Review of the Year 2017: August - Sheffield dad has four-stone tumour removed and Shiregreen Club saved thanks to Full Monty

A Sheffield dad who had 10 organs, and a four-stone tumour, removed in a world medical first, to fight a rare cancer, lived to tell the tale this month.
Mark Tompkinson. Picture by Marisa CashillMark Tompkinson. Picture by Marisa Cashill
Mark Tompkinson. Picture by Marisa Cashill

Mark Tompkinson, from Stannington, revealed he had planned his funeral and said a heart-breaking goodbye to his wife and children - until doctors gave him the chance to undergo a groundbreaking 17-hour operation to treat an unusual and incurable form of abdominal cancer.

Following a difficult recovery, Mark is now back home in Sheffield and even trained to run the Sheffield 10K in September, to raise funds for the Oxford Transplant Centre that saved his life.

Terry Wake at Shiregreen Club, where the Full Monty was filmedTerry Wake at Shiregreen Club, where the Full Monty was filmed
Terry Wake at Shiregreen Club, where the Full Monty was filmed
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Also this month, an iconic Sheffield working men’s club revealed it was saved from the bulldozer - thanks to The Full Monty movie.

Shiregreen Club would have been knocked down for flats, but for the movie, bosses have now revealed.

Club president Terry Wake said: “There was someone who wanted to knock it down and replace it with high-rise flats, but the community fought that plan tooth and nail.

“I don’t think the council would let anyone demolish the home of The Full Monty.”

Terry Wake at Shiregreen Club, where the Full Monty was filmedTerry Wake at Shiregreen Club, where the Full Monty was filmed
Terry Wake at Shiregreen Club, where the Full Monty was filmed
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The scene, in which the cast bared all, was shot at Shiregreen, which still has a sign declaring it the ‘Home of The Full Monty.’

And Ikea and Meadowhall revealed they were stumping up £30 to help reduce congestion in Sheffield, after the city council ‘played hardball.’

The flatpack furniture store handed over £15m in September, when they opened, and Meadowhall the same, to help fund improvements to the two roundabouts at Junction 34 of the M1, which are both notorious for traffic jams, and which are set to get worse with the proposal of several new schemes.