Dore to Door internet edition

Local organisations - Winter 2005

St. John's Luncheon Club - Round Table Food Collection - Badminton Club - Wyvern Walkers - Oral History Group - University of the Third Age

St. John's Luncheon Club

We are desperate!

It is a great concern to those of us involved in the running of this club that our helpers and cooks are all reaching the age when they could actually be "members", not helpers. I guess that 90% of us are aged between 70 & 80 and when we are forced to give up there is no-one to take our place!

Do you want the club to die?

I see the club as a valuable asset to the community and we have a reputation as the best luncheon club in the area to live up to, not to mention a constant waiting list. With the best will in the world we cannot go on for ever! I forsee that unless we have some younger people coming in to learn the ropes very soon, then the club will die within the next 5 - 10 years.

If you can offer some time on a Thursday between 10am and 2pm then please speak to me soon! We need both cooks & helpers and it really isn’t as daunting as you may think, in fact it can he good fun! Think about it! Please!

If the thought of cooking for 30 people scares you, why not come in on a Thursday and work with one of our cooks and learn just what it involves and how it can be good fun. We have lots of laughs in the kitchen and good equipment. The more you do it, the easier it gets! Give me a ring on 236 2597 if you are free on a Thursday morning and would be prepared to give it a try.

Phyllis Glossop (co-ordinator St.John's L.C.)

Under 8's Football

Local children from Dore and Bradway have teamed up to form a new under 8's football team. There will be 20 kids forming two teams with subs. The teams will be playing home matches in the Dore sports grounds as part of the Junior Sunday League starting 3 Sept.

We need to purchase new kits (home and away), weather proof jackets and many more items, and would appreciate sponsorship from local business or individuals. We will also be running raffles at all home matches to pay for fees etc, and any prize donations would be appreciated. We also need help from someone who can design our web sites.

If you can help with funding, raffle prizes or web design, then please call me, Vincent Nolan, on 0114 236 3080.

We are still looking for a few more players and desperately need another goalkeeper. If your child would be interested in participating, then please contact our Manager Eddy Kitchen on 01709 367460 for details on next training dates and times. Players must be aged 6 or over and born on or after 31st Aug 98.

Thank you for your support.

Vincent Nolan

Dore male voice choir

Once again the Choir were pleased to participate in the Dore Festival and enjoyed the concert with Dore Mercia and Totley Townswoman's Guild at the Church Hall. The Choir did very well to be selected to sing at the Llangollen International Eisteddfod in July. Singing with major Choirs from Sweden, Hong Kong and the New Zealand National Male Voice Choir was a great experience at this most prestigious event. The Choir sang at Endsor in a most enjoyable Summer Concert and performed at the Whitby Pavilion Gardens in their summer season of concerts before going to Bruges for a week in September.

David Heslop

King Ecgbert School

The move into the new building is a tremendous opportunity for everyone concerned with the school. Indeed, it is the chance of a lifetime and we are all privileged to be part of it. Everyone has been extremely impressed with the new school, and it really has given staff and pupils a lift.

We have fantastic new facilities, all new furniture and lots of new equipment. The school is fully networked and there are interactive whiteboards in most classrooms. Facilities for drama, music and sport are much better than in the old buildings.

There will inevitably be 'teething problems', as with any new building, and of course there is still a lot of external work to do as the old Wessex buildings get demolished and car parks etc. are built in their place.

It is very important that everyone takes pride in our new school and takes great care of the new facilities so that not only do they remain in excellent condition for us now but for pupils in the future.

We have had a number of Open Evenings for parents of our pupils and we also opened our doors to the local community as part of 'Dore Festival'. The official opening of the school will take place sometime around January/February 2006. The exact date has still to be fixed.

Sean McClafferty, Deputy Head

Guide well dressing

This years well dressing, at the junction of Devonshire Terrace Road and Causeway Head Road, was created by Dore Guides to highlight the plight of people in Africa. Money raised will go towards the Mitengwe Project in Malawi, which aims to sink a bore hole so the village can have a direct fresh water supply instead of people having to walk miles every day to fetch water.

Agnes Mkoko, the regional Mothers Union co-ordinator for Malawi, has being staying in Sheffield and met members of the Guides. There are 150 orphans and 300 people living in the village and the only water available is miles away and has to be collected and carried daily in buckets.

Methodist Women's Fellowship

Dore Methodist Women's Fellowship meets on alternate Mondays at 2.30pm for a varied programme of talks by visiting speakers, followed by tea and biscuits. The meetings are open to everyone and offer a chance to meet and get to know people as well as being entertained or informed on a variety of topics. For further information, ring Doreen Cobain=s (Secretary) 235 1754 or Doris Simpson (President) 236 6668 - or just come along to a meeting!

T.O.A.D.S autumn play

For their autumn play, TOADS have chosen "Lord Arthur Savile's Crime" by Constance Cox. This is a classic comedy, based on a short story by Oscar Wilde, and gives us an insight into the upper echelons of the 1890s London Society - warts and all! The main thrust of the story is that Lord Arthur has to perform a most unusual and hazardous task, before he can marry his beloved fiancee in two weeks time. He enlists the aid of his butler, but becomes uncertain whether this is such a good idea! With wonderful characters such as ageing relations, a cheiromantist, and an anarchist, not to mention an overbearing future mother-in-Law, the play fairly rattles along and keeps your interest right to the end. Just the sort of thing to cheer you up on a November evening!

The dates are Wednesday 23rd November to Saturday 26 November. 7.30 pm. at St.John's Church Hall, Abbeydale Road South. We have had to increase ticket prices due to rising costs of hiring the Church Hall, but they are still very reasonable at £3.50 and £3 for concessions, available from October from Kate Reynolds on 236 6891. Coffee, orange, red and white wine are on sale for the interval, and a good evenings entertainment is assured.

Round Table Food Collection

Members of Hallamshire Round Table will be carrying out their annual Xmas food collection in Dore on Sunday 11th December. Leaflets will be posted out to those houses we will be collecting from. The collection has now taken place for well over 40 years and each year the residents of Dore have contributed an enormous amount food.

Last year the food collected was donated to the Sheffield Cathedral Breakfast and Archer Project. Thank you very much for your generosity over the years.

Round Table offers an excellent opportunity for meeting new friends from a variety of backgrounds from your own community. Membership enables you to take part in a vast array of new and interesting worthwhile activities. Social events and outings are a core activity of the Round Table - bringing members and their families together.

Mike Braddock

Ed. Anyone interested in joining Hallamshire Round Table should contact Mike on 236 6757 or go to www.roundtable.co.uk for more information.

Badminton Club

Totley Brook Badminton Club, who play on Tuesday Evenings from about 7.30pm in St John’s Church Hall on Abbeydale Rd. South (opposite to Abbeydale Sports Club,) would welcome a few new members. They are strictly a social playing club and standards are not very high, so beginners, or those who can play’ but only want to play for fun, would be very welcome. Enquiries to John on 235 1129 or Derek on 236 2597.

Wyvern Walkers

Despite the weather, a gallant band set out on 21st October, Trafalgar Day, to visit the Nelson’s monument above Baslow. When they arrived at the monument they found 50 people who had walked up from the village in commemoration of an earlier event. Apparently in 1905 a "pilgrimage" was organised from Baslow to the monument, attended on the hundredth anniversary of the battle by 100 people. They are concerned that in 2105 there will only be 25! Oh and yes, the group did sing a snatch of Rule Britannia.

The Wyvern Walkers Group, part of the Dore Village Society, have a regular programme of led walks from or around Dore. The next walk on 26th November will explore parts of the Longshaw Estate. Walks start at 9.30am from the Old School. More details from 236 9100.

Oral History Group – Sixty Years On

The Dore Oral History group has continued to record memories of people who live or have lived in Dore and the collection is steadily growing. This year we have been especially interested in the stories of those who lived through the war years as 2005 marked the 60^th Anniversary of the end of World War 2.

We used this theme for our very successful Open Day in the spring which produced such a buzz of reminiscences from the many elderly residents who attended. We have also given talks to several ladies and local study groups when our recordings of everyday events sixty years ago vividly conveyed the spirit of wartime. Dore Primary School, once again, invited a group of the older generation to give their Y6 pupils a first-hand experience of what it was like to be young in 1939- 1945. This was live oral history at its very best.

In August we were asked to be a stall holder at the BBC Radio Sheffield VJ Anniversary event at the Winter Gardens, which was a fabulous day of pure nostalgia and reminiscence. Singing and dancing to 1940s music and men and women in forces uniform and authentic clothes of the era all added to the atmosphere. There was also a large display of some of the stories of Sheffield people who have contributed to the BBC People’s War Website which will become an important national archive for future generations.

Dore Oral History Group would like our village stories to be part of the BBC archive and we are working towards this. As a final effort for the 60^th Anniversary year, we are putting together our own written collection of war memories and photographs which we hope will be finished by Christmas and will make a fitting tribute to all our willing contributors.

Thank you to everyone who has supported the Oral History project throughout the year, in particular, to the South West Area Panel for their very helpful grant.

Maureen Cope Dore Oral History Group

University of the Third Age

Are you retired or semi-retired and over 50? Are you looking for New Friends, New Interests and Learning at Leisure?

The U3A is a unique and exciting self-help educational movement for people no longer in full-time work (the Third Age). It offers the opportunity to pursue learning for sheer enjoyment and for its own sake. There are also more specific social activities around travel, the theatre, concerts and lunch groups.

U3A stands for University of the Third Age and is part of an international network. Anyone in the Third Age can join. The purpose of the U3A movement is to enrich the lives of its members, and Sheffield U3A seeks to do this through supporting over 130 groups engaged in over 50 different activities.

All you need is interest and enthusiasm and the willingness to join in group activities. Groups are formed whenever three or more people share an interest, and a coordinator can be found. Groups run themselves, led by a volunteer coordinator who is a member of the group. Meetings are held in homes or other premises as needed. If you have a skill or interest which you would like to share with others, U3A can provide the opportunity.

All U3As set their own annual subscription, part of which is paid as a capitation fee to maintain our national office. The subscription in Sheffield is a few pounds a year, for which members are entitled to take part in any number of activities. Individual groups may also make a small charge to cover administration.

When you join, you will receive a copy of Links, a free newsletter, published every two months. Three times a year you will also receive by post a free copy of U3A News, the national magazine.

Why not go along to a New Members’ Meetings to find out about U3A in general and Sheffield U3A in particular or visit www.sheffieldu3a.org.uk

To find out more, contact Mrs Rita Webster "Horsley Rise" Main Road Holmesfield Sheffield Sl 8 7WB. Tel: (0114) 289 1351 or e-mail rita.webster.t21@btinternet.com

Registered Charity No. 703147