Dore to Door internet edition

Local organisations - Summer 2001

Porter Football Club -New nature reserve - Whinfell Quarry Gardens - Volunteer for a change

Porter Football Club

Readers of Dore to Door may be unaware that there is a thriving junior football club based in the village. Porter Football Club was founded twenty years ago when a boys team was formed from local Scouts and took its name from the Porter Scout District.

Since those early days and relatively humble beginnings the club has flourished, thanks to the enthusiasm and voluntary efforts of many people over the years. Porter FC is now an established junior club operating 10 teams at all age levels from under 8 to under 18, with the majority playing in the Sheffield & District Junior Sunday League.

The club provides the facilities for over 150 boys to participate in sporting activity, a large proportion of who reside in the Dore area, and as a club we would like to develop our relationships within the local community. Yorkshire and England cricketer Michael Vaughan is numbered amongst the Porter FC 'old boys' and we were delighted when he accepted an invitation to be the guest of honour at our annual Presentation Evening held at Bramhall Lane last year.

Some of your readers are also likely to have had previous connections with our club, either as players, parents or club
officials. We would be interested to hear from anyone who may have any memorabilia related to the early years of the club.
You can make contact with us via myself (Bob Evans 236?7377) or alternatively by e?mail at webmaster@porterfc.fsnet.co.uk. We also have our own Internet site at www.porterfc.fsnet.co.uk.

Bob Evans
Chairman, Porter FC

New nature reserve

The Sheffield Wildlife Trust is Sheffield's largest and most effective independent nature conservation organisation, working to improve the local environment for both people and wildlife. It is part of a national association of 46 local Wildlife Trusts, which work to protect wildlife in town and country.

Working with communities in towns, cities and the countryside throughout the UK: they campaign locally and nationally for wildlife; they provide expertise in all aspects of wildlife conservation; and they run an extensive environmental training and education programme.

Together, the Wildlife Trusts have more than 320,000 supporters and care for more than 2,300 nature reserves, making them the biggest organisation in the UK working to protect all kinds of wildlife for the future.

Sheffield Wildlife Trust has recently been awarded £185,000 by the Heritage Lottery Fund to establish new nature reserves at nine of Sheffield's most valuable wildlife sites, covering more than 300 hectares of Sheffield's finest countryside.
This includes a new nature reserve on Blacka Moor in Dore, for which the Trust will be negotiating a 25-year lease with Sheffield City Council which owns it. This 180 hectare site with its rich mosaic of heather moor, woodland and peat bog, has recently been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest in recognition of its importance for birds.
All the sites have been selected to include examples of most of Sheffield's most important natural habitats, high-lighted as priorities for conservation in Sheffield's Local Biodiversity Action Plan. They have also been selected to provide people with greater access to their local natural heritage by improving footpaths and other infrastructure.

There will be a wide consultation exercise to gather local knowledge, views and opinions on the future management of the reserves and each is to have its own local Reserve Advisory Group of interested people to assist with management.

Whinfell Quarry Gardens

The first working weekend in February went very well, with around 40 volunteers showing up to start the work of clearing up the gardens. Not to mention the 15+ people who came along to lend their support, including Stephen Doncaster who is the grandson of the chap who created the gardens. Interestingly Stephen Doncaster also brought along some watercolours of the Gardens painted in the early part of this century showing them in their hay?day. The weather was glorious over that weekend and generally much fun was had by all.

A 'Friends of Whinfell Quarry Gardens' group, has now been set up, has had two meetings and plans another working day at the Gardens for Saturday 12 May. The group aims to avoid further neglect of the gardens and to provide an opportunity for the local community to work together in an area of common interest.

They would like to see seats, paths and fences improved, a variety of bulbs and other new plants established and the water features restored. Replacing the information boards, developing a link with the Botanical Gardens, restoring the children's games that used to be in the garden and mapping the existing flora and fauna are also in mind.

If you are interested in the project to renovate the garden Glyn Smyth would be pleased to hear from you on Tel 235 3858 or you can e-mail him at: glyn@smythsheff.freeserve.co.uk

Volunteer for a change

Volunteers' Week, is a major UK wide celebration of volunteers and volunteering which began in 1986 and runs from 1?7 June every year.

In the UK last year over 7,000 organisations participated. This year, as part of the United Nations International Year of volunteers 2001, the Week will be even bigger, having received lottery funding, and substantial sponsorship. Groups and organisations of all kinds and sizes take part ? from household?name charities to hospitals and small community groups.
Volunteers play an important and valuable role in society today. If they stopped giving their time, then many vital services would collapse, including hospital transport, sea and mountain rescue, magistrates courts and children's panels. Some 22 million adults are involved in formal volunteering each year, and 90 million hours of voluntary work is undertaken each week
Volunteers' Week, is a great opportunity to get involved - you can test the water to see if you like to do volunteer work on a regular basis or you can just join up for a day on a 'one-off' project. Whether you want to establish your own project or be part of an existing group, there are opportunities for everyone.

Volunteers' Week is co?ordinated by the National Centre for Volunteering in association with other organisations. For more information and ideas please contact: The National Centre for Volunteering, Regents Wharf, 8 All Saints Street, London, N1 9RL, www.volunteersweek.org.uk Your local library, Volunteer Bureau or Timebank (0207 401 5420) should also be able to assist you.