(Image courtesy of Flickr)

Sheffield’s Kell Brook will hope to get one step closer to a World title fight tomorrow night.

The 24 year old welterweight, who trains in Wincobank, will face Philip Kotey in the first fight of a bumper night of boxing.

The show is dubbed “King Khan and the Brit Pack” and will culminate with Amir Kahn’s world title defence in Las Vegas.

Brook, the WBO Inter-Continental champion, is rated number 1 by the World Boxing Organisation and is hoping for a shot at the title if he can get past Kotey.

The current champion is none other than the Phillipino superstar Manny Pacquiao, but it is thought he will vacate that title rather than face Brook.

Stobbs displaying the T-shirt. Image by Ruth Etherington

An artist is promoting his work by hanging teeshirt printed with his art on trees in Sheffield.

Sebastian Stobbs is one of the featured designers  at the newly opened ‘Kuji’
shop on Eccleshall road, Sheffield, selling art and designer
clothes.

To promote an art exhibition tonight at the store Endcliffe park is being turned into a feature, with free teeshirts hung in trees round the park from five o’clock this afternoon.

The artist talking to JUS news said that Sheffield is the right place to exhibit his art crediting the city’s diverse art community.

Sheffield Hallam University.Image by Ghazanfar Hyder

Academics from the University and College Union say Hallam is one of 49 universities whose stability is classed as ‘high risk’ under the Government’s plans.

The University and College Union have said that the university is set to lose 47 million pounds in state funding after recent government cuts.

The union says that if Hallam fails to replace 96% of the funding losses then the university will be forced into deficit and may struggle to survive.

It is believed that tuition fees will rise to nearly 7000 pounds per year.

One of the Photoshoot's volunteers

A freelance photographer in Sheffield is doing a Twitter Joke Trial photoshoot in support of Paul Chambers at APG Gallery.

Luke Avery, 26, is planning to shoot portraits of anyone who wants to be part of the project holding a handwritten version of the tweet that got Paul Chambers in trouble in the first instance.

Luke admits that sending such a message was probably a stupid move, but it does seem to be a complete over reaction by the authorities.

“The whole issue could’ve been cleared up in five minutes, (but) it’s gone through serious court proceedings, it’s wasted taxpayer’s money. And the poor guy’s ended up suffering for the rest of his life for something he didn’t mean to. It’s just a joke.” said Luke.

One of the volunteers, Tony Kennick, is an IT consultant. He said he believes in free speech and that the challenge is of technology to maintain freedom people would expect in real life. He said he wants to raise the consciousness of that challenge by taking part in the photoshoot project.

Paul Chambers has been convicted of “menace” for threatening in January to blow up Doncaster’s Robin Hood Airport in a Twitter joke, and was fined and lost his job. He’s recently lost his appeal against conviction at Doncaster crown court and wants to go to the high court to appeal against the ruling.

There’s a high profile benefit gig happening down in London later in the month to raise funds so that Paul can appeal the court ruling at the High Court. Another tie-in benefit gig is also being organised in Sheffield, which is where the photo series comes in.

Image by Futureshape

A group of firefighters in Sheffield have been handing
out fire-proof sleeping bags to the homeless.

The firefighters, who were working in conjunction with
the Cathedral Archer homeless charity wanted to keep people warm but also keep them safe from potential fire hazards.

Alex Mills communications team leader said the homeless were very grateful for this contribution.

A picture of Sheffield after the Blitz. Image by Roger B

This weekend marks seventy years since Sheffield was hit by the Blitz.
Nearly 700 people were killed during the raids, code named ‘Operation Crucible’ by the Germans,  in December 1940.

The raids fell over two nights, the 12th and 15th December, with the first night seeing Sheffield suffer continuous bombing for nine hours.

Mavis Rodgers was aged 8 and living in the Shiregreen area at the time of the Blitz.  She said that the affects of the bombing on the city were huge.

She also said that the Blitz created a great community spirit.

To commemorate the Blitz a number of events are happening throughout the City during December.  Information on these can be found at Sheffield City Library.  The Library is also hosting an exhibition which showcases rare and unseen documents and photographs from the archives.

Pupils and staff of Barnsley college

The latest review by Oftsed  has named Barnsley College as one of only four colleges of further education in the country to receive a rating of ‘excellent’.

The report, published today, awarded the college the highest possible grade in 20 out of 22 criteria.

The glowing report is all the more surprising given that only three years ago the college’s performance was rated as merely satisfactory.

Such is the turnaround that Ofsted now says, ‘The college provides an inspirational resource for the Barnsley community and a transformational one for many learners’ , ‘Learners make outstanding progress at the college, and for many, the period they spend at the college represents a life-transforming journey’ and ‘teaching is often inspirational’.

The result of the inspection marks further good news for the college who next summer will move into state of the art new buildings that Headmaster Colin Booth  says will match the energy, vision and aspirations of his staff and students

Mr Booth praised the tireless work of his staff who he desribed as an inspiration.

Student Accommodation in Sheffield

Sheffield City Council are consulting over plans to limit student housing across the city.

As it stands planning permission isn’t required to convert a house into a shared student home.  But the council wants to cut the number of buildings being turned into shared houses for between three and six unrelated people.

The scheme would only apply to areas with high student populations such as Crookes, Broomhill and Ranmoor and wouldn’t affect current student properties.

Sheffield University’s Welfare Officer Nikki Bowater spoke to JUS News: