Winter 2002

Editorial

This is always a busy time of year for most of us in the build up to Christmas and New Year. Buying presents and planning family gatherings takes time. We are lucky in Bradway that we still have a good range of local shops, whether you are ordering a turkey from the family butchers, looking for sweets or treats, a bottle of wine or ideas for presents. When it comes to local shops it is a truism to say that it is a case of ‘use them or lose them’.

Recent changes on Twentywell Lane have increased the range of items and services available, and this is reflected in our special feature on these shops.

Finding suitable presents for friends and relatives isn’t always easy. However you can always turn to the printed word, with books to cater for every interest and hobby. Publishers tend to produce more new books at this time of the year than any other, and this issue contains plenty of reviews on some you might like to consider, along with the wide number of books already covered during the year.

Whatever your plans for Christmas, a quiet break, family gathering, or a trip away, we hope you enjoy it!

John Baker, Editor

New Computers

Greenhill Library will shortly be receiving 9 personal computers provided under the Governments New Opportunities Fund, which is making computers available in public libraries throughout the country. This is to enable everyone to have access to a computer and to the Internet.

These computers will be available for use by anyone with a valid library ticket, in order to learn how to use computers, to do word processing, or to provide access the Internet.

Time on the computers will need to be booked in advance. Usage will be free, though there will be a charge for any printouts. More details from the library on 203 7700.

Bradway needs you!

The Bugle is Bradway’s own community magazine, aiming to cover local history, local organisations and the interests and concerns of the people who live here. To succeed we need your help.

Please tell us about: organisations you are involved in that we may have missed; events being organised; local news; and burning issues. We would also like to hear any information you may have on local history including old photographs.

Copy deadline for the spring (February) issue is 31 January, so please start writing now or ring on 0114 236 9025. We look forward to hearing from you.

Post Box

Dear Sir,

Please find enclosed a poem I wrote regarding ‘The Castle Inn’, Twentywell Road, Bradway and the host Ken Cottrell: -

There’s a castle at the end of my road

It’s not a fortress, it’s an inn.

The Landlord’s sings better than 'Crosby'

And tells funnier stories than the Big Yin.

In many ways it’s a moving experience,

When he begins a song.

He’s the only person we know

Can get both the words and the tune

wrong.

But apart from his jokes and his singing,

You’ll not find a more perfect host.

He’s kind. He’s honest. He’s friendly

To his customers. He’s the host with the

most.

Now the Scots are a strange breed of

people.

Instead of the word know. They say ken.

This happens to be the name of our

landlord.

So I’m proud to say that I ken Ken.

Louis Middleton

Dear Sir,

The swifts, this August as last, left a little earlier than they used to do. The large colony on the Laverdene estate shot off around the seventh, a full week before the traditional date. Despite an indifferent summer, they had bred reasonably well and of course damp weather, as opposed to cold and wet, can be good for insects. No one has an explanation for the early departure, but look for them again around May 10th; what incredible route finding!

The swallows and house martins lasted to the end of September, but failed to make it into October, as the martins did last year. Towards dusk in mid-September, small parties of a dozen to twenty martins could be seen heading steadily southwards over Bradway, just above roof height. Look for them again in mid to late April for swallows and in early May for the martins – unless the Sahara widens.

The Old Hay kingfisher is in good form at present. Several times recently it has rocketed upstream under the footbridge near the end of Grove Road. They are surprisingly small when seen from close to, about the size of your hand, so can catch only winnows or sticklebacks; certainly the small shoal of trout above the Old Hay footbridge is beyond their capacity. Mild winters allow the fish to move - and be spotted; and there is no ice, so kingfishers have been under little pressure in recent years. Every time I saw the bird, the sky was grey and low, yet the feather’s iridescence lit the air.

Yes, an indifferent year here, with no temperature record being broken, yet world wide 2000 was the warmest year on record. The record lasted one year, and apparently this year is being set to beat 2001. The warming trend is certainly there, whatever the cause. We can expect more birds and butterflies from the far south, but the change is rapid and much of nature needs a slower pace. In summer the met office said that snow in England will become a rarity and last Christmas’s frosty week was an event to be expected only every 10 years.

But: many over-wintering moth and butterfly eggs and pupae are good at resisting dry cold, but rot in moist mildness. Result - a smaller summer population. The grubs that blue and great tits feed to their young might flourish in April rather than May, but the birds are programmed to produce young in May, when the grubs used to be at their peak. Result – starving young birds.

The Sahara will almost certainly continue to widen, presenting an ever more formidable barrier to swifts, swallows and martins, trying to reach Britain. We meddle at our peril, for we understand so little of natural systems and there complex inter-actions.

John Kirkman

Dear Sir,

I wish to draw readers' attention to a planning application for a four-storey block of flats which has been lodged for the Abbeydale Garden Centre site adjacent to Dore station.

Apart from the fact that four storey flats would be totally out of place, the site is desperately required for a car park for Dore station. Dore station car park is totally inadequate, holding around 18 cars. Upwards of 80 cars park in the vicinity every day, on spare land across the road, in the area of the adjacent flats and on Dore Road.

Both major political parties in the city are committed to increasing the use of Dore station. The chance to create a proper park-and-ride site at Dore station must not be missed.

Peter Fox, Chairman,

Hope Valley Railway Users' Group

Dear Sir,

The opening of the Post Office and Convenience Store on Twentywell Lane is very welcome, particularly for the older residents without transport. Theoretically, this should bring more business to our shops on the block.

Unfortunately, this is not happening because at least six cars are parked all day in the parking area which is meant for customers and in this day and age if people cannot park they won't shop.

The only answer would be a limited parking time and I did attempt to have this implemented several year's ago, but the Town Council informed me they did not have the finances to carry this out.

Many customers regularly complain about this matter, with the result they shop elsewhere which obviously is detrimental to both the shops and the public in Bradway.

Dorothy Makinson

Makinson’s Fruit, veg, and florists

Supertram expansion

A big consultation exercise is planned over the next few months to determine the exact routes for proposed extensions to the existing network. One potential extension would run through Fargate, down Pinstone Street, along The Moor then to Bramall Lane before heading for Abbeydale Road, towards Millhouses and eventually alongside the existing rail line to Totley. A branch would leave Nether Edge for Meadowhead and Lowedges.

Arsenic health warning

Council officers have issued a health warning after arsenic levels in some Sheffield residential areas were found to be more than four times the recommended safety level.

Nearly 70% of 569 soil city samples taken at 500 metre intervals across the city and analysed by the British Geological Survey, contained more of the deadly poison than the Government guidelines. Now people are being advised to take extra care when cooking and preparing vegetables, by removing all soil and thoroughly washing them.

Not all soil arsenic can be absorbed by humans but scientists warn that long-term exposure to low levels of the toxin can cause a wide range of illnesses, including cancer.

The city council is currently conducting a four-year programme to identify contaminated sites, such as the high lead levels in Totley. But officers were unaware of the abnormal arsenic concentrations until alerted by the survey report.

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