Is one of your new year’s resolutions to lose some weight? If so, there are two Slimming World groups that meet locally.
Crosspool Slimming World group is held every Wednesday at 5pm and 7pm at St Columba’s Church on Manchester Road. The Crookes group takes place every Monday at 5pm and 7pm and every Tuesday at 9:30am in Wesley Hall.
Thanks to everyone who bought their trees along last Sunday for recycling. Crosspool residents deposited around 200 trees, which were later on reduced to lorry load of mulch chippings.
Crosspool Forum was able to do its bit to help our community and the environment thanks to Paul Rushby at Direct Travel, a team of Crosspool forum volunteers and the generosity of Andrew Fisher of Complete Tree Solutions and his team.
Residents that dropped off trees also made donations of £115 for Crosspool Forum, which will be used in the community.
Provisional dates for Crosspool Forum Open Meetings in 2014 have been announced.
Come along to have your say on community issues. The meetings take place at St Columba’s church, starting 7pm:
Thursday 30 January 2014 – guest speakers include Amanda Forrest, CCG Governing Body Lay Member with responsibility for public and patient involvement and Dr Ted Turner, CCG Governing Body GP Lead with responsibility for public and patient involvement. They will give a brief outline of the CCG’s patient and public involvement etc, followed by a short question and answer session.
The campaign by Broomhill Library Action Group (BLAG) to save Broomhill library is reaching a head, with campaigners delivering leaflets and getting out and about in the community over the weekend.
The consultation period is due to end on Friday 10 January, so if you want to comment on the council proposals, you should do so before then.
BLAG is inviting Crosspool residents to join them and other library users from across the city to present petitions to the council at 1pm on Wednesday 8 January outside the Town Hall.
You can bring your Christmas tree along to the area outside Direct Travel on Sunday 5 January between 10am and 12 noon for free recycling/disposal by Andrew Fisher from Complete Tree Solutions.
Crosspool Forum is helping organise three more courses to help those less confident using computers and tablets build their skills. They take place on different days, starting the week commencing 13 January 2014 at the Scout Hall on Benty Lane.
Beginners course
Learn how to us an iPad/tablet. Starts Tuesday 14 January 2014, 10am–12pm.
Moving On course
This course is suitable for those who attended the ‘iPad/tablet for Beginners’ course or who already have some knowledge of iPads/tablets. Starts Friday 17 January 2014, 10am–12pm.
Internet & Email course
Learn how to create an email address, surf and navigate your way around the internet. Starts Monday 13 January 2014, 1pm – 3pm
An iPad or laptop is provided, but please feel free to bring your own if you have one.
All courses are held at St John’s Scout Hut, Benty Lane, Crosspool, S10 5NF and cost just £10 for the whole course.
For further Information on any of the courses, or to book a place contact Yvonne or Saima on 0114 250 0613/yvonne.m@heeleydevtrust or Crosspool Forum Chairman Ian Hague on 07713 687 955/crosspoolforum@fsmail.net.
St Columba’s Community Angel Festival (photo: Pete Brash)
The fourteen angels created by schools and community groups in Crosspool have created a stunning Christmassy display at St. Columba’s for the Community Angel Festival.
The angels will stay in place until Epiphany, which is 6 January. Â For details of service times visit stcolumbacrosspool.org.uk.
A festive thank you to Father Christmas for stopping off at the Crosspool Children’s Christmas party during the busiest period of his year.
While handing out presents he was given sweets by excited youngsters who had been entertained earlier in the afternoon by Fablo’s Childrens’ Disco.
It did not take long for the one or two children to overcome their shyness and join in with the traditional party games. Most of them won spot prizes for taking part in the various activities.
Spar kindly donated the refreshments and nibbles for the party and an enjoyable afternoon was had by everyone.
Thanks to everyone who attended the party and all the helpers that made this year’s festive afternoon a success.
Paula and Kate with the Crosspool Christmas Red Box
A red box has appeared at The Lounge @ Crosspool this week. It’s not a post box, it’s collecting a different kind of gift for Christmas – food.
Kate Hill, a local mum of two, is encouraging residents of Crosspool and the surrounding area to buy one extra item whilst food shopping to drop into the box.
She explained: “The Red Box idea is a simple way to get the community to come together for a great cause. Christmas is a time to remember that we are part of a community and it’s hard to imagine struggling to buy food for our children but the fact is that an increasing number of families just like ours need the support of the Sheffield Food Banks.
“I set up this appeal to support the food banks across Sheffield, primarily the Firth Park Food Bank because it’s an area that I know well.”
With support from Paula Stacey at The Lounge @ Crosspool and other members of the local community, the appeal is to run until Friday 20 December as the last day to drop food donations in.
Pastor Sam Okerenta, of the Royal Assembly church, who runs Firth Park Food Bank said: “There are 15 food banks around Sheffield run by church volunteers, up from eight a year ago. We are now helping up to 60 people a week, from about 15 when we started.”
According to the local food banks, demand is set to increase massively following various benefit cuts.
“If we can make the Crosspool Christmas Red Box Appeal a success in Crosspool then there’s no reason why this kind of community support cannot be extended the whole year round across Sheffield,” added Kate.
Kate is also the founder of the free community network and directory FunMeFit (www.funmefit.com), which encourages families across the UK to get involved in their community and maintain a healthy, active lifestyle.
To get involved in the appeal or for more information, contact Kate info@funmefit.com or pop into The Lounge @ Crosspool.
Residents question deputy PM at Nick Clegg on Friday
On Friday evening (13 December) deputy prime minister and Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg held a constituency question and answer session at St. Columba’s church in Crosspool.
Chaired by Councillor Rob frost, nearly 90 local residents attended the meeting, which lasted just over an hour. Questions covered subjects including the national rise in food banks, flood defence zoning issues and the rankings of Lydgate Junior and Infant schools.
About a dozen Tapton School students were present with their teacher. Their questions covered tuition fees, and poor election turnout and political disillusionment among 18-25 year-olds.
Other topics included the recent gagging bill, and political disillusionment
with middle-aged voters – it seems that politics isn’t flavour of the month.
Things then got rather animated when a discussion about the banking crisis of five years ago caused considerable disagreement amongst several of those attending.
Closing questions covered Eric Pickles’ Public Development Act, politicians’ blaming tactics – which is unlikely to ever go away – and the criticism that the European Union has recently come in for. The deputy prime minister took the opportunity to reinforce his party’s support for the EU.
Crosspool News - crosspool.info 