All Saints-Too Good to miss
This thriving Learning Centre is run and caters
for the African-Caribbean section of our community. For those who use
its many creative facilities wisely the fruits can only bare plenty,
trust me.
Food
is cooked on Wednesday and Thursdays. The mid morning menu presents
rice & peas, fish, chicken, dumplings and itel. 
Walls
with paintings and picture of famous black leaders surround this room
lined with computers. Martin Luther King, Malcolm X and Marcus Garvey
to mention those most prominent in our minds. There are also many others
not so prominent that also don the walls of All Saints. The man occupying
a seat behind one.
With
trained staff they make provisions for black children excluded from
mainstream Education. A bid to help them receive some form of stability
in future life. 
I
peered in at the Creative workshops for prints and designs activity
but it was also empty. I found myself asking someone to stand in and
improvise by using one of the design machines.
Why
don't our young come here?
Courtney Sterling project director of All Saints explained to
me that they were up dating and remodernising the Studio equipment as
well as extending into another part of the building.
I had one burning question for Courtney and that was why All Saints didn't seem to be attracting the people it is attempting to help. Our young people hardly come here. The word apathy lingers in the air. Although a lot of the work being done at All Saints is good. I'm left asking what is preventing this project being a huge hit and a landmark in the minds of all our young Afrrican-Caribbean youth, as well as many other immigrant sections of our community?
As I left I re-read the sign on the main doorway, declaring the building was installed and monitored by my old friend C.C.T.V.
Apathy
or strategy
There was no smoking in this building but this is the same policy in
many other well-established centres around Burngreave. The order of
things inside All Saints seemed strict straight and in good order. But
my question still lingered in the air. Why weren't our young coming
here and why wasn't All Saints involved or seemingly aware of what stage
New Deal for communities was at. Again the word apathy came to mind,
or maybe it was strategy, on this I wasn't quite sure.
Courtney responded by saying many courses have been run on many tropics at the centre and that there is many planned for the near future.
" We don't get news circulated by BCAF or anyone else Rob. The Messenger doesn't even get delivered here," Courtney explained and I was faintly surprised.
Reacting to this I went outside and fetched thirty or so copies of the October issue from my car and placed them on the front desk.
" I'll make sure
there here every month from now on." I declared.
"Thanks Rob. But as far as your other question goes. Well, we do
what we can here see. We can't force the youths to come. And your question
is as good as mine. I don't know why they don't use the place as much
as they should."
There
was nothing more I felt compelled to ask. Other than to stand and admire
parts of the building and the progress in which things inside seemed
to be moving, I left and getting into my car, again began to think of
a reason why All Saints role in our community would seem to be underplayed?
I guess that's a question and my names Rob Smith, reporting on a subject that needs to be addressed by many of us in Burngreave.
St Catherine's Catholic School is celebrating excellent SATs results this year. The school draws most of its children from the Burngreave area and is situated on Firshill Crescent. Under Y6 teacher Mrs Brady, 81% of children achieved the national standard in English, Maths and Science. Headteacher Mrs. Fiona Rigby (33) said: "81% across the board is a tremendous achievement and one which we will all be working hard to maintain."
Ridge walk spotlights
Burngreave's history
Sunday's Roman Ridge walk was an astounding success,
but only for the three brave souls who got to Earl Marshall Park for
10am.
For
everyone that didn't make it: you missed a lot of local history as it
came to life. I only took the short hop as far Wincobank, but my fellow
travellers showed every sign of completing the full marathon to Mexborough.
Margate
Drive v. The Romans
But even in just a few miles along the old ridge road we covered an
awful lot of history. Did you know that the Celtic Brigante tribe's
defensive was 11 miles long and 6 foot high? It kept the Roman's at
bay for 20 years. And it ran straight through Margate Drive!
Or have you ever seen the tall green communal water pump at the back of the Methodist Church in Upwell Street? It has a plaque showing that it was erected in 1836. I must have passed by the spot in a car hundreds of time, but until the walk, I'd never spotted it.
Brightside's
Civil War
As we passed by Brightside, We came across a burial ground for Victorian
Cholera victims. And I learnt that this part of town wasn't so named
because it's on the sunny south facing side of the Don Valley, or because
of the bright metal being hammered out in the foundries below. It was
in fact named after an English Civil War general called Bright.
The long climb to the top of Wincobank took us by allotments and across a Sunday league football pitch. At the top we took stock of the splendid views and found evidence of both recent and long past history. Only a slight two foot rise in the ground shows where the ancient Wincobank Hill fort stood. But you can follow the rise in a complete circle around the summit of the hill. Watch out too for the depression in the ground running alongside it. Once upon a time that was a defensive ditch.
Wincobank's
snookered
Surprisingly, the hill fort has shown more recent military service.
In World War I an ack ack gun was placed near the boundary of the fort
to defend against Zeppelin Raids. And barrage balloons joined in the
defence during World War 2.
We learnt that ancient
cobble stoned track at the top is more recent than you might think.
It wasn't the Romans that build that track, it was the BBC. They planted
two tracks of cobble stones so their huge outside broadcast vehicles
could be posted on the hill to relay live TV pictures from the Snooker
championships at the Crucible. Nowadays the vans don't need to trek
to the summit, it's all done by Satellite feeds.
Truly, there's history on our doorstep, if we only
know where to look.
A knapsack and a Sheffield A to Z is all that's needed to explore our
past
By Chris Huculak
When
I moved here in July I became a volunteer at the Adventure Playground
and it was in this capacity that started attending BCAF's Children and
Young People's working group.
I feel it is important that all the group's that are talking about and are acting on behalf of the community should be accountable to those they represent. I think newspaper is the best way to inform everyone what is going on in meetings so that they can either become involved or express their opinion to right people.
The Children and Young People's working group met in July to discuss how we could involve children and young people in the New Deal process and to decide what the group's priorities are. We decided these would be our main activities:
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We want to identify those working with young people creating a map of provision and develop communication between groups.
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We want to give information on funding resources and be a contact point for those with ideas for children and young people. We want to improve our profile with young people, invite them to meetings, find ways to get their voices heard and include them in the process.
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We want to create access to computers and the Internet for young people and those working with them and provide different media for young people to express themselves through.
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We want to co-ordinate summer holiday provision.
Since these were decided several people have come to us with ideas for children and young people. John Salway has developed a proposal for a Young People's theatre, and several people want to create a sports centre for young people.
If you would like to be involved, have your say, or suggest an idea, our meeting is on the first Monday of every month at the Furnival on Verdon Street at 7.30pm. We would like to encourage local parents to attend this meeting, especially those with children under five and we will look into providing crèche facilities.
Some of the groups represented are........
