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Stringfellow helps Blitz trail dream come true
Blitz buddies: Neil Anderson and Peter Stringfellow.
NIGHTCLUB king Peter Stringfellow and Horrible Histories creator Terry Deary have made substantial donations towards a new Star-backed Blitz Memorial Trail around Sheffield.
They have pushed the amount raised in the first two months of the Sheffield Blitz Memorial Fund campaign to more than £4,000.
Sheffield-born Peter has handed over a cheque for £1,000, which matched £1,000 made from a fundraising event he fronted at the Leadmill in November.
Terry gave a further donation which he hopes will help provide a permanent memorial on the site of the biggest loss of life in the Sheffield Blitz, the Marples Hotel in Fitzalan Square, which was the scene of at least 70 deaths.
The fund is hoping to raise £20,000 to create a walk, complete with audio guide, with a series of visible and permanent memorials along the route to the victims of the Sheffield Blitz.
The campaign is spearheaded by Sheffield’s Date With Hitler author Neil Anderson and The Star.
It won cross-party support at the Town Hall and has been backed by Atkinsons store on The Moor, the site of the first plaque, Moor Retailers Association and Brassfounders.
Nearly a fifth of the city was left homeless after two Luftwaffe raids in December 1940 that killed and injured more than 2,000 people.
Neil said: “People power has brought about this fund and, even though we’re in the middle of recession, I believe the will is there to make things happen.
“We’ve had an amazing response to the campaign so far. Peter Stringfellow grew up in Sheffield in the aftermath of the Blitz and is a big supporter of the campaign. Terry Deary has given us fantastic support from the day we announced our plans and unveiled the first plaque on the trail for us in December.
“We’ve been getting smaller donations from scores of ordinary Sheffielders who know how important it is to make this happen and we hope people will support the work which will help educate future generations on the sacrifices people in the city made in WW2. We’d like to build a permanent archive based around the Sheffield Blitz, a website and look towards future audio tours and more.”
n Donations can be made to the Sheffield Blitz Memorial Fund via Nat West account no 52118665 and sort code 54-41-47. Cheques made out to the Sheffield Blitz Memorial Fund should be sent c/o ACM Retro, The Grange, Church Street, Dronfield, Sheffield S18 1QB. Donations can also be left at The Star, York Street.
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Weather for Sheffield
Saturday 26 May 2012
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Temperature: 9 C to 21 C
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conradpoons
Friday, February 24, 2012 at 04:52 PMWhy is Lemmy stood in the background?
handsworth
Friday, February 24, 2012 at 04:23 PMI was living in Sheffield at the time, down Attercliffe, and it was a terrifying ordeal I do not think any of the young people can have any idea of what it was like hearing the drone of the planes and thwen hearing the terrible bangs bparticularly the ones from land mines T
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