London flat hunt - first few days

THREE days into my search for a room in London, and I've already been scammed.
Searching on sites like Gumtree and Roombuddies, I was beginning to get used to the fact that my limited budget was not going to afford me any luxuries.
Then, I received a message from a member of spareroom.co.uk asking whether I would be interested in her flat located near Goodge Street, by Covent Garden in Central London, for £450 per month including all utility bills and council tax. Of course I was interested. But alarm bells should have been ringing.
When I registered my interest, an email arrived from someone purporting to be 27-year-old Arianna, an Italian hairdresser, and I could not believe my eyes.
The flat was luxuriously decorated with all ensuite rooms, and a quick look on Google street view told me the area was pretty nice too.
Arianna also sounded like the sort of person I would like to live with: in a long, detailed email, she said in broken English: "I'm a very laid back person and also, I am open minded and free with everyone.
I am looking for someone that is especially a trustworthy person, a clean and tidy and person that I could confide in as a friend and family and that could confide in me as well and I believed you would be the kind of person."
She had snared me.
My suspicions were only aroused when Arianna would only communicate via email or Windows Live Messenger - which I had to download in a desperate attempt not to lose the flat.
When speaking to Arianna, she informed me that I would have to pay a £500 security deposit before even viewing the flat, as she had been "let down before". When I refused, she said that she just needed proof that I would be able to pay the rent, but would not accept a payslip or a bank statement. Again I refused, and wished her luck in finding the right person.
On the same day, I received a generic mass email from the owners of the spareroom site, which listed the common features of a scam. She ticked all the boxes.
I'm now remembering how limited my budget is, and off to look at flats which probably actually do exist, mould and all.

The countryside's hidden treasures

STROLLING through the rolling hills and open plains of Surprise View in the Derbyshire Peak District, Nicola Moorhouse and Chris Shorter stopped for a moment to take in the views.

Noticing something strange behind a pile of rocks, they cautiously approached the object, not realising that a whole new adventure was about to begin.

What they found was much more than a sandwich box. It was a sandwich box filled with eclectic objects, a strange mixture of numbers and a log book with hundreds of signatures in it. Nicola and Chris had inadvertently discovered Geocaching.

Now in its tenth year, Geocaching has become a global past time, with an estimated five million people of all ages searching for any out of the 1,058,752 active geocaches around the world.

Known among players as a high-tech treasure hunt, the basic idea is to track down a geocache with a GPS devise using coordinates given on geocaching.com. The co-ordinates take players to the approximate location of a hidden object, which they must then find and log.

If a player wishes to take a souvenir object out of the box, they must replace it with something of equal or greater value before returning the box to its original position.

Nicola said: “I was a bit wary of what this box was at first, so I made Chris open it. I’m so glad we did though, I think it’s so exciting! It’s our new hobby now.”

Chris and Nicola left a message in the log book thanking them for the introduction into the sport – which they happened to discover on Nicola’s 24^th birthday.

The couple are now fully fledged geocachers, using the GPS on Chris’ phone to seek out hidden boxes under the name ‘Banana Bomb’.

Geocaching began on May 3^rd, 2000, only a few hours after GPS technology - which had been reserved for military use - was opened up for public access.

Dave Ulmer, a computer consultant from Beavercreek, Oregon, USA, decided to test out GPS by filling a bucket with a log book and slingshot before hiding it somewhere in Beavercreek.

He logged the coordinates on an online GPS users’ page, and within three days, two people had found it and logged their experiences online.

This May bank holiday weekend more than 600 events will take place worldwide to mark the ten year anniversary of geocaching, from Afghanistan to Quebec, and even Halifax, where on Saturday May 1^st geocachers will meet at N53 degrees 42.801 W001 degrees 52.691 – otherwise known as the pub.

For more information on geocaching, go to www.geocaching.com.

Enterprising students take skills to LA

>>Sheffield students win national finals thanks to community projects



SEVEN Sheffield University students will take part in an international entrepeneurial challenge in Los Angeles this September after beating off 39 other universities to represent the UK.

Students from the Sheffield Students In Free Enterprise (SIFE) took part in SIFE´s national competition in London’s Canary Wharf, impressing judges with a report on their community projects, which included trips to poor, rural communities in Ghana, Bangladesh and South Africa to equip them with business skills.

Kirsty Maggs, 22, from Sheffield SIFE said: “In 2005 when Sheffield SIFE started, it was everyone’s dream to win the National Championship, to show that students in Sheffield have the entrepreneurship and abilities to really help those in our community to overcome a range of problems.

“Since 2005 all members of Sheffield SIFE have worked hard to make this dream a reality. Winning the National Competition and being able to represent SIFE UK in the International Competition really means a lot to us.”

Janaan Abdurahman, 20, a first year studying philosophy and psychology, joined SIFE in fresher’s week after being invited to go along to a meeting. She is now a member of the executive director team.

She said: “We had a number of different reports to show and we had to have a slideshow with six presenters and one clicker. I’d just got back from a project in Lasotha three weeks to the day before the competition so it was all systems go from there, it was ridiculous.

“There were 20 of us all together who went down to London. We wanted to take everyone that wanted to go. There are 346 members so we opened it up to whoever wanted to come and could afford to do so. Mainly, having the support was really important to us.”

The team was fast-tracked straight through to the semi finals from their regional heat, meaning that they had longer to prepare than some other teams who had to continue competing with other teams for a place.

“We were lucky that we got straight through to the semi finals but it was still a massive surprise. Nottingham won four years in a row but didn’t even get through this year”, said Janaan.

SIFE UK will pay for the accomodation of the 7 students whilst in Los Angeles, but all other costs estimated at £22000 including flights, must be bought from funds raised by the students.

Janaah said: “We are hoping for sponsorship for as many people as possible, the rest will be fundraising. We are hoping to do a coffee morning for University staff and possible a bike ride down the country.

"We originally thought about cycling to LA, but then realised we probably wouldn’t even get there in time for the competition!”

There were tears of joy when the team won at the national competition, having only got to second and third place at the annual competition since the Sheffield SIFE team was set up in 2005.

Helen Parrott, Enterprise Business Manager at the University of Sheffield´s White Rose Centre for Excellence in the Teaching & Learning of Enterprise, said: “Sheffield SIFE’s outstanding achievement recognises the significant impact of the student´s work over recent years here in Sheffield and in Lasotha, India and Ghana. Their next challenge is to raise the money to take the team to LA to represent the UK.”

The 346 students in the Sheffield SIFE team raised £28,570 last year, working on projects which have made an impact on the lives of over 2,880 people. This included working with homeless people to create a jam-making business called Bevin’s Finest Preserve.

The students are now looking for sponsorship for various social enterprise projects, such as those mentioned above. If you are interested, please contact Calum Moore at Calum@sheffieldsife.org or visit their website.

Memorial for Barnsley's lost babies

>> Mother whose baby was taken at birth fundraises to commemorate babies buried in mass graves

A MOTHER whose young baby was buried in an unmarked mass grave in Barnsley is raising funds to install a memorial in her memory.

Carole Taylor, 69, is the latest in a string of South Yorkshire parents affected by mass graves across the area. Her daughter, Michelle, who died in 1971 from suspected lung failure, had been buried there for 10 years before she discovered it.

She said: “My daughter, when I found her, was buried in a grave with 14 other children. Some of those mothers would never have even held their babies.

“This memorial is a chance to give them the decency and the respect they were never afforded.
There isn’t even a place for people to lay flowers at the moment.”

Carole, a former landlady and market worker, set up her charity shop Angels on Doncaster
Road in Barnsley two years ago to raise money for the memorial. So far she has raised £5,800 of the £11,000 she needs. She will be leaving the shop in September when the lease comes up.

Her memorial follows on from similar projects carried out by the Dearne Memorial Group and Barnsley Cemetaries Project, who raised money for two memorials in Thurnscoe and Bolton on Dearne.

Stephen Davies, 63, a retired miner and former serviceman, set-up the group and works to collate burial records with the actual sites of graves so that parents can trace their lost children.

He said: “A woman came along once looking for her child and it just so happened that she was stood next to where her child was buried.”

He and wife Betty, who live in Thurnscoe, lost two children as young parents in the 1970s. Their son Peter was born with spinibifida, and died in 1970. Then their daughter Dawn, who had congenital abnormalities, died in 1971. Both were taken away from their parents and buried in unmarked graves, but the family did not know their whereabouts until some 30 years later.

Stephen said: “It wasn’t until my daughter enquired into their deaths that we were told that Peter was buried in a cemetary in Sheffield. We had always thought he was in Barnsley.”

Founded in 2002, the group was asked to look after the cemetaries and plots. Stephen decided to go through each individual plot to record the burials, but when he got to plot number 405, he found a pauper’s grave, with 83 children buried together in it.

The group decided to raise £5000 for a memorial, with funds raised in various events including two concerts by the Barnsley male voice choir. When they found more than 750 children in unmarked graves at Bolton on Dearne, they raised a further £1400 for a memorial tribute to them.

Stephen said: “Many babies were buried here after typhoid - there were 1300 in Barnsley alone. Some had small pox, cholerha, whooping cough. In them days people died from the flu and didn’t have the money for separate graves.

“Many of them were brought straight in as still borns or ‘backyard babies’ and just put in there in a mass grave.”

Stephen now runs the Barnsley group’s website which holds records dating from 1801 right up to January 2010. He receives emails from people all over the world who are affected by these mass graves, from Australia to Minnesota, USA.

He said: “Me and my wife lost a baby and in those days it was a case of ‘you go home and rest and we’ll take care of it’, they took the child away from you. There was nothing ceremonial about it.

“Now we receive great support from the community, the council, councillors and the church - the local Father has given services for us before.”

Further funds will be raised for Michelle Taylor’s memorial at a fundraising event at East Dene Working Men’s Club on 8 July featuring bands, a buffet, raffle and bingo.

NUJ rejects application from BNP member

Article published at journalism.co.uk by Laura Oliver with my additional reporting.
30/04/2010

The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) has this week rejected a membership application because it came from a member of the British National Party.

The application had been refused because of the individual's work as a BNP organiser, the union confirmed to Journalism.co.uk. The individual's links with the party were clearly stated as part of the application.

"His actions aren't compatible with membership of the NUJ," a spokesman said, adding that other unions would adhere to similar rules. A BNP member entering the union would contradict with the NUJ's Code of Conduct, which all journalists joining the union must sign, the spokesman suggested. Section 10 of the code says : "A journalist (…) produces no material likely to lead to hatred or discrimination on the grounds of a person's age, gender, race, colour, creed, legal status, disability, marital status, or sexual orientation."

At an event promoting the cross-media EXPOSE the BNP campaign, deputy general secretary of the union Michelle Stanistreet called on the British Media to exact more scrutiny of the BNP and its policies.

"Journalism comes with a responsibility. We have to face the reality of what happens when we don't do our job properly. We are encouraging our members to scrutinise people from across the political parties. But at the minute the BNP just isn't being scrutinised properly," she said.

"We need people to know the difference between what these people are saying on TV and what they actually stand for. This needs to be exposed through the media."

The NUJ criticised BBC's decision to put Nick Griffin on Question Time in October: "The union argues that the format of the show does not allow the BNP’s dishonest propaganda to be properly challenged." In February the union launched a guide to journalists reporting the BNP ahead of the general election.

A BNP spokesperson said the decision by the union was "hardly surprising". "The NUJ bosses wouldn't want anyone blowing the whistle on the extent of their doctoring of news reports concerning the British National Party," the spokesperson said.

NUJ fears job cuts and apathy could prevent 'proper' media scrutiny of BNP

My article on journalism.co.uk

NUJ fears job cuts and apathy could prevent 'proper' media scrutiny of BNP
Posted: 29/04/10 By: Sophie Maden

The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) last night launched its campaign to encourage the British media to give greater scrutiny to far-right political parties or risk political apathy letting in the British National Party.

Michelle Stanistreet, deputy general secretary of the NUJ was the main speaker at the EXPOSE event in Sheffield, a city represented in the European Parliament by BNP candidate Andrew Brons.

"Journalism comes with a responsibility. We have to face the reality of what happens when we don't do our job properly. We are encouraging our members to scrutinise people from across the political parties. But at the minute the BNP just isn't being scrutinised properly," Stanistreet said.

"We need people to know the difference between what these people are saying on TV and what they actually stand for. This needs to be exposed through the media."

The NUJ has previously spoken out against the BBC's decision to put Nick Griffin on Question Time and has created a guide to journalists for reporting the BNP.

The panel, including the Sheffield Star's Julia Armstrong, also criticised falling standards in reporting for allowing extreme policies to go unchallenged.

Armstrong, who has been targetted by the Redwatch site, said that cuts made by Johnston Press were leading directly to "churnalism".

She said: "Because of the cuts made over the last two to three years it's tough to do your job."

Referring to the new Atex technology being introduced by the group, which is the subject of tomorrow's strike action by Johnston Press journalists in Scarborough, she said: "Our new content management system is more 'mismanagement'.

"The Johnston Press slogan is 'life is local', but it doesn't believe that. Life isn't local to them, it's centralised."

On the proposed relocation of sub-editors from Scarborough newspapers to Sheffield, she said: "It basically means job losses. People won't make that journey. They will either take up reporting positions and take a cut in pay or take redundancy."

Dr Rhetta Moran, secretary of Greater Manchester Unite Against Facism and an NUJ member also featured at the event, which was attended mostly by student journalists.

Moran was arrested at the English Defence League's protest in Bolton on 20 March and the union is working with her to appeal against her arrest. She said: "The difference between the EDL and the BNP is becoming more fluid. The reality is that neither gets the scrutiny it should in the media. Above all we need to raise awareness of the need to vote."

Sophie Maden is a NCTJ print postgraduate student at the University of Sheffield.

Help put us in the Picture

Page lead in the Manchester Evening News written on work experience.






By Sophie Louise Maden.

PORTRAITS of a host of Manchester faces from the 1940s and 50s will grace the walls of Manchester Art Gallery this month – but staff have no idea who they are.

The photographs, taken by Manchester photographer Dorothy Bohm, have left staff scratching their heads and appealing to the public for help.

They hope that people will recognise the faces in the photographs and come forward with more information to help their April 24 exhibition 'A World Observed 1940 - 2010: Photographs by Dorothy Bohm'.

The photographs were taken whilst Dorothy was a student at Manchester College of Technology before beginning her six decade-long career at Samuel Cooper Photography and creating her own studio, Studio Alexander, in Market Street.

They include portraits of every day people, from a university graduate to nurses and children.

Jennifer Boyd, a volunteer researcher at the gallery, said: “We'd be really excited to hear from anyone who can help us with our research.

“You can also check your old family photographs to see if a Studio Alexander portrait is hidden among them. Some may have the handwritten signature of Dorothy Alexander in the bottom right hand corner, and others may have Studio Alexander printed on their mount.”

Dorothy, who emigrated to England from Lithuania in 1939, now lives in London and has had an internationally renowned career.

Anybody who provides a Studio Alexander photograph will receive a free copy of the exhibition catalogue, worth £14.95, and also see the photo added to an album of prints for visitors to browse.

To look at the photographs, visit www.manchestergalleries.org/dorothybohm or send your own Studio Alexander photographs to Jennifer Boyd, c/o Exhibitions team, Manchester Art Gallery, Mosley Street, Manchester M2 3JL or email aworldobserved@googlemail.com.

Sheffield to switch off for Earth Hour

Published at Forge Today

Sheffield to switch off for Earth Hour

By Sophie Maden
Published: 27/03/2010

Campaigners are hoping darkness will descend upon Sheffield tonight as residents and businesses prepare to switch off their lights to raise awareness about climate change.

The Sheffield is My Planet initiative is encouraging people to take part in the WWF’s worldwide Earth Hour by switching off their lights for an hour from 8.30pm on Saturday, March 27.

As part of the initiative, Sheffield’s Town Hall, Peace Gardens, Wheel and Meadowhall Dome will switch off their lights tonight.

Council Leader Paul Scriven said: "Earth Hour sends a message that it's time to switch to a cleaner, safer, more sustainable future.

“Tackling climate change is a huge challenge but this event shows that when everyone does something small it can have a massive impact.

“Local people have made it clear that they want to take action to preserve our environment, and by switching off a few lights we can all be part of a global phenomenon and send a message to our leaders that it's time to act on climate change.”

The WWF’s Earth Hour demonstration hopes to involve a billion individuals and businesses across the world this year in its energy switch off. Monuments such as the Eiffel Tower and Empire State Building will dim their lights in support.

WWF figures show that that turning devices off at the mains can cut 8% off an annual electricity bill, and quitting standby in the UK would save £700m of energy annually - enough to pay the energy bills of nearly 800,000 homes.

For more information visit the Earth Hour website.

NCTJ Diversity Fund

This is me in an NCTJ press release. It's largely inaccurate but hey...

http://www.nctj.com/news/journalism-diversity-fund-bursaries-available-to-aspiring-journalists.html

GMG Managing Editor Chris Elliott on the future of its axed regionals

On Tuesday 9^th February the Guardian Media Group sold its regional newspapers and Manchester Evening News to Trinity Mirror in a £44.8 million deal. As the former GMG papers face relocation to Oldham, GMG Managing Editor Chris Elliott explains the “brutal” decision.

“The regionals were what held us together,” said Chris Elliott. “The Guardian was never what made us money.”

But then they began to make a loss and would continue to make a loss.”

The deal, due to be completed by the 28 March will see Trinity relocate the papers from their central Manchester home to the group’s Oldham offices.

Moving out of the community

This comes only a year after newspapers such as the Accrington Observer and Rossendale Free Press had their local offices closed and moved to the MEN headquarters at Scott Place, cutting them off from the local community in favour of slashing costs.

Asked about the future these papers face, Chris Elliott said: “They stand a better chance with Trinity than with us or any other company.”

It was a very difficult and maybe a very brutal decision.”

"It may be difficult for a while, but their only chance is with another company.”

The Stealthing craze: have you been caught?

A new craze is sweeping social networking sites involving being photographed behind a person in a mock sexual act – without them noticing.

Over 12,000 people have signed up to Facebook groups about ‘stealthing’or ‘stealth bumming’: a new craze in which unassuming people become the victims of web provoked boredom.

One Facebook group has over 12,000 members and as many photographs of people playing the stealthing game. In one photograph a policeman is even made a target as a girl on a night out strikes a pose behind him.

In bars, at work, even at school, it seems nobody is safe. From students to soldiers, everybody seems to be jumping on the stealthing wagon.

Originating in lads magazines like Zoo and Nuts, the game is seemingly all a bit of fun, but watch out – if a camera flashes behind you, you may just have become the butt of the joke.

The rules of the game are simple, situations must not be set up, there must not be contact with the other person, and they must not catch you doing it. It’s like ninja 101 for sex pests.

An Interview with David Blunkett

On Wednesday 17^th March a group of Sheffield University journalism postgraduates grilled Sheffield Brightside MP David Blunkett on the relationship between politics and the media, the potential downfall of the Labour party, and ‘that woman he loved’.

Speaking to a group of print and broadcast student journalists, Blunkett provided wit, charisma and unexpected charm. He was warm and inviting, openly breaching more intimate topics.

“We live by the sword we die by the sword” he said.

Since my private life became open I think it’s better to own up and to move on.”

Now happily married to a doctor – (“I thought it would help me in old age”) – Blunkett appeared relaxed and open in his continued belief in the Labour Party.

“We need people not just to vote but to get people engaged in politics.”

We need voters to actually get involved in issues like climate change. It means people getting more involved. It is important that we get that across.”

People will have a lot more respect for us if we are closer to them. It’s important we keep our feet on the ground.”

A former Sun columnist, Blunkett believes that not even the tabloid’s continued attacks can shake them.

“The sun set on me when it set on the Labour Party.”

"The world has changed since 1989 when it was ‘the Sun what did it’. Now it’s like a Tory leaflet coming through the door.

People can be influenced but they’re not stupid. They could be a lot more subtle about it.”

What is a threat, however, is the growth of new media and the failings of self-regulation.

“In new media, moderation is important. Otherwise anarchy will overwhelm us."

"The PCC is rubbish. What is going to happen with the so-called new media. We need to ensure that this does not overwhelm us.”

So, despite the scandal of MPs expenses and the dwindling support of the media, what does Blunkett think is the biggest obstacle facing Labour as the elections approach?

“The biggest obstacle is having been in for 13 years and the consequences of the melt down.”

Volunteers in Edale create 100th new woodland

An Edale cottage became the 100^th site to benefit from a Woodland Trust scheme after volunteers planted 1000 trees in its grounds.

Stephen Searle, 59, a doctor, and his occupational therapist wife Joy, 58, got involved in the Trust’s MOREwoods scheme by planting the trees in the field behind their cottage on Hope Road.

The Trust provided the trees and the equipment needed to plant them so that the Searles could organise planting weekends from the 13^th to the 21^st of February.

They were aided over the two weekends by keen volunteers who planted a mixture of ash, oak, rowan, birch, alder, willow and guelder rose trees.

'Serendipity'

Stephen said that finding the scheme was “serendipity”.

“We were interested in trees and in what we can do locally to help. Even 19 years ago we toyed with the idea of planting Christmas trees. Then we stumbled across the Woodland Trust website” he said.

"By planting these trees we are leaving something behind for future generations."

Both he and Joy are members of Sustainable Edale: a group which encourages local people to lead a more environmentally friendly life. The pair have even installed a wind turbine on their property to generate their own energy.

Other members of Sustainable Edale volunteered during the project, whilst the couple’s son, Tom Searle, 21, brought six friends to help from Cambridge University, where he studies Natural Sciences.

Tom said: “I know it sounds a little clichéd now but it’s interesting from a legacy point of view. By planting these trees we are leaving something behind for future generations.”

Benefits for wildlife

"Trees have important environmental benefits and provide shade and shelter for wildlife.”

Debbie Nicholls, PR Assistant for the Woodland Creation Team, was keen to point out the benefits of the scheme for wildlife.

She said: “In years gone by there were far more trees than there are now. Nature is finding it harder to live. Trees have important environmental benefits and provide shade and shelter for wildlife.”

MOREwoods aims to create 750 acres of new woodland across the UK over an estimated 220 sites.

The scheme is available to UK landowners with a minimum of one hectare (2.5 acres). Application details are available via the MOREwoods website.

MOREwoods 100th site - volunteers

Volunteers at the 100th MOREwoods site explain how to plant trees. Images and audio by Sophie Maden.

MOREwoods 100th site: Edale

Video interview with the owners of the 100th site to benefit from the Woodland Trust's MOREwoods scheme.

Networking at the Guardian

Journalism Diversity Fund recipients past and present meet with industry professionals. Photo courtesy of NCTJ.