South Yorkshire Soilder Dies in Afghanistan

A soldier from The Light Dragoons killed in Afghanistan on Sunday has been named as Sgt Lee Davidson.

The father-of-two, 32, from Doncaster in South Yorkshire, died after his armoured vehicle hit a roadside bomb in the Nahr-e Saraj district of Helmand.

His wife Samantha, who is expecting a baby daughter, described him as “the best husband and father”.

His death took the number of British military deaths since operations began in Afghanistan in 2001 to 427.

The Ministry of Defence said he had been helping to train Afghan police officers, and this was his second tour of duty in the country.

In a statement, the MoD said Sgt Davidson had been on patrol when the vehicle he was travelling in hit an improvised explosive device, which fatally wounded him.

His first job was as a pavement re-surfacer, but he joined the Army in August 1998. He had previously deployed on operational tours to Bosnia and Iraq.

‘Superb soldier’

His wife Samantha said: “My gorgeous husband Lee, we all can’t believe you have gone. You really are the total package: good looking, kind, loving, generous and the best dad I have ever known.

“Your memories we had together will be treasured in my mind and heart forever, your children will grow up knowing all this about you. You will never be forgotten.”

Nandos

Nando’s Sheffield

Nandos  (Valley Centertainment Sheffield) is a new and unique restaurant to Sheffield and is the home of the legendary Portuguese flame-grilled peri-peri chicken, which is an exclusive sauce/marinate to Nandos. They serve fresh British chicken which is marinated for at least 24 hours in Nandos mouth watering Afro-Portuguese Peri-Peri sauce.

Nandos offer a made to you’re specification chicken; breast’s, wing’s and leg’s in a variety of spices and sizes. They offer a large variety of taste bud tingling sauces from, mild, medium and mouth watering sizzling hot sauce which is “beyond compare”, Which flavors suits you the best?. Every time you purchase Nandos flavorsome food and spend £6.00 or more in one purchase you get a stamp on their new and improved “loyalty card” which allows you to get free; quater chicken with 3 stamps, half chicken with 6 stamps and a full chicken with 10 stamps, maximum one reward per day.

Instead of a ¼ Chicken you can choose from Red Pepper Dip, Houmous, Mixed Olives or PERi-PERi nuts. If you don’t want a ½ Chicken you can pick any single Veggie, Beanie, or Mushroom and Halloumi wrap, pitta or burger. Or instead of the Whole Chicken how about any single Veggie, Beanie, or Mushroom and Halloumi wrap, pitta or burger and two regular sides.

They encourage all the people to feel welcome and at home and by doing so with there fun and friendly advice from the waitress or waiter. The staffare family friendly and highly advice people to feel at home and make your own choices of sauces and dressing you would like and also highly advise people to eat with fingers to make you feel at home, after choosing youre spices and dressings you’re order is brough to you’re table as quick as possible.

Nandos also serve fresh HALAL chicken and has many facilities such as;
Wheelchair access is available
Baby change is available
outdoor seating is also available

Throughout all restaraunts there are over 4000 amazing displays of “African artwork” as they say that great tasting food is there sort of art work and replicate this throughout there restaurants up and down the country. They take great pride in the thought that goes into making the “art form” chicken and the large variety of  taste bud tingling sauces. The 4000 pieces of artwork represent the undiscovered and emerging artists from diverse social and economical backgrounds. Theytake great pride in this as it shows that they are a multi-cultural reasturant.

 All  chicken is Red Tractor assured, having met high standards of food safety, animal welfare and environmental protection, here in the UK. This means That the chicken is not only tasty, but also happy and healthy. As all the whole chickens are farmed in the UK, they are delivered FRESH (and never frozen) to The restaurants. To give the great PERi-PERi-taste all the chickens are marinated for 24 hours in natural PERi-PERi sauce. The PERi-PERi marinade contains no preservatives, no colourants and no artificial flavors, so is totally natural and healthy. Every chicken is grilled to order (and basted to your specific choice and taste) over an open flame, rather than fried, resulting in lower cholesterol and reduced fat content.

Nandos Opening Hours:

Mon – Thu 11.30 – 22.30
Fri & Sat 11.30 – 23.30
Sun 11.30 – 22.30

Kell Brook to face Hector Saldivia on October 20th 2012

The IBF have ordered Kell Brook to face Hector Saldivia on October 20 in a final eliminator for the mandatory position for the welterweight title at the Motorpoint Arena Sheffield, live on Sky Sports.

Brook maintained his unbeaten record with a hard fought win over Carson Jones in July and the Sheffield star is already back in training as he prepares for his biggest night yet against the dangerous Argentine with 32 KOs in his 41 wins. The winner of the clash will become the mandatory challenger for the title, which Randall Bailey defends against Devon Alexander in Texas on September 22.

Brook, 25, boxes at the Arena for the third time and has vowed to grasp the mandatory spot in style after admitting he struggled ahead of the Jones fight.

“I proved I have massive heart against Carson,” said Brook. “I said after the fight that there needs to be an improvement and on October 20 my fans are going to see me at my very best.”

Brook’s promoter Eddie Hearn added: “We have a new team in place that is going to ensure Kell will hit new heights in this fight. It was always our goal to secure a mandatory position and now we are just one fight away from making that happen.”

 

Superior Paint Finish

Superior Paint Finishis Sheffield’s specialises in vehicle preparation including minor body and interior repair work. Using the very best equipment & products available and having over 20 years experience in vehicle refinish. For these reasons Superior Paint Finish can offer a fast turnaround with the best quality available at unbeatable prices.

We all want to take pride in our cars and to keep them gleaming like new……. But how many times do     we find little scratches and dents in the paintwork? It isn’t worth claiming on the insurance due to the   excess but now you can fix these issues at affordable cost from the Cosmetic car repair specialist at Superior Paint Finish.

We can help you keep your current vehicle in ‘as new condition’ at affordable prices or help you prep    your vehicle for sale to give you the best chance of selling quickly and for the maximum value. Note:  We can repair any make of vehicle. Superior Paint Finish offer private & commercial customers in Sheffield paintless dent / ding removal, scuffed/scratched bumper repair.

In driving conditions today it is likely that your car will sustain some sort of damage whether it’s a parking scuff, car park dent or curbed alloy wheel. In the past having this minor damage to your car repaired became a time consuming and often costly trip to your garage, but not anymore as Superior Paint Finish are on hand to simplify things. We are well placed to ensure that the quality of our work matches your expectations.

http://www.sheffieldcityguide.com/cityguide

Renishaw Hall and Gardens…The Hall

The Hall

Renishaw Hall, its gardens and vineyard were featured on the BBC’s Countryfile program on Sunday, 6th May. Visitors to Renishaw Hall and Gardens who book tours of the house will be able to see some of the spectacular collection of art and historical artefacts put together by generations of Sitwells.

Treasures include portraits by Sargent, Rosa and Copley. There are examples of furniture by Chippendale and magnificent tapestries, murals by John Piper as well as a magnificent collection of Blue John.

Galleries & Exhibitions

The galleries and exhibitions at Renishaw Hall offer a diverse learning environment for all ages. From the Garden Exhibition which details the creation of the Italianate gardens by Sir George Sitwell in 1895, to the vibrant story of the literary trio Edith, Osbert and Sacheverall Sitwell in the early 20th Century.

The Royalty and Renishaw exhibition details the connection between the Sitwell family of Renishaw Hall and the Royal family beginning with Queen Elizabeth I and leading all the way up to the present royal family. The exhibition contains over 200 items from the house, many never on display before and charts an interesting and fascinating history. The new exhibition has been featured in The Times national newspaper on its launch day 12th May with a full page spread telling of the remarkable discovery of some of the items and the road which lead to an exhibition.

Entry to the Royalty and Renishaw Exhibition is £1 per person and there is also a commemorative booklet of which there are a limited number of 2012 copies which is available for purchase in the Courtyard shop.

The galleries and exhibition offer a great morning or afternoons perusal at the collections and the interesting and unusual history of this fascinating family.

Hall Tours

Hall tours are available to the public at 12.30 and 2.30pm on Fridays throughout the open season and additionally on Sundays in August. Booking recommended. Public tours are £6 per person plus admission (£6 per adult, £5 per concession.).

Group Hall tours are available throughout the week during the open season, booking required. Group tours are £10 per person, please see the “groups” page of the website for all the information you will need to book a fascinating group day out.
Tours are with a guide and last approximately 1 hour. They include highlights of the house and its collections.

The tour remains on the ground floor only.

Tours can be booked in advance by calling  01246 432 310  or email enquiries@renishaw-hall.co.uk

For more information on Renishaw Hall and Gardens please visit Sheffield City Guide

An Interview with Sour Cherry at Sheftival

Sheftival 2012 at the Don Vally Bowl and Don Valley Stadium was a great success and with Jessica Ennis winning Gold it was an all round Olympic performance from Sheffield. The 2 day festival was packed full of live bands, artists and entertainers. Following on from Tramlines and replacing Music in the Sun we now have a new Summer Festival to look forward to Sheftival.

We caught up with some of the Bands and Entertainers around Sheftival to learn more about our local talent. Sour Cherry was rocking the main stage and we caught them after the performance.

Sour Cherry (Sheffield)

After watching the amazing performance by Sheffield’s own up and coming band Sour Cherry we caught up with them to see what they are all about. Oozing with chemistry on and off set we wondered just how they came about to be Sour Cherry.

Lead singer Kourntey told us she and Jamie (Bass guitar) met at a jam night at spring vale and originally they did have two other members which have gone now, Aiden (Guitar) knew Jamie through college. They thought Aiden was a must have and funnily enough stole him from another band, to follow they auditioned Ally obviously impressing existing band members as he now plays drums, the fantastic four have been together for just over a year now, but the future looks sweet for Sour Cherry.

Sour Cherry finished off their performance with a track called SuperStar which featured Rapper Smokey Roomz from TMI inc. Superstar song is focused as a message song, all songs Kourtney writes are about real life about people or experiences, cant say too much but about that someone she knew, who was 13 wanted to be a singer, she was always out for attention doing things 13 year olds do and lands up pregnant, wanted to audition for xfactor and be a no1 singer famous, doesn’t go right for her but finds attention she wants from school being pregnant. All songs are out for audience to relate to and are real life. All back in Sheffield, Aiden is at Sheffield uni to study music, Jamie being boring at minute being a mechanic, ally plays music professionally drums, Courtney works at the meadowhall on a yves saint Laurent beauty counter.  You can follow the bands progress on twitter @SourCherrySongs

MAX
Following on from Sour Cherry performance a you man from Sheffield called Max from near millhouses in Sheffield playing saxophone and singing to a Beatles track. Max is 15 and has been playing sax from age 6, biggest place that Max preformed recently is party in the park last year at Mansfield, when asked are you nervous?

“I get a bit nervous as everyone does, but we just go out and do our best”

On the world stage we were entertained by a multicultural selection of artists, our personal favorite was Belly Dancing 101 with Sheffield professional dance teacher Jessie Jing. The ladies put on a performance of a Bhangra style that was impressively choreographed and executed. If you wold like to catch up with Jessie and the girls give them a shout on Twitter @Jingley

Steve Brailey, CEO of (SIV), said: “Our commitment is to general participation and raising interest in sports and activities. This event was designed to ignite people’s interest and ability, and encourage everyone to have a go and we should be proud of what we achieved in a short space of time.”

Sheftival 2012 Sheffield

Sheftival 2012 was biggest outdoor party in the UK for the London 2012 Olympics.
 Tramlines Festival presented The JuJu Club World Music stage line-up which included the legends of reggae, Toots and the Maytals, The Lightning Seeds, Joe McElderry, Dodgy, Misha B,  Stooshe, Lemar, Marcus Collins, Noisettes and Ryan O’Shaughnessy also on the world music stage preforming was the Sheffield Belly dancing 101 group of dancers which deferentially lit up the stage entertaining the crowd and really lifting the atmosphere.

Thousands Descend Upon Sheftival in Celebration of Music and Sport

The sun shone bright on approximately 20,000 people at Sheftival over the weekend of 4th and 5th August as Sheffield staged its first ever festival of music and sport in celebration of the Olympics.

Thousands of festival goers from across the region turned out to take part in free have-a-go sports activities including tennis, athletics, climbing, crazy golf and basketball, held at the English Institute of Sport – Sheffield (EISS), Don Valley Stadium and in surprising locations dotted around the festival site, including Don Valley Bowl where Tramlines staged a live music festival.

The aim was to introduce new sports to some of the 20,000 visitors and with the help of professional clubs and associations, including Sheffield Eagles rugby league club, British Judo, Sheffield Steelers, Scool Runnings, Hockey Nation, Activity Sheffield and Asda, the expectations of Sheffield International Venues (SIV) were exceeded.

Steve Brailey, CEO of (SIV), said: “Our commitment is to general participation and raising interest in sports and activities. This event was designed to ignite people’s interest and ability, and encourage everyone to have a go and we should be proud of what we achieved in a short space of time.”

An incredible addition to Sheftival’s sports programme came on Saturday 4th August when the Russian Olympics Rhythmic Gymnastics Team opened the doors of their away-from-home training ground, the Motorpoint Arena, where just 2,000 people got the opportunity to watch an exclusive training session.

Thousands of people gathered at the 48 square metre screen in Don Valley Stadium to support Jess Ennis as she won gold in the Women’s Heptathlon. Steve Brailey was amongst the crowd as gold was hung around her neck:-

“The atmosphere was electric. It was one of sheer pride and very emotional. Grown men, women and children sobbed with joy. It was an historic moment to remember. People can say – ‘I was at Don Valley where Jess started her athletics career’. This was the fairy-tale ending to all her hard work.”

Music acts at Sheftival such as the up-and-coming boy band Lawson and X-Factor winner Joe McElderry, attracted thousands to their performances, including huge queues at the Real Radio signing tent.  Toots and The Maytals and The Selecter were also crowd favourites. Those lucky enough to board the 50 capacity Busker’s Barge floating stage got the chance to witness intimate performances from unscheduled acts including Dodgy and Sheffield local band, The Crookes.

Festival Director Dave Healy said: “The event was a huge success. The brief was to do something special to celebrate Jess and SIV’s incredible sporting legacy. We tried something out that hasn’t been done before, mixing music and sport and it worked really well.

“We have the basis of an event that works and the feedback from the public and sporting bodies was fantastic – they may well have found the next Jess Ennis in the crowds over the weekend. I would be amazed if we didn’t come back with Sheftival in 2013.”

Steve Brailey added: “Not only did it showcase some fantastic music we have on our doorstep but also the venues we have in Sheffield and firmly put the site on the map for future festivals.”

Watch the magic moments of Sheftival here:- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ut6MPJK_vsw&feature=youtu.be

Pasta Bar Sheffield

The Sheffield Pasta Bar is a family run, independent restaurant, located in the heart of SharrowVale. An area unspoilt by large chains, housing many independently run, bohemian style shops, cafes and restaurants. The extensive menu offers something for everyone with a wide range of fresh pasta, homemade pizza, grilled and pan-fried dishes all cooked to order using only the finest, freshest ingredients.   

Attentive, friendly service and a welcoming atmosphere make the Sheffield Pasta Bar the perfect choice for all ages and any occasion.

The food is based predominantly on Italian cuisine and menus are produced seasonally with ingredients sourced locally; fruit and vegetables from ‘Sharrow Marrow’ and fresh fish from ‘J H Mann’ both located on SharrowVale Road. All our dishes are homemade on the premises by our chefs from homemade bread through to our selection of ice creams. What we are most known for is our fresh homemade pasta, which is made on the premises daily.

The menu combines this with our selection of Italian style thin based pizzas, steak, chicken and fish dishes.

Pasta  Origins 

Controversy with regards to the origin of this well-loved comfort food. The history of pasta is in fact as convoluted as a bowl of spaghetti. The romantic legend that Marco Polo brought pasta back to Italy on his return from travels in China is, as can be expected, totally rejected by nationalistic Italians. They claim that Marco Polo returned in 1295 but in 1279, a Genoese soldier listed in the inventory of his estate a basket of dried pasta, thus debunking this particular myth. Most do concede though that the Chinese are known to have been eating a noodle-type food but point out that pasta and noodles are different. Noodles are a starchy product known to have been made from breadfruit and not wheat!

Another theory is that the origin of pasta dates back to an archeological find of Etruscan tombs. Carvings on some of the stucco reliefs in the tombs depicted a knife, board, flour sack and an iron pin. It is interpreted that these instruments were sued to make pasta and the iron pin in particular to shape tubed pasta. However, this is just conjecture as the instruments may have had other uses and there is no further evidence to support the claim that the Etruscans invented pasta

Three golden rules on eating pasta for optimum health: 

Use whole wheat pasta. Whole wheat pasta, which is made from 100% whole wheat flour, is far more nutritious than white pasta. It retains more of its nutrient-rich wheat germ and bran, and is a better source of fibre and the B vitamin thiamine which the body requires to produce glycogen. Whole wheat pasta also contains more protein than white pasta, and although it is slightly coarser in texture, the taste is not as different as you might expect.

Use mainly egg free pasta. Most types of pasta are made with just flour, water, and perhaps oil, but some also contain eggs, especially if they are fresh rather than dried. Although it’s fine to eat egg pasta occasionally, your staple pasta should be egg free because the protein in eggs combined with the starch in the pasta can make egg pasta difficult to digest.
Avoid heavy meat sauces. Popular dishes that make use of heavy meat or cheese sauces, such as spaghetti bolognese, should only be eaten in moderation. The animal protein in these sauces makes the starchy pasta difficult to digest, meaning we don’t absorb the nutrients very well and we get uncomfortable symptoms as undigested foods pass through our systems. Food combining experts recommend eating cooked or raw vegetables or vegetable based sauces with pasta at lunchtime, and then eating meat as a separate meal later in the day.

http://www.sheffieldcityguide.com/dining/view/the-pasta-bar

Steve Braily gives us his thoughts on Sheftival 2012

We spoke with Steve Brailey for an insight into how the Sheftival is going and what is to be expected in the future. He is the chief executive of Sheffield International Venues, who has an impressive working background in a wide range of leisure and sporting environments and has been a major player in bringing this fantastic event together. When speaking with Steve we could tell he was really buzzing with excitement from the event, after admitting a nervous start Saturday morning not knowing how many people would turn up, he tells us how visiting the site the previous night he thought it

“really works as a festival site, its brilliant!”

The initial thoughts of Steve and all the staff involved organizing the event of the venue, being an amazing festival site was confirmed the first day with a large crowd and an electric atmosphere expecting numbers to grow over the course of the day to

“at least ten thousand with Don Valley”.

Along with word of mouth from Saturdays lively crowd Sheftival was set to be a success over the whole weekend and hopefully will be returning again next year. Last words from Steve give us something just as exciting to look forward to in the future

“We have proved this to be a brilliant festival site, there’s no reason we can’t be doing this every year and for it to grow and grow!”