Local News
3rd January 2019
Issue 1042
www.looklocal.org.uk
Call 0114 283 11 00
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Local artist and RSPB Old Moor work to support England’s most threatened bird LOCAL artist, Shelia Bury, is working with RSPB Old Moor, near Barnsley, to support the national ‘Back from the Brink’ willow tit project to help save the UK’s most threatened resident bird from extinction. Willow tits have declined by 94% since the 1970s. The birds thrive in scrub land found in post-industrial landscapes, making the Dearne Valley an ideal habitat for them and also one of the last places the willow tit can be found. This
project, led by the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust and the RSPB, aims to save these delightful little birds. Shelia Bury has created a series of paintings called ‘Where willow tits fly’. She is displaying and selling her work in RSPB Old Moor’s café all winter, with 40% of every sale being donated directly to the willow tit project. Shelia said: “I was intrigued by the nature of the willow tit and their need for post-industrial landscapes. Upon
visiting the various sites these birds are known to inhabit I noted the landscapes were very paintable. Wanting to help the willow tit project I set out to paint the areas ‘Where willow tits fly’ and decided to donate a percentage of each painting sale to the Back from the Brink project to help this little bird in the Dearne.” Danielle Meyer, Visitor Experience Manager at RSPB Old Moor, said: “We are delighted to be able to exhibit She-
lia’s wonderful paintings and to highlight the plight of this fantastic, but elusive little bird. Bringing the plight of the willow tit to the public’s attention is important to its conservation. “With the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, we are working to better understand the willow tit and the habitat it needs to flourish. By the end of the project we hope to have improved its conservation status in the Dearne Valley.”
To see the paintings in the ‘Where willow tits fly’ exhibit, visit RSPB Old Moor’s café. Entry to the café and information about the project is free. There is an entry fee to access the nature reserve (free for RSPB members). To get involved or find out more information about the Back from the Brink Project, please visit www.naturebftb. co.uk. For more information about RSPB Old Moor, visit rspb.org.uk/oldmoor.
Santa visits raise more than £900 for local charities SANTA and his helpers have raised more than £900 for the Rotary Club of Wortley in the run up to Christmas at the Fox Valley festive grotto. The special grotto was created in the unit next to Ponti’s Italian Kitchen for Santa to visit and meet local children over three weekends through December. All visiting children received a special Christmas gift as well as a traditional apple or an orange from Santa – helping to raise funds for local good causes through The Rotary Club of Wortley. The Club is a local charitable group who take part in lots of fundraising activities including visits from Father Christmas. The Christmas gifts were kindly sponsored by Sandersons Department store which has hosted the Fox Valley Santa in previous years – a total of £908.65 was raised this year. Events Manager at Fox Valley Kayleigh Marron said: “We would like to say a huge thank you to The Rotary Club of Wortley for helping us organise the visits from Santa to our Fox Valley grotto. “We would also like to thank all the families who came along to see Santa and help us raise this fantastic amount for the Rotary Club to support their good causes. Everyone here at Fox Valley takes a great deal of pride in giving back to the community around us.” This year’s funds raised at Santa’s Grotto will help to support the Stocksbridge Park Steels Football Club mobile defibrillator fund – enabling them to take the life-saving unit to away matches as well as having it on hand during home games. Trevor Fletcher, of the Rotary Club of Wortley, said: “It has been great to work with the team at Fox Valley again this year and we’d like to thank everyone involved in raising this fantastic amount of money.” The Rotary Club also organises Santa visiting Fox Valley for the annual Christmas lights switch on.
Tankersley win at Modeshift STARS Regional Awards TANKERSLEY St Peters Primary was awarded the School of the Year, Barnsley at the Modeshift STARS School Travel Awards again following their win the previous year and they are now the very first school in Barnsley to achieve the Gold Award.
schools that have demonstrated excellence in supporting walking, cycling and other forms of sustainable travel for the journey to and from school. 69 local authorities across the country participate in the scheme representing around 15,000 schools.
Modeshift STARS is supported by the Department for Transport and is free for schools to use. It is an online platform that can create a school travel plan, log sustainable travel activities and schools can work towards Modeshift STARS National Accreditation. For more information visit www.modeshiftstars.org
Schools were nominated by their local authorities for demonstrating best practice in the promotion of sustainable school travel. These nominated schools were invited to attend the Modeshift STARS Regional Awards were the Schools of the Local Authority and the Schools of the Region were announced.
Supported by the Department for Transport, it is the national school travel awards scheme that has been established to recognise
Cllr Roy Miller, Cabinet Spokesperson for Place, said: “It’s fantastic to see Tankersley flying the flag for Barnsley. We work hard
to encourage schools to utilise active travel and Tankersley have fully embraced it. Everyone at the school should feel really proud.
“We’ll continue to work with more schools to see growth in active travel like we did this summer when promoting National Clean Air Day, and we now have a dedicated Active Travel Hub in the town centre we want to see more adults doing the same. “We want people to see both the health and environmental benefits and for residents to consider making Active Travel the everyday way to travel to and from school. It’s a small change that people can make to increase their fitness and the air quality in their community.”
