Bird study group - February 1998

The Sheffield Bird Study Group (SBSG) celebrates its 25th anniversary this year, having been formed to provide local bird-watchers with greater opportunities to play an active part in the study and conservation of birds. This it achieves by organising local projects and surveys as well as encouraging members to participate in national projects organised by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) and the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust.

The group seeks to cater for all ornithological tastes. At its regular indoor meetings, members are informed of local bird movements, given identification pointers, presented with survey news and informed of local events, etc. The major part of most meetings is given over to an illustrated talk by a well known local, or national ornithologist, and once a year there is a members' night which gives members the opportunity to make their own contribution.

Meetings are held in the Arts Tower of Sheffield University, at 7:15pm. on the second Wednesday of each month, excluding August. Excursions, both local and further afield, complement the indoor meetings. Up to eleven field trips are arranged each year using coach or mini-bus, to locations such as North Norfolk, Spurn Head and Rutland Water. Assistance with identification is readily available for those who require it.

Three publications are produced from members' contributions. The Bulletin is a bi-monthly newsletter, giving diary dates, reports of sightings, field meetings and other events, and covers others items of current interest. The annual Birds in the Sheffield area, the cost of which is included in the SBSG subscription, is an account of all the species seen in the recording area during the year, together with reports of all surveys undertaken. The Magpie, an occasional publication, is a collection of papers with the emphasis on local birds.

Membership of the group is open to anyone, beginner or expert, who is interested in birds. Application forms are available from the Membership Secretary, or come to an indoor meeting and join. The Membership Secretary is Chris Falshaw, 6 Den Bank Crescent, Crosspool, Sheffield S10 5PD.

Hearing Dogs - February 1998

In Britain 200 out of every 1,000 people have a significant hearing loss. A considerable proportion of these people could be helped in a practical way by a dog trained to alert them to the everyday sounds such as the door bell or telephone which hearing people take for granted.

The Hearing Dogs for the Deaf scheme has been in operation since 1982, with a national training centre preparing suitable dogs for this valuable role. Funded entirely by voluntary contributions, they need our help to carry on and extend their work, it costs £2,500 to train each dog.

We can all help in a practical way by saving used stamps, which are collected locally as a valuable source of revenue. With Christmas coming please try and save yours, including those from overseas, and take them and/or donations to Casson's shop at Totley Rise.

Hallamshire Heritage - February 1998

If you care about the preservation and sympathetic use of the rapidly disappearing old buildings in Sheffield, why not join the Hallamshire Historic Building Society. Membership costs £5 per year and entitles you to attend talks, visit sites of historic interest and receive the society's newsletter. Just contact Mrs C Ward on 233 5980.

The National Trust - May 1998

Why join the National Trust?
The crudest answer is that NT membership represents good value for money, providing free entry to a stunning portfolio of historic properties, parklands and gardens.

The Trust protects through ownership and conservation over 300 impressive historic buildings in England, Wales and N. Ireland, the vast majority of which are open to the public. Within reasonable distance of Bradway are: Hardwick Hall (perhaps the nation's finest Elizabethan prodigy house); Kedleston Hall (Robert Adam's eighteenth century Palladian masterpiece); Calke Abbey (the country house which time forgot); Sudbury Hall (an idiosyncratic Stuart house built to an outdated Jacobean plan); and the enormous and beautiful Clumber Park, near Worksop.

Three or four visits to such properties in a year ensure that annual membership fees show a payback against entry charges.
However, while season ticket holders are very welcome, the Trust hopes for more principled support than that. We would like to think that increasingly people take out or retain membership out of conviction rather than economic choice, because the Trust has a mission worthy of support - to conserve the nation's heritage, both the built and the natural heritage; to identify, articulate, present and promote the distinctive spirit of each place in its care; to provide access to precious places previously denied to the public and, through interpretation and education, to help visitors, young and old, to appreciate and enjoy the properties they visit.

The Trust is a charity which relies on individual support and which is not in receipt of public funds. The merits of its charitable purposes - conservation and public access - and the quality of its work attract 37,000 people to volunteer for it each year and 2.5m people to take out membership. To retain such a membership the Trust must through its work earn and re-earn every day the support on which it is based by providing high quality visitor care.

Very often people assume that the Trust is obsessed with country houses. This is not so. The Trust has been much more open and innovative in its acquisitions than many suppose. We have lighthouses, agricultural mills, a cotton mill, a spade-making mill, several public houses, five World Heritage sites, chapels, churches, Paul McCartney's original 'council house' in Liverpool and many more.

In the East Midlands the Trust opens to the public Mr Straw's House in Worksop, a treasure-trove of memories of the 1930s, when time stopped still in William and Walter Straw's home. Last year my team was responsible for rescuing from development the finest surviving example of rural workhouse in England: if we can raise the funds to restore it, we will be able to tell the story of the vast underclass which existed in Victorian Britain, when the nation was at the pinnacle of its power and prestige in the world.

In any case, our focus in country houses has shifted from concentrating heavily on the state-rooms and the art to encompass as well the fascinating domestic offices of these properties - the kitchens, laundries, stables, servants' quarters, pantries, garden bothies, ice-houses, estate yards.

The Trust provides, well ahead of those who argue for legislation, a 'right to roam' in our dramatic upland landscapes. At close hand to Bradway are the Trust's magnificent estates in the Peak District - 40,000 acres or so, from Kinder Scout, Bleaklow, Edale, the upper Derwent, Mam Tor to Longshaw, Dovedale and the Manifold Valley. The Trust maintains traditional farming patterns, dry-stone walls, and vernacular buildings in the teeth of environmental threats, commercial pressures and visitor pressures. The income is modest and the costs are great. We rely on those who care for our environment to protect our work in the Peak District, on 600 miles of our coastline and in other beautiful areas by taking out NT membership.

The Trust is not a campaigner, like Greenpeace. We are a doer. We put our money (or rather your money) where our mouth is. We protect a vast estate for your benefit in perpetuity. Our authority derives from what we do and what we achieve.

So much changes in our lives year by year and day by day that we yearn for our roots and some stability. The National Trust protects that heritage, offering a sense of place, continuity timelessness and serenity. Now who wouldn't opt for a bit of that?!

Christopher Pennell
National Trust Director East Midlands
To join please ring 01909 486411.

NSPCC - May 1998

The Sheffield and Hallamshire branch of the NSPCC was set up 110 years ago to help and protect vulnerable and defenceless children who were known to be suffering from cruelty and neglect, often hidden from sight within their own homes. It is tragic that after so many years the physical and emotional abuse still goes on and that the work of the Society is needed now as much, if not even more, than it ever was.
The NSPCC receives no government aid and relies, for the continuation of its work, upon its supporters and the generosity of the public.

From small beginnings in the 1950's the District Committee for Dore, Totley & Bradway have gradually increased the number of volunteers working in this part of the city. These volunteers help with fund-raising via house to house collections, flag days and at fund raising events. If you would like to volunteer to help, or would like more details, please contact Joyce Cook on 236 4837.

The Red Cross - May 1998

The Red Cross and Red Crescent movements operate worldwide to support those in crisis and many people give generously to raise funds for such global work. However, a recent survey has shown that whilst most people are aware of what the Red Cross does internationally, many are simply unaware that the Red Cross plays a vital role helping people in South Yorkshire who are experiencing difficulties and personal crisis.

There are a range of local services provided by volunteers. Most of these services can be accessed directly by people in need or may come through referrals from other agencies. They include:

• Fire Victim Support: which gives practical and emotional support to people in the aftermath of domestic house fires and is activated by the Fire Service.
• First Aid Duties: helping the public when they become ill or sustain injuries whilst out and about at public events throughout South Yorkshire.
• Medical Loan: provides specialist equipment, such as wheelchairs, walking aids and commodes on a short term loan basis to make life easier when illness or accident make moving about difficult.
• Therapeutic Care: offers in hospitals, hospices and day centres, hand care and massage or neck and shoulder massage, to assist relaxation and promote a sense of wellbeing to anxious, tense or distressed people who can benefit from someone's personal touch.
• Transport and Escort: provides accompanied essential and leisure journeys to people with mobility difficulties using appropriately equipped vehicles.
• Message and Tracing: helps people parted by war, political upheaval or natural disaster to maintain contact when other forms of communications are disrupted.
• Youth Work: working with young people to help them explore social and educational opportunities, learn about helping others and developing team work.

The Red Cross welcomes new volunteers to help this work either by directly offering their time to deliver a service or by helping with fund-raising. Please contact Mrs Elspeth Mallowan on 0114 266 0656 during normal office hours for more information, or to arrange a talk on the work of the Red Cross for any local group or organisation

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