The faces of 2012 - all set to be big year for these Sheffielders
Kirsty Bromley
JESS ENNIS
THE spotlight will definitely be on Jess Ennis next year... not that she’s ever been out of it for the last six years.
It is, of course, the London Olympics and what better stage for Sheffield’s own world-class heptathlete to claim a gold medal than in front of her ‘home’ fans.
She’ll use being beaten into second place in this year’s World Championships as a motivational tool and very few would bet against her becoming the Golden Girl of London 2012.
Talking of the Olympics, don’t forget Sheffield’s sailing ace Paul Goodison who bids for a repeat of his golden glory at the Beijing Games.
SARAH NULTY
THIS Sheffielder is ready to tackle her dream job and take the city’s Tramlines music festival to even greater heights in 2012.
It’s a tough ask, as Tramlines was named the Best UK Metropolitan Festival recently, but Sarah is determined to take this growing event to the next level.
She has taken over as festival director from Dave Healy in 2012 and said: “If someone had written my perfect job, this would be it.’’
Sarah has been involved in the festival from the start. The first Tramlines in 2009 drew around 35,000 music fans, while the 2011 event attracted more than 150,000 to more than 70 live venues across the city.
Sarah said: “We are already working on next year’s festival and hope it will be just as successful. It’s all about building the Sheffield music scene and I’m loving the challenge.’’
RICHARD HAWLEY
SPRING will see the release of Richard Hawley’s seventh studio album and, although the man himself is not giving much away just yet, he’s clearly chuffed to bits with his latest work.
Hawley finished recording just before Christmas and said: “Let’s just say this is the album where I decided I was going to play the guitar.’’
2011 was a deliberately low-key year for Hawley – although he still found time to co-produce Duane Eddy’s acclaimed Road Trip album in the city and squeeze in festival appearances with Pulp among various other projects – and he reckons it has paid off.
“I’ve written more than 200 songs in the last year, so from a creative point of view it’s been brilliant. There have been far fewer distractions and I’ve enjoyed doing the really normal, important things. My daughter turned 18, my middle son started senior school and the youngest is on his way to being a brilliant drummer.
“It’s been great and I’ve rediscovered all the reasons I really love being in Sheffield.’’
He’s not talking titles yet but, following Late Night Final, Lowedges, Coles Corner, Lady’s Bridge and Truelove’s Gutter, it would be a brave bet against yet another Sheffield connection.
NICOLETTE WILLIAMS
The ambition of Nicolette Williams is to see a war memorial in Shiregreen Cemetery where her son Christopher Bridge, who was killed in an explosion in Afghanistan at the age of 20, is buried.
It will be a tribute to the senior aircraftman and 69 fallen World World Two servicemen in the cemetery.
After leading a £35,000 fundraising campaign over 17 months, Nicolette can look forward to a memorial being unveiled in 2012. She was upset to discover her son’s final resting place did not have a war memorial where his name could be added in recognition of the ultimate sacrifice he made for his country.
The memorial will also honour Royal Marine Lance Corporal Jamie Fellows, aged 26, of Parson Cross, who was killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan, and the names of another 69 men buried in Shiregreen cemetery after losing their lives in the Second World War.
“When the memorial is built I will stand there and break down – if it was not for my fundraising giving me something positive to do, I honestly think I would be with my son now,” said Nicolette.
KELL BROOK
SHEFFIELD boxer Kell Brook looks set to hit the big time in 2012. Nicknamed Special K, he’s destroyed the best that Britain and Europe has to offer at welterweight and last weekend he ‘introduced’ himself to the American audience with a classy fifth round stoppage of Puerto Rican tough guy Luis Galarza.
Manager Eddie Hearn has promised him a world title fight next year – the IBF looks the most likely route with Brook possible facing the winner of champion Andre Berto’s title defence against Victor Ortiz in February.
KIRSTY BROMLEY
THE Sheffield area has an excellent reputation for nurturing young folk musicians – and Kirsty Bromley’s name is being added to the list.
The 21-year-old is not only a fine traditional singer, but also plays trumpet.
She has recently released her first EP, Sweet Nightingale, appeared on an album by Pete Coe, performed at festivals such as Sidmouth and, on New Year’s Eve, was part of the 12-piece Eliza Carthy Motown Band at the South Bank Centre in London.
If that’s not enough, she teaches trumpet and sword dancing.
Combining a burgeoning music career with being a nanny in Sheffield, Kirsty says: “I have got a gig or two every month for the next year or so, so hopefully things will build and build.”
JESS FLYNN
HALLAM University metalwork and jewellery graduate Jess Flynn launched her jewellery collection at Earls Court last September and was so pleased with the response that she started to target the worldwide market within a week.
Next stop for Jessica Flynn Designs is a big international trade fair in Birmingham in February.
The 22-year-old makes earrings, necklaces and other jewellery at a recently opened studio in Kelham Island, near to where she lives, with an emphasis on stainless steel.
“It’s all made in Sheffield or within 100 miles if I can’t do the process myself,” she said. “I always use local companies.”
Jess, who was a runner-up in Hallam’s Enterprise Challenge, said: “It’s looking good for 2012. I’ve got a positive reception. I’m building up my portfolio of stockists and I am trying to get more people to represent me.”
NICK MATTHEW
IN any other sport Nick Matthew would be a countrywide superstar, unfortunately squash doesn’t have the appeal of other sports. It’s hard on the Sheffield-born ace who has topped the world rankings for the whole of the year and won back-to-back world titles.
He’s set to lose his No1 spot to fellow Yorkshireman James Willstrop at the start of next year and that will be incentive enough to go flat out to regain it. Matthew and Willstrop are tipped to dominate the sport in 2012 and it should be a battle to savour for all squash fans.
KYLE WALKER
THIS footballer has his sights firmly set on the Euro 2012 Championships after cementing his place in the Tottenham team and making his full England debut with a man-of-the-match display against Sweden recently.
The Sharrow-born former High Storrs pupil took time to make his mark in the Premiership following the deal which saw him and Kyle Naughton head to White Hart Lane, but an impressive spell on loan at Aston Villa last season has helped him establish himself as Harry Redknapp’s first-choice right back at Spurs.
There has been speculation that Spanish giants Real Madrid are plotting a move for the 19-year-old and he looks a good bet to be in Fabio Capello’s squad for the Euros.
KATHARINE TOWERS
EDALE poet Katharine Towers is hoping the recent award of the prestigious Seamus Heaney Prize for Poetry will pay dividends over the next year.
“The award was for my first book, The Floating Man, and I am hoping it will enable me to put poetry a bit more to the centre of my life rather than as a periphery. I am still writing poems with a view to a second book and using the award to encourage publishers to look kindly at me. I am trying to build up teaching as well,” says Towers, who currently supports her poetry by working as a self-employed copywriter for businesses.
“I also hope I will be more in demand for readings. I have already done one for the Wordsworth Trust, appeared at the Trobadour basement in London, and at Torbay and other festivals but having the award against may open other opportunities.”
JULIET ELLIS
ON her website Juliet Ellis is described as an actor, director, filmmaker and live art practioner and it seems there’s very little she hasn’t tried her hand at over the years – from vocalist of late Eighties acid house band Funky Worm, writer-director of an award-winning play, to co-star of Ken Loach movie It’s a Free World.
Born in Firth Park, she grew up in Sharrow, before going to drama school in Manchester where she lived for ten years and then locating to London. But two and half years ago she returned to Sheffield to concentrate on her dream, writing and directing a feature film, Bit By Bit, set on the Landsdowne Estate where she grew up.
Inspired by the experience of her brother (already the basis of her two short films, Bro9 and Blue), it is about a small-time gangster, drug dealer and massage parlour security man who is forced to re-examine his lifestyle when his 12-year-old daughter comes to live with him.
“It’s a story where two opposing worlds meet and I spent six months talking to people in those worlds before I wrote anything,” she says.
In the meantime she has continued picking up acting assingnments and will be seen on TV next year in Kay Mellor’s latest TV mini-series The Syndicate and BBC drama series Bound, filmed in Sheffield.
With Sheffield producer Colin Pons on board and an investment package pledged from London, she is hoping to start filming Bit By Bit in 2012. “I am excited and only the other day I got an email from Ken Loach saying he had read the script and thought it was brilliant and wanted to support it. I have met some really good people over the years and I will be making sure they see the potential in what I am doing.”
TOM BELL
IT’S DOUBTFUL that when Tom Bell was a spotty teenager at King Edward VII he ever foresaw the uber cool future that lay ahead of him.
But Bell, aka Toddla T, has been making waves for some time now, both as a producer and DJ.
In 2009 the Sheffield dancehall producer released Skanky Skanky, a critically-acclaimed album that name checked artists such as Arctic Monkeys’ drummer Matt Helders.
Since then he’s put out a Fabric Live mix, has DJed‑ and toured relentlessly and this year he released his Watch Me Dance album on Ninja Records.
And it doesn’t stop there.
Next year, he’s upping the ante once more – with a permanent slot DJing for Radio One, making him a colleague of his DJ partner Annie Mac.
Toddla T’s new DJ slot will be from 2-4am on Fridays (Thursday nights).
Toddla T plays at Sheffield’s Tuesday Club on February 21
SIMON WEBSTER
The chief operating officer of Thornbridge Brewery is raising a glass to the company’s best year yet – and predicting that 2012 will put the Bakewell-based company firmly on the international map.
Two years after moving from Thornbridge Hall to the Bakewell site, the brewery has already outgrown its new home and is poised for a 50% expansion over the coming year.
Webster predicts that annual output will jump from 3.5m to 5m pints of bottled, keg and cask ales, with a particular focus on the export market. Thornbridge already supplies 38 American states.
Closer to home, the brewery is planning to add three more outlets to its portfolio, which this year accrued the Hallamshire House, Dada in Trippet Lane and the Coach & Horses at Dronfield.
And the company is also bidding to win official endorsement of its status: it has entered nine beers in the biennial Beer World Cup, due to take place in San Diego next April.
JULIE DORE
the Labour councillor became leader of Sheffield City Council last May when her party seized control from the Liberal Democrats.
Much of her time so far has been spent trying to get to grips with £57m spending cuts to be made in 2012/13 – and there will be similar cuts to be made for the following year as the Government continues to squeeze town halls.
It’s a huge challenge for somebody with relatively little experience at the top of the political ladder, and she will be under massive pressure to steer through a package that will inevitably mean hundreds more job losses and have a significant impact on local government services in Sheffield.
The town hall will not be the same at the end of 2012 – and Julie Dore will be at the centre of the revolution.
JOHN RAWSTHORNE
IT looks like farewell next year to the Roman Catholic Bishop of Hallam.
After heading the diocese for 14 years, the Rt Rev John Rawsthorne has written to the Pope to inform him that he was approaching the traditional retirement point of his 75th birthday, which was last month.
He is looking to move to Liverpool, where he came from originally, to do pastoral work, but he cannot go until a replacement has been found. He is still waiting to be told.
Bishop John is stepping down to allow a younger man to deal with some of the key organisational challenges facing the diocese, which stretches across South Yorkshire into Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire.
NICK CLEGG
ONE person who will most certainly be in the news next year is Nick Clegg.
Not only must the Deputy Prime Minister try to keep the Coalition Government together, but he also has to convince some members of his own party that the Liberal Democrats have not lost their way.
And then there is Sheffield in general and Hallam in particular. The scrapping of Forgemasters’ loan has not been forgotten (although Government help has since been offered) and neither has the u-turn over student loans. Sheffield’s most high-profile politician should enjoy his festive break while he can.
JOHN CAMPBELL
LABOUR councillor and trade union leader John Campbell becomes Sheffield’s Lord Mayor for a year from May.
When he succeeds Sylvia Dunkley, he will also be making local history by being the city’s first black Lord Mayor. The only other time a non-white person has held the position was Qurban Hussain in 1993/94.
Coun Campbell was born and brought up in Sheffield and has three brothers and three sisters.
A councillor for the Richmond area, he has been active in the trade union movement for over 20 years, with positions including Unison branch secretary at the Northern General Hospital.
He is a former president of Sheffield Trades Union Council and chairs Brightside and Hillsborough Constituency Labour Party.
NEIL MACDONALD
He becomes Master Cutler in October, cementing his reputation for throwing himself into the life of the region.
After working for KPMG and Firth Rixson, he was appointed group finance firector for AESSEAL in 2007, the award-winning Rotherham based manufacturer of mechanical seals. He’ll step down (although staying involved with the company) when he becomes one of the key voices in the local business community.
Mistress Cutler will be his wife, Julie, who was the first archivist at the Cutlers’ Hall. The couple live in Fulwood.
Neil is currently senior warden with the Cutlers’ Company, but he has already made his mark in Sheffield in other ways. At Sheffield Theatres, where he is now vice-chairman of the trust, he chaired a steering group which oversaw the refurbishment of The Crucible. He is also a trustee of Whirlow Hall Farm Trust and the Cathedral Archer Project.
BOB KERSLAKE
DESPITE top civil service jobs in London for the past three years, Bob Kerslake continues to make Sheffield his home, and is clearly attached to the place he helped to steer through one of its most difficult periods in recent times.
He was chief executive of the city council from 1997 to 2008, working alongside then Labour leader Jan Wilson on projects such as the Heart of the City and a shake-up of the town hall to make it more efficient and friendlier towards the business community.
Now he faces his biggest task, as the head of the Civil Service from January.
Knighted for his services to local government, he has been working as permanent secretary to Communities Secretary Eric Pickles.
In his new job, he will be expected to push through reforms in Whitehall. David Cameron clearly thinks he is up to the challenge, saying he will bring a “wealth of experience” to the role.
A sort of Sheffield Sir Humphrey, perhaps.
lPictured along with Jess Ennis on our front page this week are (top row, left to right): Nicolette Williams, Juliet Ellis, Nick Clegg, Jess Flynn. Second row: John Rawsthorne, Toddla T, Kathy Summer, Nick Matthew. Third row: Julie Dore, Kell Brook, Bob Kerslake, Richard Hawley. Fourth row: Neil MacDonald, Sarah Nulty, Simon Webster, John Campbell. Bottom row: Kyle Walker, Kirsty Bromley.
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Thursday 23 February 2012
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