Fans, football, festivals and fun

With the UEFA Women’s EURO tournament set to kick-off next week, we can look forward to a festival of football and fun.

The entertainment won't be just confined to the New York Stadium, with Rotherham town centre, Civic Theatre, Clifton Park Museum and scores of other locations getting in on the football festivities.

You are invited to come along to Fan Parties on match days and get involved with live music, walk-around entertainment, football activities and lots more. You're still welcome if you don't have a match ticket.

See what’s on by downloading the festival programme and by going to the FLUX website.

The fan festival and game dates and times are as follows:

• Match 1, France v Italy, Sunday 10th July 12pm - 6pm (K/O 8pm)
• Match 2, France v Belgium, Thursday 14th July 2pm - 6pm (K/O 8pm)
• Match 3, Iceland v France, Monday 18th July 2pm- 6pm (K/O 8pm)
• Match 4 Quarter Final, Saturday 23rd July 12pm - 6pm (K/O 8pm)

To celebrate the Women’s EURO 2022 tournament coming to Rotherham, we called on local knitters to help yarn bomb the town centre with our Knit Off to Kick Off campaign.

And they did not disappoint!

Many new groups were formed, including one at Rotherham College, while long established groups across the borough – such as the ones run from our Rotherham Libraries – took up the challenge and came together to help knit and crochet flowers in tournament colours. Over 120 women and men created more than 2,000 flowers that now adorn trees in the town centre.

The flowers have been sewn together and wrapped around trees along the Hight Street, Effingham Street and in All Saints Square to highlight and celebrate the wealth of green space we have in the borough, as well as bringing a bit of extra colour to the town.

Ground has been broken on a brand-new business incubation hub on Century Business Park in Rotherham.

Led by Rotherham Council, and with Esh Construction as the main contractor, Manvers Incubation Hub will provide high-quality, serviceable office and workshop accommodation designed to help micro or start-up businesses grow.

The facility will feature 20 workshops, 16 office units and 2 laboratories for 38 businesses.

This second phase will build on the success of the nearby Century Business Centre which was constructed in 2000 and has since helped over 300 businesses, playing a crucial part in the economic regeneration of the Manvers area.

Read the full story.

Rotherham Council has announced the programme for the first ever WOW - Women of the World Festival in Rotherham, taking place next month.

Led by Founder Jude Kelly, WOW Festivals are the world’s most comprehensive festivals celebrating women, girls and non-binary people. Launched in 2010, WOW Festivals have now taken place in more than

30 locations in six continents, reaching more than three million people to date. WOW Rotherham is organised by Rotherham Council and Flux Rotherham in partnership with the WOW Foundation, the UK based charity that runs the WOW movement across the world.

The two day festival will celebrate community, culture, and entrepreneurialism with artists local, national and international taking part in the event, the first of its kind for the town.

Read the full story.

Plans to re-implement a Public Spaces Protection Order for the Fitzwilliam Road area of Rotherham have received support from the local community and key partner organisations.

A report submitted to Rotherham Council, which was approved at the Cabinet meeting on June 20, showed that 90 per cent of respondents supported a new designation.

The original PSPO was implemented for the Fitzwilliam Road area of Rotherham in June 2019 with it due to expire in June 2022, as legislation allows for Orders to be a maximum of three years.

Cllr Saghir Alam, Cabinet Member for Corporate Services, Community Safety and Finance, said: “The consultation showed public support for continuing with the PSPO for this area of Rotherham.

“The new powers which were introduced to tackle the minority of people who make life unpleasant for others have had an effect but it is clear from the results that more needs to be done. We are pleased that Cabinet has approved the report’s recommendation.”

Read full story.

Rotherham’s Health and Wellbeing Board have agreed plans for Rotherham to work towards a Breastfeeding Friendly Borough status. 

The pledge will see Rotherham Council and health partners, along with children’s and young people’s services, working together to ensure parents make informed and supported choices when it comes to caring for their children.

The Council and its partners are fully committed to support breastfeeding parents wherever and whenever they need to feed their baby, and encourage businesses to support expecting and new parents to get access to information they need so they can make the choice that’s right for them.

The commitment to become a breastfeeding friendly borough includes supporting local businesses and public transport partners to provide environments where parents feel encouraged to breastfeed if they want to.

This will also include working with leisure centres, restaurants and shopping centres to welcome breastfeeding parents, as well as encouraging the general public to be supportive in any of these environments.

Read the full story.

Young people in Rotherham now have more access to sexual health services and advice thanks to an expanded service based at The Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust and MESMAC Sexual Health clinic.

Rotherham Sexual Health Service, which has been commissioned by Rotherham Council, will be offering more drop-in and engagement sessions across the borough as part of a new offer for young people aged 16-25.

Working with local charity, Yorkshire MESMAC, the service hopes to expand its engagement in communities across the borough, as well as providing advice for groups from minority backgrounds, the LGBTQ+ community, and sex workers.

The service has also expanded its online resources so that residents can access information via the website and on Facebook. The experienced team hopes to inform, encourage and empower individuals in making the best decisions for their sexual health needs, providing a range of services.

Read the full story.

Rotherham Council’s Director of Public Health encourages residents to get their Covid-19 vaccinations and to take care when socialising as national case rates increase.

ONS data suggests that local rates have risen from 1.3% (1 in 77) to 2.0% (1 in 50) in the past week and are expected to continue to rise.

This means that it may be more likely that residents will come into contact with and potentially be infected with Covid-19.

Ben Anderson, Director of Public Health, is reminding residents to continue to take care when visiting more vulnerable members of the community and that it is not too late to get their Covid-19 vaccinations and boosters.

He said: “Vaccination has significantly reduced the impact of Covid-19, but it is still a nasty disease that can have long lasting effects on people’s health. We are urging everyone who is not fully vaccinated to get up to date as soon as possible to ensure that we keep the impact of this wave on the population as low as possible.

“For those who have already had three or more doses of the vaccine you are far less likely to be seriously ill or hospitalised by the virus, but you can still be infected and pass the virus on to others. For these reasons it is still important to minimise contact with others if you have viral symptoms and to continue to keep good hand washing and hygiene practice.

“Recently West Yorkshire hospitals have seen a significant rise in the number of Covid-19 patients being admitted. Locally we continue to have between 10 and 20 patients with Covid-19 in Rotherham hospital at any time, and we continue to monitor this as the current wave passes.”

Further advice and guidance is available on the GOV.UK website at www.gov.uk/coronavirus