Thank You Ikea!

The Ikea team who donated and installed our new furniture

The Ikea team from the new store which will be opening soon in Sheffield gave a Christmas present to Darnall Forum and the local residents who use our centre for courses in ESOL, IT, confidence building, sewing, crochet and other subjects. They installed new furniture which has made our learning spaces much more user friendly. We can now accommodate more learners at a time. Thank you to the team for their gift and all their hard work.

What People Said About Our Celebrate England Events!

First the good news! You can read a report about the 'Celebrate England' Lantern Parade here.

However, in the same week that Dame Louise Casey warned about 'worrying levels of segregation' between some Muslims and other members of society and recommended that schoolchildren should be taught British values, some local Muslim parents complained that their children had been sent home from school with leaflets about our 'Celebrate England' Christmas Community Fair. 

The event, held at the Church of Christ in Darnall, was designed to help people from different communities meet one another and better understand some of our traditional English customs and values. The Christmas Fair had a Christmas theme, and included an information point about the Christian celebration of Christmas featuring the Church's nativity scene. However, it also featured many secular aspects of Christmas that are typically English including a visit from Father Christmas.

There was no attempt to assimilate people into a uniform 'English' way of celebrating Christmas, much less to persuade them to convert from Islam to Christianity. The Fair was simply designed to help people integrate better with their neighbours and understand some of the things which have made England what it is like today. 

Those who came, Christian, Muslim and non-believers alike, all enjoyed themselves and got to know one another better. We hope that local schools will heed Dame Janet Casey's advice and not buckle to pressure to keep people isolated from and ignorant about key aspects of Britishness or Englishness. (In this case it is 'Englishness' that was being celebrated, because Scottish people traditionally had a very different attitude to Christmas and did not celebrate it in the same way.)

Our Community Christmas Fair helped local people from all backgrounds and communities to Celebrate England

Our Community Christmas Fair was a great success. Over 100 local adults and children came along. They enjoyed meeting Father Christmas and taking part in a range of Christmas workshops with a Christmas theme. There was a good mixture of people taking part, Pakistani, Arab, Romanian, Portuguese, English, and Bangladeshi! It was a very diverse event celebrated by everyone regardless of religion, culture or origin. People of faith and no faith all had an enjoyable day and learned about Christmas traditions and the origins of the Christmas festival, represented by the Christmas tree and the Christmas nativity scene with the baby Jesus and the Holy Family in the stable at Bethlehem, where they were visited by Wisemen bringing gifts to celebrate his birth.

Community Christmas Fair

Join us for our Community Christmas Fair on Saturday 3 December at the Church of Christ from 12 till 4 pm. 

Meet your neighbours and discover some of the traditions which make Christmas special. Find out about the origins of Christmas. Meet Father Christmas and receive a free present. 

Discover things to celebrate about England with our Celebrate England Community Christmas events!

Supported by Sheffield City Council and the Big Lottery.

Help conserve our waterways in Darnall and Tinsley

Darnall Community Christmas Fair, Sponsored by Darnall Forum

S9 Food Bank Appeal

In 2013 Living Waters Christian Fellowship opened a food distribution centre as part of Burngreave Foodbank, serving people in Sheffield 9 (Darnall and Tinsley areas).  This year the food bank is in need of food, clothes, books and toys.

Please help local people in crisis by buying items from the list below and giving them to the S9 Foodbank Appeal. Thank you!  

DROP OFF POINT DARNALL FORUM, 245 Main road, Darnall.

·       Milk (UHT or powdered)

·       Sugar (500g)

·       Fruit Juice (carton)

·       Tinned halal Meat / Fish

·       Sponge Pudding (Tinned)

·       Cereals

·       Pasta sauces

·       Tomatoes (Tinned)

·       Rice Pudding (Tinned)

·       Tea Bags/inst coffee

·       Instant Mash Potato

·       Pasta

·       Tinned Fruit

·       Jam

·       Biscuits or snack bars

For more information please contact Zahira Naz

Email: zahira@darnall.org.uk

Tell Mama Workshop

You are invited to take part in the Hate Crime workshop at Darnall Wellbeing, Friday 25th 10am. Please share the poster with anyone who might be interested in attending.

Tell MAMA is the only national and independent monitor of Anti-Muslim Hate Crime. Tell MAMA data for 2015 suggests that we are witnessing ever increasing Anti-Muslim hatred in the country. Reports to Tell MAMA have identified that muslim women are the greatest victims of Hate Crime.  

The Workshop will give you the opportunity to get involved.

• Role of Tell MAMA
• What is islamophobia and Anti-Muslim Hate?
• Different forms of Hate Crime
• Barriers to reporting Hate Crime
• What we can do to tackle the problem 
• How we should report Anti-Muslim Hate
• Benefits of reporting Anti-Muslim Hate
• Discussion on how we move forward to support local communities

Lantern Parade Praised by Police

Chief Inspector Lydia Lynskey says, "We saw another incredibly successful lantern parade in Darnall, where hundreds of people came together as a community to celebrate Bonfire Night. 

"Events such as this would not be possible without the support of residents, businesses and community groups."

Basic Sewing Course

Every Thursday’s 11-1pm @Darnall Forum

£2 per session

Bring your own material and learn how to cut patterns and sew your designs!

If you are interested in attending this course please contact:

Zahira Naz

Email: zahira@Darnall,org.uk

Tel: 07500766309

New Knitting & Crochet Club

Every Monday 11.30-1.30pm @Darnall Forum

£2 per session

Adults of all ages and abilities welcome.  Friendly and welcoming group.

If you are interested in attending please contact:

Zahira Naz

Email: zahira@Darnall,org.uk

Tel: 07500 766309

Darnall Lantern Parade, Sponsored by Celebrate England, 3.30pm Friday 4 November 2016 at High Hazels Academy

Minutes of the Darnall Forum AGM 5 October 2016

Attendance – 14 people

Apologies – two apologies had been received. The death of a former member of the Board was reported to the meeting. Condolences had already been sent from the Board. It was resolved to send a card to a member of staff who is unwell.

The Minutes of the 2015 AGM were agreed to be a true record.

Matters Arising –

ACTIONS from last year’s AGM – Zahira was going to try to arrange a meeting with the person elected to lead the Roma community, and to the Madrasa and also to the ladies at the Subud Centre about helping to clear up litter, however she wasn’t present to report because she was at a Council meeting which had overrun. Lucy did not know who had been elected to lead the Roma Community but a lot of positive work has happened through Darnall Well Being (DWB). She is still waiting to hear about continuation funding. Good use has been made of Darnall Community Development Centre.

The financial report, which is part of the annual report and accounts for 2015, was adopted. Neil B was asked what is happening to the Forum’s income in 2016. He said it is falling, mainly because we have received £21,000 less from the Council this year but only found out about the reduction in August so it was very hard to budget for it. The Forum needs to receive upfront payment from the Council for its remaining contract if it is to be able to cashflow its work and the councillors have undertaken to ask about this.

ACTION: It was resolved to contact the chief executive of the council, John Mothersole, to ask for a meeting. Sylvia Hamilton offered to join a delegation to see him.

The Trustees’ Annual Report for 2015, including the Chair’s Report was adopted. The councillors had said that all the local charities based in Darnall should join together but – although this might some of our operating reduce costs – it overlooks the fact that each organisation is part of wide networks, in the NHS, and in local Church or community networks which need a hub where their network is focused. The councillors have been made aware that organisations closing will be a loss to the communities they serve but they have no solutions to offer.

ACTION: It was resolved that the community be asked to sign a petition to the Council about the risk to the post office if Darnall Forum has to sell it. Community members also need to email or text their councillors about their concerns. It was also resolved to call a public meeting.

Elections & Appointment of Auditors – There are currently three vacancies for the Board and these were not filled. Sam Nicholson of Nicholson & Co was adopted as the independent examiner for 2016.

Local issues – Future ownership of the post office: it was noted that local people are being invited to join the staff in buying the post office from the Charity.

AOB – The AGM of the Family Development Project is at 4pm on Tuesday 18 October. The DWB AGM is at 5pm on 15 November in the Primary Care Centre. All are welcome.

ACTION: Copies of the petition and the newsletter to be distributed at these meetings.

Keep Our Post Office Safe in the Hands of the Community

Sign the petition in the post office. Already more than 300 customers have signed since it was launched this week. We are asking the Council to help Darnall Forum keep the post office safe in the hands of our local community. 

We are also inviting local residents and traders to buy shares in the post office to help keep it safe, because the Charity can no longer afford to be the only shareholder. (There's a special page on the blog where we explain how you can sign up.) 

The Charity has had repeated cuts in its Council funding and is having to sell the post office just to stay afloat. But we want to keep the post office safe for the future if we can.

HELPING US KEEP DARNALL POST OFFICE

• For just £25 residents can help keep Darnall Post Office
• For just £100 local businesses and traders can invest in this vital service to the whole community  

Six years ago Darnall Forum invested £40,000 to keep the post office in Darnall after it had been closed for eight months, when we all had to go to Handsworth, Attercliffe or the City Centre to use a post office. When the post office reopened, people said it was the best thing the Forum had ever done.

In 2010, the City Council gave Darnall Forum £173,530 in grants, including £10,000 to help reopen the post office. Since then the Council has cut our funding every year. In 2015 it was only £64,288 and this year we have been told to expect another £11,000 in cuts. Despite deep reductions in our staff and opening hours, the Forum can no longer afford to keep the post office in community ownership without more help. 

The trustees and staff do not want to see the post office close again. We believe the safest way of keeping it open is to keep the community in charge. Because it has been so successful, the post office staff have said that they will buy a majority stake in it. But we need you, the residents and traders of Darnall, to help us.

If you are a local resident you can become a stakeholder for as little as £25, or £100 if you are a local trader or business. You can find an expression of interest form at the post office or send us the details we ask for at the bottom of this post. 

Even £100 is less than the cost of one visit to another post office each week for a year! If you are able to contribute more than £25 or £100 you will be helping others who cannot afford to help us but still need the post office to stay in Darnall. Any profits will be reinvested in the post office or paid to stakeholders as a dividend. 

If we cannot raise the money to keep our post office in  community ownership it will have to be offered for sale on the open market. Unfortunately, we cannot guarantee that a new owner will be found or how long they will be able to keep it open.

EXPRESSION OF INTEREST DETAILS
Name:
Address:
Email Address:
Telephone No.:
I should like to become a stakeholder in Darnall Post Office. I wish to purchase a stake of [delete as applicable]
£25 (resident) / £100 (trader) / Insert a figure (multiples of £25 please)
Please send this information by post, email or text to The Manager, Darnall Forum, 245 Main Road,  Sheffuield, S9 4QD / E darnallforum@gmail.com / M 0780 359 2206

Our AGM is at 6pm tomorrow, here at the Forum. We'll be talking about how to keep the post office in community ownership!

Darnall Forum's AGM will take place at 6pm on Wednesday, in the Forum's offices next-door to the post office. Anyone who lives or works in Darnall, Attercliffe and Acres Hill is eligible to attend.

The meeting will be asked to help keep Darnall Post Office in local community ownership.  Forum Manager Neil Bishop said, "The charity has lost more than 60% of its Council funding since we took over the post office and, although it is doing well and has won several awards, we can no longer afford to run the post office ourselves because we're desperately short of money for the other things we do."

The Forum took over the post office in 2010 after it had been closed for most of that year, causing serious inconvenience and hardship to local people. In what was then a groundbreaking move, the Forum became the first charity to take ownership of a post office in a city location, although there are now charity run post offices as far apart as Newcastle and London.

Mr Bishop said, "The trustees don't want to have to sell the post office to the highest bidder because they remember what happened before it was owned by the community and they don't want to risk it closing again - this time for good. Unfortunately, the charity owning all of it is no longer a solution so they are asking local residents and traders to buy shares in the post office. The staff of the post office have already said that they are wiling to invest their own money in it, but we need support from local people too."

Next week we will be writing to 5,000 local residents and traders asking for your help, but the AGM on Wednesday will be the first opportunity to give your backing to a new model of ownership where, instead of being owned entirely by the Forum the post office would become a Fair Shares organisation. 

Ikea Job Fair for Local People

If you live in Darnall or Tinsley and you would like to apply for a job at the new Ikea store, this is for you!

There will be a job fair on Wednesday 12 October from 10 am until 6 pm at The Source Skills Academy, 200 Meadowhall Way, S9 1EA. The event will give you all the information you need about career opportunities at the new Ikea store.

To find out more, contact 0114 263 5600 or email community@thesourceacademy.co.uk.

If you live in Darnall, Acres Hill or Attercliffe and would like extra help and advice with finding employment you can also ring Neil or Zahira on 0114 249 0099 or you can email neil @ darnall.org.uk (no gaps). This is a project funded by Newground Together.

Darnall Forum's Annual General Meeting

The Annual General meeting of Darnall Forum will be held at Darnall Forum, (next-door to the post office), on Wednesday 5 October at 6pm. Anyone who lives or works in Darnall, and is happy to provide their home address and contact details, is welcome to come and take part.

Darnall Forum currently manages a number of community programmes including adult community learning, employment support for people looking for paid work, support for Black and Minority Ethnic women, and support for community activists and local community groups. The Forum also owns Darnall Post Office and provides a voice for local people on important issues such as dealing with fly tipping and how best to help people find work in the new Ikea store.