Crosspool News – crosspool.info
The Crosspool community website run by Crosspool Forum
Crosspool Forum’s next Open Meeting will take place on Thursday 26 January at St Columba’s church. It starts at 7pm.
Come along and give your concerns on local issues to local councillors, the police and officials.
This year’s Stephen Hill Youth pantomime is Hansel and Gretel. It runs from Wednesday 15 February to Saturday 18 February. Tickets, at £4 or £3 for under-12s are available from Bob Hodges on 0114 230 3207.
The refurbishment of Hallam FC’s ground in Crosspool will be celebrated next year with an event on 13 April.
Sandygate, officially recognised as the oldest football ground in the world, has been improved with refurbished clubhouse and dressing rooms, the relaying of paths inside the ground, new barriers and work to the pitch.
Speaking on Radio Sheffield this morning, chairman David Slater said: “We think we’ve got the best ground in the Northern Counties League. There are some wonderful places that have had Football Foundation grant aid but we’re very proud of what we’ve done and match up to anybody. People come all over the world to see us. We have to keep that ground spick and span and it is now.”
The work was paid for by an unexpected donation in his will by long term Countrymen fan Roger Bell.
Special guests will oversee the official opening at 1pm on Friday, 13 April.
Hallam FC take on Yorkshire Amateur at Sandygate this afternoon, in a reminder of a boxing day tradition that goes back over 150 years.
Today’s Guardian newspaper reports how we have we have Hallam FC and Sheffield FC to thank for boxing day sport:
On Boxing Day 1860 at Sandygate Road, the world’s oldest and second oldest clubs played the first ever inter-club match, a 2-0 victory for Sheffield, the senior side, who prevailed despite fielding fewer men.
Kick off this afternoon is at 3pm.
First South Yorkshire has announced most of the timetable for the 51 bus route over Christmas and new year.
Full details are on the First South Yorkshire website:
Christmas and new year First bus services (2011/12) in South Yorkshire
Around 20 allotment plots at Hagg Lane were broken into on Thursday 15 December.
Padlocks were cut and smashed from both gates and sheds in order to steal property, according to The Hagg Lane and District Gardeners’ Allotments Society. The society’s website says:
We have again been advised to let as many people as possible know who have suffered individual theft/damage to contact the Police (telephone 101) so they can quickly link all the reports together.
No one else can report on a plot holder’s behalf and it is very important that everyone affected contacts them and gains a crime reference number to help build the full picture of the above incidents.
The incident last week follows a break in at the same allotments back in October.
St Columba’s church in Crosspool has launched a website.
It can be found at stcolumbacrosspool.org.uk and includes details of services, news, and information about its activities in the community.
The launch coincides with a busy programme of Christmas service at Crosspool churches, starting this weekend with candlelight services.
The four local Crosspool churches have announced their programme of services for the Christmas season:
18 December 10am Family Communion; 4pm Festival of Angels Carol Service
24 December 4pm Candlelight Nativity Service; 11.30pm Midnight Communion (joint service with Beacon Methodist at Stephen Hill church)
25 December 10am Christmas amily Communion
18 December 2.45pm Candlelight Service
25 December 10.15am Christmas Day
24 December 4pm Children’s Nativity Service (not Mass); 8pm Christmas Night Mass
25 December 10am Christmas Day Mass
18 December 4pm Carol Service
24 December 4pm Children’s Service with Christingles; 11.30pm Midnight Communion (joint service with St Columba’s)
25 December 10am Worship For All Ages
This Christmas, St Columba’s church in Crosspool is celebrating its second Angel Festival, using large willow angel figures created for the church by local artist Lesley Warren.
The word angel means “messenger” and community groups have been invited to create an angel that expresses the message of their group this Christmas. The host of angels will be exhibited at St. Columba’s over the weekend before Christmas. The exhibition is open from 10am-2pm on Saturday 17 December, with hand bell ringers at 11am.
On Sunday 18 December, the exhibition is open 3-4 pm with an Angel Carol Service at 4pm. Refreshments will be served and donations received in aid of the Cystic Fibrosis Trust, who have been a huge support to a local family.
At the last Crosspool Forum Open Meeting, residents raised the issue of the frequency and reliability of the 51 bus service. Our local councillor Geoff Smith has contacted First and asked us to publish the response he received.
He appreciates that it does not take us any further but thought our readers should know what was said. He has also contacted Stagecoach about running a service on the 51 route as well but has not received a reply yet.
South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive has a role in keeping bus companies to their advertised timetables. However, they need specific examples to take any action. If you have a specific example you wish to bring to their attention then you can do so by using pam.horner@sypte.co.uk or 0114 221 1452.
Dear Councillor Smith,
Thank you for your email in relation to the problems passengers are receiving in Crosspool on Service 51.
Firstly, I am sorry to hear that passengers are unhappy with the service being received. There have been a number of timetable changes in recent times all with the objective of improving punctuality.
I have received feedback from our Scheduling Department as follows;
We have been analysing data for each journey over a period of a typical month and adjusting the timetable to account for known and predictable delays. For example, the slow queue up to Broomhill at the afternoon peak period, delays at school start and finish times etc. This has resulted at certain times in scheduled and published breaks in the timetable of slightly longer than the general frequency of 10 minutes. It’s the unexpected that can cause unscheduled breaks and there can be a variety of factors outside of our control.There should be the facility for passengers to text “Your Next Bus” at the bus stop, if they have a mobile phone and this should provide the customer with an estimated arrival time of the next bus.
We can’t really draw comparisons between different services. It was always the case that different areas merit different frequencies and solutions. The population density along the 52 route is much stronger and so are passenger numbers. And another bus company has chosen to operate alongside First on the 52 route.
I hope the information provided is of assistance to you, however if you have any further questions then please don’t hesitate to contact me.
Yours sincerely
Amanda Maybury
Lead Customer Service Advisor
Subject: Update – 51 Bus Service
Crosspool News - crosspool.info 