The Baishaki Mela

Sunday 8 June in High Hazels Park

craft, bouncy castle, stalls, face painting, kids rides, activity centre, live music, performing artists

For more information contact the event manager

Mothiur 'Shahin' Rahman on 07816 042133

(And don't forget the big Darnall Carnival on 5 July)

Babies and Toddlers Love Books

Come and join us at Darnall Library, Britannia Road for 5 FREE weekly workshops to take part in with your baby or toddler

The first session is on Wednesday 4th June 9.45am until 11.45am

Interested?

For more information and to book a place phone Michelle at Darnall Forum 0114 249 0099

Meeting About Traffic, Air Quality and Public Transport in Darnall

6pm Tuesday 13 May, Living Waters Centre, Darnall
Do you or your children suffer from asthma or other respiratory problems which are made worse by pollution? Come to a public meeting to talk about traffic pollution and air quality in Darnall and the Don Valley, and how things can be improved?

Do you have anything you want to say about public transport in Darnall? The meeting will be attended by a representative from the South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive. Hear what they have to say about local public transport issues and put your questions and comments to them.

You will also be able to hear about plans to build 4,000 new homes in the area. These plans might make traffic and pollution worse, unless the new home owners are encouraged to use public transport, so we need to know what the developers and the SYPTE are going to do about this.

Darnall Community Park Nature Area Opening Event

Saturday June 7th 1.30 - 3pm
To celebrate the new Nature Area in Darnall Community Park we are having an official opening event on Saturday 7th June from 1.30 - 3pm. There will be a brief tour of the Nature Area and after there will be events for children including refreshments.
Improvements on site include:
Mosaic art features made with Greenlands Junior School children and artist Amanda Wray
A wildflower meadow
Information board
New trees
Wavy benches
New pathway
Shrub clearance
Vehicle barriers
Come and join us to celebrate the improvements and meet our new Project Assistant, James Starky.
Regards, Darnall Green Spaces Team

Visitors to the Employment Roadshow which toured Darnall last week

Darnall Forum Team Visits Parliament

Members of the Darnall Forum team are pictured with local MP Clive Betts on a fact finding visit to the Palace of Westminster. They are standing with Portcullis House and the tower of Big Ben behind them.

Mr Betts conducted the team on a lightning tour of the Palace and explained some of its workings. Over lunch on the members' terrace, overlooking the River Thames, he then answered questions about how MPs can work with local people and community forums to strengthen local democracy and make sure that people's wishes are heard.

The first pictures shows, from left, Clive Betts with Michelle Wood, Neil Bishop, Anne Shirling, Shabana Sajer, Sidrah Ahmad and Nazia Fazil. The second picture shows the team posing on the terrace before lunch. The extra member of the group in the second picture is our social work student, Ellen Sellars.

Plan to stop health project in Darnall is discussed at hustings meeting

Local residents held an old fashioned hustings meeting in Darnall last night. The meeting was organised by Darnall Forum and all the local election candidates for Darnall were invited. Two of the candidates attended, Mary Lea from the Labour Party and Julie White from the Greens. The UKIP candidate, Charlotte Arnott, was represented by her husband Jonathan.

Mary Lea told the meeting that the Liberal Democrats intend to sell land in Darnall which has been earmarked for a new intermediate care centre for older people. 'This is in their budget proposals and it will stop the project from going ahead in Darnall,' she said. Although both the Green and UKIP candidates have reservations about the sort of public and private finance initiative which will be needed to pay for the new centre, all three candidates at the meeting agreed that the new centre should be built in Darnall.

It was also alleged at the meeting that the LibDems have pledged to take resources away from more disadvantaged parts of the city to spend in Dore and Totley.

Challenged by local residents to say what they would do if a minority LibDem administration was proposing to take resources away from Darnall Ward, neither Julie White nor Jonathan Arnott would answer what Mr Arnott called 'a hypothetical question'. 'I don't know yet what the Greens will do if there is a hung Council,' Dr White said. Mr Arnott said that UKIP would have 'to look at things on a case by case basis'.

In a remarkably good natured meeting, all of the candidates praised some aspects of each other's policies. 'This sort of meeting is a really good thing and it should happen more often,' said Julie White. The meeting heard that Misbah Chowdhury, the LibDem candidate, was too busy to attend.
ENDS

The picture shows Mary Lea making a point to the meeting as (left to right) Richard Arnott from UKIP, Marie Gregory from Darnall Forum (who chaired the meeting) and Julie White from the Green Party look on.