Communities Live!

On the 3rd of July, the 13th ‘Sharrow Festival’ was once again held on ‘Mount Pleasant Park’ and continued its reputation as one of Sheffield’s best local festivals with over 7000 people attending to enjoy various music stages and nearly 100 stalls providing a wide selection of foods, crafts and information.

In these two reports produced and presented by Erini Apostolidou for Sheffield Live, we take a closer look at some of the events and people around the festival.

Part 1: Evelyn Joseph presents a local project for sexual health awareness in the BME communities. Ronin Barkshire explains why the extraction of oil from tar sands has to stop and how the struggle to achieve this is connected with saving energy here in the UK. Georgina Valentine gives us an insight on the beneficial effects of meditation. Usua, Maira and their friends tell us about their expectations from the festival and stress the need to bring famous bhangra musicians and performers.

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Part 2: A compilation of music performed live at the festival. From rap to gypsy and from a cappella singing to karaoke. Don’t miss young Pallav singing the Jacksons 5 hit “I’ll be there”

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SHEFFIELD: Forgemasters

The biggest casualty of the recent budget in Sheffield has been the cancellation of the £80million loan to the city’s steel manufacturer Forgemasters. The loan was approved in March when the Labour government’s business secretary Peter Mandelson came down to the city of steel and made the announcement.

The loan was to be spent on constructing a 15,000 tonne forging press to make components for nuclear reactors. This plan would have created around400 jobs in the city. Once completed, the forging press, was expected to attract international business as the demand for heavy nuclear forgings is estimated to triple by 2020, up to 70,000 tonnes. There are currently five companies, capable of producing large nuclear components, and only one possessing a forging press as large as the one planned for Sheffield.

This podcast takes a look at how the city responded to the decision, featuring interviews with the city’s Labour MPs, Leader of the City Council, Lib Dem Councillor Paul Scriven, Doug Patterson, Unite’s regional representatives and locals who signed the petition asking the government to rethink its decision.

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SHEFFIELD: City Of Culture

‘City of Culture 2013′ aims to build on the success of Liverpool’s year as European Capital of Culture 2008, which had significant social and economic benefits for the area. The winning city will be one that is able to deliver a substantial programme of cultural activity which leads to a demonstrable step-change in their area, and a lasting legacy. The four finalist cities are: Sheffield, Birmingham, Derry/Londonderry and Norwich.

The Sheffield bid aims to position a whole generation of young people in the driving seat for culture. The programme will uncover, nurture, inspire and showcase the talent and energy of Sheffield’s young people as the city’s emerging cultural asset. The city will become the stage for their cultural programme in which many elements are produced by and with young people and will connect with the wider generations of Sheffield.

We wish to engage everyone in the city in creating, making and performing cultural activities in 2013. Our people won’t just watch culture, they will create it themselves and produce an original, authentic, interactive and international programme.

This podcasts talks to Council Cllr Paul Scriven on the city’s bid to become UK’s first City of Culture and first aired on Sheffield Live! 93.2FM on June 16, 2010.

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SHEFFIELD: City Of Sanctuary

City of Sanctuary is a movement to build a culture of hospitality for refugees and asylum-seekers. In 2007, with the support of the City Council, Sheffield became the UK’s first ‘City of Sanctuary’ for asylum-seekers and refugees—a city that takes pride in the welcome it offers to people in need of safety.More than 100 local organisations including schools, community projects, student groups, and most of Sheffield’s main faith communities have now joined the movement.

This podcast (Broadcast on June 16, 2010) is a report on Sheffield’s status as the City of Sanctuary for asylum seekers and refugees. The podcast features interviews with Sarah Elridge, development officer for Sheffield City of Sanctuary; Lib Dem Cllr Shaffaq Mohammad; Rodrigo Edema from Uganda, Tendero from Zimbabwe and Jinan from Lebanon, who all have successfully progressed from asylum seekers to refugee status.

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……….where radio folk put on aprons and take to the stove

Harry’s prawn curry, Irini’s spinach pie and Dale’s burritos meet Simon’s lentil stew, Paul’s chili and Jill’s wakes cakes on a night set up to share our favourite dishes with you!

This menu is not complete, so do join us on the 4^th of March to meet the faces behind the voices and find out what we have been cooking.

On the decks will be Graham Marshall (Spirit of the Wapentake), Chris Welch (Sounds Like this), Kevin Resley (Walk a mile in my shoes) and S. Lee Price (Vancouver Manouever).

Saturday 12 of December: two weeks before Christmas and the city centre is buzzing with activity, full of people out to buy presents for their loved ones. What’s the essence of Christmas? Even if nowadays it has become a little bit of everything, from taking a loan to getting drunk, even if you’re not a Christian yourself, you’ll probably agree that Christmas is also about caring for others as we care for ourselves (and you may go as far as admitting that it is actually in our own *interest* to care for others). That’s why we thought it totally ‘Christmassy’ to make a programme about things that matter to Sheffielders, both at home and away.

This programme will take you for a *political* stroll around the city centre. First we follow the Palestine Solidarity Campaign to the Moor: how do Sheffielders respond to the call for a boycott of Israeli goods? The discussion is there, sharp and live, ranging from a “yes I will” to “No, thank you, I’m shopping now” (why thank me?) and to outright cussing. At the Town Hall the Stop the War Coalition is gathering signatures for the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan. We ask them where we can find hope for the anti-war movement when the government ignored million-strong rallies; walking down Fargate and past the open-air market, we come upon the Body of Sound choir. They’re singing to raise funds for an asylum seekers support group.

Blah blah blah….Merry Christmas, have a listen, and tell us what you think!

A ‘Political’ Stroll Around the City Centre: PART 1

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A ‘Political’ Stroll Around the City Centre: PART 2

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