Mosborough Mercury, Tuesday, November 18, 2009
Halfway heath gets £350k cash boost for new kids’ play area A HALFWAY heathland will get a £350,000 revamp to provide a children’s playground and a picnic area for the community, but some residents say it is a waste of money. Halfway heath, which separates Deepwell Avenue and Oxclose Park Road, has been chosen as the site for a new community space and a children’s park. The changes will be paid for in full by developer David Wilson Homes who agreed to fund a community project as part of planning permission for a nearby housing estate. The company’s funding is expected to be around £350,000, but residents at a council meeting for the south east area told councillors any development would be a waste of money. Michael Orson, 45, who has lived in Halfway for eight years, said the heathland already has a role in the area. “It’s quite useful to the community already, we don’t need to put metal poles and kids’ slides on it to get people interested,” he said.
Boost: heath will get new play area “At the moment dogs can run around on it and do their business without anybody worrying and kids use it as it is. “The rough ground suits us, we’re not too keen on it changing.” Residents have also voiced fears that the area may lose out on its money altogether if the company behind the payment collapses. Dave Luck, area co-ordinator, said he has no fears about the safety of the money but said changes in how it will be spent are unlikely. “The alternative is for the money to be invested in social housing, which I don’t think is a particularly popular idea,” he said. “It’s pretty much decided that the money will be spent on the heath, and there won’t be a chance for the public to veto that.” Andy Willmore, from Parks and Countryside Services, said the public will be consulted on exactly what the heath will be used for. “We’re open to ideas at the moment and we’ll be listening to what people in the area want,” he said. “In the past we’ve had petitions from youngsters in the area who want to see the area changed and I’m keen to speak to them.” Plans will be made available to the public before work begins.
Footballer in golf club attack A Mosborough football match was abandoned after a player wielding a golf club tried to attack players on the opposing team. The unnamed man, playing for Royston Village against Mosborough FC, returned 30 minutes after being red carded and tried to attack several players with a golf club. He was knocked over and disarmed by players and spectators but the match was abandoned by the referee. Mosborough FC have said the incident will not be reported to police, but the Sheffield & Hallamshire Football Association will be investigating. Sunday league referee Scott Williams said: “This is just the sort of thing that makes refs give it up.”
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‘I thought I’d never see my father again’ Family reunited after 30 year split By Alex Campbell
A FATHER and daughter have been reunited on a poignant afternoon at Mosborough Hall after 30 years of separation. Wendy Treharne, 47, of Streetfield Crescent, left her Somerset home as a teenager in 1977 and has had no contact with her family ever since – until this week. Her father, David Vowles, now 73, said finding his daughter is ‘the best Christmas present’ he has ever been given. Wendy, accompanied by her husband and daughter, met her father at the Mosborough Hall Hotel. She said it was extremely difficult to contain her emotion. “I just didn’t think I’d see my father ever again,” she said. “There were tears a few times. I was shaking and crying before we met, I was really, really nervous. “We just had so, so much to catch up on.” “We talked about all of the family news and obviously my husband and daughter were there too.” Finding Wendy has not been an easy quest for the rest of the family. David Vowles, from Frome in Somerset, lost all contact with Wendy when she moved away and has failed in countless attempts to bring his family back together. The search took on a renewed urgency in 2004 when Stephen Vowles,
one of Wendy’s three brothers, died as a passenger in an overturned van. Eventually the job of tracking her down fell to Mr Vowles’ stepdaughter Julie Lowe. She was desperate to surprise her stepfather by bringing his daughter back into the family. “When Stephen died I knew enough was enough, it was time to find out where Wendy was,” said Julie, who also lives in Somerset. “I know that David missed Wendy terribly, and so did her two brothers. “It was about time they got back together, but it’s been really hard finding her.” Mrs Lowe’s inspiration for picking up the search came after she watched a feature about finding lost relatives on a daytime television programme. She contacted the company featured on the show, an investigations agency called Tracesmart, and waited anxiously for news. “It all went quiet for a few months and, to be honest, I had started to give up hope,” she said. “Then out of the blue they told me they had somebody up in Sheffield who they thought might be my stepsister.” Just two days later, Mrs Lowe received a phone call from her estranged sister Wendy and plans were made for the family to meet. “I couldn’t believe it when I heard her voice on the other side of the phone, and my stepdad was just overcome. “He’s thanked me and said it was the best Christmas present he’s ever had.”
Reunited: Wendy and her father and (below) together in 1968 Wendy lived in a number of different areas before settling in Mosborough. She has also been married twice, which the family believe may have made her even harder to track down. Now the family are in contact at last there are no plans to lose touch again The family are planning another gettogether after the Christmas holidays, and this time Wendy and family will travel down to Somerset. a.campbell@mosborough-news.co.uk
Council saves public cash from Icelandic meltdown EXCLUSIVE By Alex Campbell
SHEFFIELD City Council dodged a financial bullet by moving its money away from a chain of Icelandic banks - just months before the Nordic nation’s economic collapse, a Mosborough councillor has revealed. But Councillor Chris Tutt said the city council is keeping quiet about the shrewd move because its overall financial position is far from secure. The council withdrew its money from Icelandic banks after reading media reports of an economic slowdown in Iceland. Council chiefs took urgent advice from expert brokers and have moved money away from banks with a high risk of collapse. Many other local councils across Britain could lose vast sums of taxpayers’ money after investing in Icelandic bank accounts boasting high interest rates. An estimated £1bn of UK council money has been saved in so-called ‘Icesave’ accounts, but the Icelandic economy is in recession. Many of its banks are relying on emergency loans or nationalisation to survive. Eugene Walker, from the council’s corporate resources department,
Collapse: Landsbanki holds almost £1bn of UK councils’ money shared the news with senior members of the council in an email shown to the Mosborough Mercury. “Over the last few months we have tightened our lending criteria and reduced the length of time we invest for, in response to the current market instability,” he said. “The Council removed all Icelandic banks from our investment lists early in 2008. “We must continue to monitor the
situation on a daily basis and will make adjustments to our lending criteria as necessary to protect public money.” The council has refused to reveal exactly how much money had been invested in Icelandic accounts. But Cllr Tutt said the move was not enough to secure the council’s overall finances. “The council is still facing a major financial problem,” he said. “The problems are in a number of
areas, especially the collapse of the property market.” “A lot less money for capital spending is coming to us from the sale of land and there’s a lot of indecision ahead because of it.” The government is still urging areas like Sheffield to continue ambitious city centre developments, but land that would have been sold to fund them has been slashed in value by the collapse of the housing market. And Cllr Tutt said he cannot rule out a number of non-priority areas – including Mosborough – facing budget cuts as a result. “It affects everything from the top down,” he said. “How this will affect local services specifically it is too early to tell. “There is always a chance that local services will pay the price when bigger things come along and we’ll have to wait and see what happens. “The councillors have several meetings about budget issues in the next few weeks.” The council is set to reveal more about potential budget cuts to local services over the coming months. It is estimated that almost one billion pounds of local authority money has been invested in Icelandic banks by councils across the country. The government is looking into ways it can claim back any lost money.