1 June 2021
Welcome to the Rotherham Round-up, your fortnightly email update with news, video and events from Rotherham Council. If you would like to comment on any articles included in this bulletin, or suggest what you'd like to see in future issues, please drop us a line at corporate.comms@rotherham.gov.uk
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Hosting the UEFA Women's Euros gives us a fantastic opportunity to encourage more women and girls to play sport and get active.
Plans are in place to deliver a range of programmes to welcome women and girls into football, focusing on under-represented groups.
The aim is to use football to encourage more women and girls to adopt and maintain a healthier lifestyle and to develop leadership opportunities to help women and girls grow the game.
The final aims include:
- Doubling the number of FA-qualified women coaches and referees in the borough.
- A 50% increase in the number of football opportunities for women and girls.
- Getting 1,000 women engaged on a new bespoke digital platform to create awareness of playing opportunities
To celebrate the launch of the legacy programme a film has also been produced featuring two young aspiring footballers from Rotherham, Alicia Windle and Lucy McNeely, speaking with local women's football legend Val Hoyle (pictured above), founder of Rotherham United Women’s Football Club.
Watch the video and hear Val's story here.
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 UEFA Women's Euros: Inspiring positive change in Rotherham
The excitement is already building as Rotherham gets set to roll out the red carpet for one of the world's biggest women's football tournaments next Summer.
Our very own New York Stadium will play host to four matches, including a quarter final, in the UEFA Women's Euros next July.
Not only will the tournament see some of the best female footballers on the planet competing here in Rotherham, it will provide a positive boost to our area's profile and economy, with matches being televised across the continent and visiting fans descending on our town.
More details on the the fixtures, dates and our fantastic New York Stadium is available from on the Rotherham Town Centre website now.
To be in with the best chance of securing your seats, creating a UEFA ticketing account before July 2021 will get you priority access when tickets go on sale.
Ticket prices range from £10 - £20 for the group matches and £10 - £30 for the quarter-final.
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Exciting plans for a new look market and central library and other Rotherham town centre improvements have for the green light after the Council secured £12.6m in Future High Streets Funding.
Last week the Government confirmed that Rotherham was amongst 57 town centre plans across the country to be awarded the funding.
It means the Council’s blueprint to redevelop Rotherham Markets (see artists impression) and deliver a new central library can go ahead.
The funds will also support the new Riverside Gardens (part of the Forge Island leisure scheme), improvements to public realm across the town centre, and the expansion and development of Grimm and Co’s new home on Ship Hill.
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Meanwhile, many improvements to the town’s open spaces are already happening with Bridgegate complete (pictured) and College Street in progress, incorporating new paving, lighting and street furniture, with further works now to come.
And demolition of the former Riverside Precinct will take place next month, opening up the views of the river, Rotherham Minster and wider town centre, and making way for the new Riverside Gardens.
You can find more news about developments in the town centre on the Rotherham Town Centre website.
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The site of the former Dinnington College will be home to a new specialist school for children with social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) needs.
Rotherham Council has completed the purchase of land and buildings at the site for the new school, which means it will continue to be used to provide education for the people of the Rotherham borough, as it has done for the last century.
Wellspring Academy Trust has been appointed as the provider for the new SEMH School. Wellspring has an exceptional record for delivering outstanding educational outcomes for children and young people across Yorkshire and beyond.
Buying the site will also mean the redevelopment of the Upper School building at Newman School in Whiston - Rotherham's oldest special school - can go ahead. Some Newman students will transfer to Dinnington to allow the much-needed rebuild to take place.
The creation of the new SEMH School and redevelopment of Newman will improve the education and life chances for hundreds of local children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities.
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 Click on the image to find out more about the Rotherham in Bloom Garden Competition
How does your garden grow?
For many people, spending time in the garden has been one of the positives from the national lockdowns and stay at home advice over the last 14 months.
If you have spent the extra time tending to your tulips or fertilising your flower beds you're welcome to get involved in the Council's annual garden competition.
This year, we have the usual favourites as well as new categories for the borough’s children and young people. The categories include:
- Best garden – awarded to the most outstanding garden in the borough
- Best pots, planters and hanging baskets – awarded to the creative use of pots and planters to brighten up any space
- Best vegetable patch – awarded to the best ‘grow your own’ space. Please note allotments are not included in this category
- Best wildlife garden – awarded to gardens that provide sanctuaries to birds, insects, hedgehogs and other local wildlife
- Best young gardener (0-6 yrs and 7-18 yrs) – awarded to the most outstanding garden or vegetable patch created by a young gardener
- Best sunflower (0-6 yrs and 7-18 yrs) – awarded to young gardeners who have grown the tallest sunflower
Each of the adult category will have two winners, one Council and one non-Council tenant each winning £100 worth of garden centre vouchers with two runners up in each category each receiving a £50 garden centre voucher.
The children’s categories will have one first place prize (£100 worth of garden centre vouchers) and one runner-up prize (a £50 garden centre voucher).
To enter the competition simply upload three photos of your garden (one must feature the gardener), along with a few words about what your garden means to you to.
Entries close 11 July with winners announced in August.
Enter the competition here.
As part of the 100 Novels That Shaped Our World project, Rotherham Libraries commissioned local writer Ray Hearne to deliver a series of online workshops to encourage people to get started with creative writing.
Entitled Paragraph, Page or Poem, Ray has expanded the idea of reading novels to encouraging readers to experiment and explore their own writing.
Writers sent in a wide variety of work which range from the amusing to the downright sinister – capturing their thoughts and feelings prompted by lockdown.
Join us via this Facebook video to hear a selection of the fantastic written word created by local Rotherham writers
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Your opinion matters
Did you know the Council is regularly asking local residents and businesses for their views on a huge variety of topics?
From taxi licensing to cycling strategies and our annual budget to local plans, we would really like to hear your views on what's happening locally, what you support, what you're against - and why. Public opinion matters.
All our live consultations are available to view on our website, which is regularly updated.
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