session or alternative donor centre.

For blood donation session informaton for the next 6 months, click here to find out.

SUAS exhibition 2009

19 June to 25 July 2009 at the Crookesmoor Building, new (temporary) home to the School of Architecture. To find out more, check out SUAS blog.

When: Friday 19th June 2009, 18.00pm
Where: Crookesmoor Building, Conduit Road, Sheffield, S10 1FL

Strawberries, Strawberries, Strawberries...

It's that time of the year, just a reminder for people who likes their fruit fresh. PYO fruit at Whirlow Hall Farm is open 7 days a week from 24 June. So what are you waiting for?

Sheffield Half Marathon

RUN JOHN RUN!!

Many congratulations to all who completed this year's Sheffield Half Marathon. Weather was glorious (prolly a bit too warm for those who were running, especially those with fancy costume on!) and many turned out to watch this year's race despite the event being on the same day as the London Marathon. Around 5,500 competed in the half marathon with Jason Ward taking first place with a time of 1:08:02. (Rebecca Robinson - womens 1st place with a very respectable time of 1:14:52)

My friends ran and all completed the half marathon. Pauline's other half, Roger Newman, finished in a very good time of 1:35:41, Lloyd Wilson and Gary Cummings crossed the finish line in 1:50:25 and 1:52:12 respectively and John Butterworth completing his first ever half marathon in 2:20:09. Well done guys!

Some pictures of the runners...and supporters too!

Events in Sheffield

April 2009

18 April - 04 May
World Snooker Championship, Crucible Theatre

15 April - 04 May
Real Ale Festival, J D Wetherspoon

26 April
Sheffield half marathon, Don Valley Stadium

May 2009

30 April - 04 May
Continental and Craft Market, Fargate

1 May
English Heritage: Romancing the stone (Park Hill), BBC2 9pm

10 May
Living History - Medieval Life, Winter Garden

28 May
Farmers' market, Barkers Pool

June 2009

14 June
Cancer Research UK Race for Life, Don Valley Stadium

20 June
Sheffield Pride, Endcliffe Park

27 June
Sheffield Green Fair, St Mary's Community Centre

For more events, check out Event Sheffield website

Sheffield Parks and Gardens

Proud of Sheffield's parks

Sheffield is the fourth largest city in England and is located on the edge of one of the most beautiful national parks. The city is known internationally as the steel city, but there is apparently more trees per person than any other city in the whole of Europe, with over 61% of the city being green space. The city has done a lot in recent years to establish, improve and maintain its green spaces within the city itself. There are some really attractive and special parks and green spaces, each with their own unique features and characteristics. Where ever you are in Sheffield, there's sure to be a park, playground, woodland or other green spaces nearby to enjoy.


For example, Weston Park, the first municipal park in Sheffield with seven Grade II listed structures, had been recently restored to its former Victorian glory. Devonshire Green, Peace gardens, Botanical Gardens, Crookes Valley Park and St George's Church are some other good examples. Some of these spaces were once neglected, heavily vandalised but over the past decade, significant resources had been spent on transforming these back into popular, safe and high quality places enjoyed by Sheffield residents as well as by many visitors.


For information on how you can get more involved in Sheffield's parks and green spaces, check out Groundwork Sheffield, Transform it Sheffield and SCC. If you want to support and help maintaining Sheffield's beautiful environment for generations to come, check out Sheffield's Green Bond website.

For history of Weston park, click here.
For pictures of Weston park Museum during its restoration, click here.
For further details of the restoration of the bandstand and gates, click here.
For information about Sheffield and its parks generally, click here or here.

Snow Sculptures in Sheffield

It has been a while since I last post in January. We thought these pictures taken back in February when it last snowed were worth putting on here for everyone to see, so here they are! Some are really creative... enjoy!

SNOW!

Snowy Sheffield at the start of 2009

Many Sheffielders going back to work for the new year woke up to snow-covered streets this morning. Some places in Yorkshire and Humberside had been recorded to reach -8 last night, and weather experts predicted that Monday night/ Tuesday morning would feel even colder, with temperature plunging as low as -10 degree C!














I was rather chuffed to see the snow, thinking what a good start to the year, but not many shared my excitement as driving conditions were poor and the commuting problems were exacerbated by rail cancellations...

...but Weston Park did look very pretty, and I bet the Peaks would have looked even better!
The Times reported that "so far Scotland had borne the brunt of the cold weather, with the Highlands recording temperatures as low as minus 13C one night last week, but Met Office forecasts suggest that England and Wales are about to suffer the worst temperatures, with a similar freeze on Wednesday night across Wales and southern England. Even during the day, temperatures are unlikely to rise above 0C in many places. "

oOooo wonder if Kinder Downfall would freeze this winter? It has been a long time since it was last frozen...

Christmas Crack 2008

Crouching Tiger & Hidden Dragon?





















Not a bad crowd turned up at Stanage popular end on Christmas Day morning!
What were they all doing there? Of coz they were there to climb Christmas Crack.
If you look really carefully, you should be able to make out the guy climbing in a tweed jacket, plus fours, flat cap and red socks, carrying some old style rope and an alpenstock.





















Here's the chap again. See the alpenstock dangling between his legs?
I would have taken a better close-up picture but was too lazy to move... luckily somebody else did and here's a link to it.














There was a bit of a long queue for climbing Christmas Crack, so we did a couple of routes to either side of it instead.
Here, Leopard is doing one of his fine crouching tiger move (the guy in blue climbing)...





















Lion seconding Hargreaves Original, attempting one of the very difficult crouching tiger or hidden dragon moves... you can decide which one it is













As for me, I was keeping myself occupied with the mince pies and chocolate while the others were busy climbing!

Oh... and we have been captured in one of Mick Ryan's photos too...
look here...

oh and another one here...

Sheffield projects dominated RIBA Yorkshire White Rose Awards

CONGRATULATIONS TO SHARROW SCHOOL!

oOooooo...Sharrow School has impressed the judges and won 3 out of the 13 RIBA Yorkshire White Rose Awards! See Sharrow School Construction Buddies - Brix and Morta's blog - which has everything you want to know about the school, its construction and green roof and of course detailed account of the White Rose Award Ceremony.

Another Sheffield project which fared rather well is the University's Information Commons.

Part list of the awards...

Yorkshire Building of the Year

RMJM: Information Commons, University of Sheffield

RIBA Yorkshire White Rose Awards for Architecture

Gold - RMJM: Information Commons, University of Sheffield

Silver - Sheffield Design & Project Management, Sheffield City Council: Sharrow School, Sheffield

Bronze - Prue Chiles Architects: Hillsborough Park Pavilion, Sheffield

Sustainable Futures Award

Sheffield Design & Project Management, Sheffield City Council: Sharrow School, Sheffield

South Yorkshire Housing Association, Sheffield: Henley Rise, Rotherham

Yorkshire Client of the Year

The staff and pupils of Sharrow School, Sheffield.

Sheffield scenes

Various parts of Sheffield photographed recently...

First one is the well known Arts Tower with the newly restored Weston Park in the foreground. Restoration work has been ongoing in Weston Park and will be completed in 2008 returning the park to its former glory.

Second picture is the nearly completed Jessop West building.

Located at the heart of the Sheffield campus near the Brookhill roundabout, the new energy-efficient home for the Department of History and the Schools of English, and Modern Languages and Linguistics, was designed by German-based architects Sauerbruch Hutton in collaboration with British architects RMJM.

Third picture is the award-winning Sinclair Building designed by Project Orange. The new premises replaced the old 2-storey building with two levels of retail and four upper stories of apartments. It was designed to make a bold statement - its black facade so unlike anything on the Glossop Road had been chosen to "project aspiration and in an area where there is already plenty of luxuriant terracotta faience".

The next picture is the “Sound House” on Gell Street which is part of Sheffield University’s Music department. Instead of the usual metal/ timber cladding you see everywhere in the immediate area, this one is clad in a rubber/ fabric type cladding and only time will tell how well this new material performs.

The pictures that follow are the Peace Garden with its fantastic Goodwin fountain and jets. This feature usually provides hours of fun for kids and adults, who find it hard to resist not getting wet running through between the jets. Nearby across the road from the Crucible Theatre is the Winter Garden and Millennium Gallery.

Lastly, is the Information Commons with its bold jagged pre-patinated copper facade and contrasting black terracotta rainscreen tiles on a concrete podium. The building combines a library and IT resource providing students with various types of environment including different acoustic requirements.

There are loads more interesting buildings and spaces in Sheffield, so watch this space or if you cant wait, visit the following:

More Sheffield Pictures...

Stanage - Ellis's Eliminate

My friend Lion and me Leopard went climbing at Stanage!
One of the climbs was rather enjoyable...

Description of Ellis's Eliminate in Rockfax guide:
20m. VS 4c. A good test of how the jamming is coming on! Traverse the obvious horizontal break on solid lockers (or by a gripping dangle) out to the nose. Finish up the juggy arete.

The crux of the route is the traverse, exposed in a similar way as the Valkyrie at the Roaches, will make your heart fluttered when there is only thin air beneath your feet but it's reasonably well protected. You can stick gear in the traverse and simply go for it! The leader, however, should avoid putting too many pieces of gear in...or your second would find it difficult because there wouldnt be anywhere left for hand jamming!

Tinsley Towers - Gone with a BANG

Two iconic concrete cooling towers in South Yorkshire have been demolished in a controlled explosion.

Millions of drivers passed the 250ft (76m) towers by the Tinsley viaduct on J34 of the M1 at Sheffield over the decades.

At 0300 BST on 24 August 2008 demolition has reduced the "salt and pepper pots" to rubble.

These were iconic, a symbol of homecoming to many and a monument to Sheffield's industrial past. They might not be beautiful but definitely did not deserve to be demolished.

"The towers have been silent witnesses to a changing world. Though intrinsically ugly and industrial they have, through familiarity and the passage of years, become objects of beauty. Their demolition says much about present day values and cultural perceptions. E-on are quite simply vandals." - Neil Theasby, Sheffield

Yet another iconic landmark and tribute to our history lies in the dust, all in the name of progress.