SHEFFIELD can take a bow today and enjoy its own sporting triumph after playing host to the 31st Westfield Health British Transplant Games in the city. The event saw thousands of competitors and spectators visit Sheffield and enjoy the splendid sporting facilities we have to offer - and to lap up the warm welcome which ought to have earned its own medal for the people of Sheffield.
But as the crowds leave and the excitement of competition ebbs from the sports venues, we should all reflect on the other reason for the games...to raise awareness of the vital part transplant surgery plays in medicine.
We are proud that our reade
rs responded in such a magnificent manner to an appeal for 25,000 people to step forward and sign up to the Organ Donor Register. Without them there would simply be no life-saving transplants in this country. We hit our target but there remains a need for more volunteers. So as the sporting event comes to a close we hope readers realise the invitation to join the donor register remains active.
Showing that the council does carePEOPLE who qualify for blue badges which give the disabled more freedom to travel will welcome a pledge by Sheffield City Council to overcome an error which led to potentially hundreds of motorists being rejected in their application for the passes.
But underlying this problem is a seeming intransigence at the town hall to accept that it could possibly have made a mistake in the first place. In this instance, it needed a woman to feel so aggrieved that she appealed to the Ombudsman who has ruled in her favour - and criticised the council.
It is difficult to accept that the council is so wrapped up in its own self importance that it needs an official reprimand before it can say it is sorry and put right a wrong it has inflicted on individuals.
Such arrogance is behind much of the division between public and bureaucrats. This is a key starting point for councillors wishing to show that the council really does care.
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FeaturesMore Rotherham newsMore Doncaster newsMore Barnsley newsCheck out the very latest on South Yorkshire's roads - including live traffic cameras on Sheffield's commuter routes - with our Traffic sectionLatest sport. The full article contains 403 words and appears in Sheffield Star newspaper.
