Author: PeteCornucopia

My name is Maureen Atkin and I am a widowed Mother of five wonderful sons and will celebrate my 73rd birthday on New Years Eve. For over six and a quarter years I have been happily living in the Kirkhill Residential Care Home on Lowedges Road in Sheffield. I’m regarded as a prime example of how someone who has suffered so many severe bouts of the deepest depression, can, with encouragement, praise, and support, become, through sustained effort and sheer determination, a person who has had pride fully restored and become strong enough to succeed and has found happiness in a positive new beginning. This is my creative journey…

This week’s first program in our occasional ‘Mind Labs’ series is a new original music and comedy sketch show from Boona Wallace and Anxious Andrews. It’s called the “Steam Powered Radio Show” and if you press play; you can have a listen! (ain’t modern technology wonderful?)

Graham Marshall uses this weeks ‘Mind Labs’ to tell us a heartbreaking true story about his life. One that until now; only a handful of people ever knew about. But today, on the airwaves of Sheffield Live! we can finally hear the remarkable tale of friendship, hope, courage, pencilcases, and soup.  Oh, so much soup…

Wireless Times is the on-stage riotous retro radio recreation that has the audience rolling in the aisles, coming from a time when a DJ was a dinner jacket and a big Mac was a large overcoat. Reeling from one disaster to another, the cast often need the help of the audience to create the sound effects for the various ‘spots’ being broadcast. Playing anything from a football crowd to the cavalry in the Charge of the Light Brigade (involving an unfeasibly large number of coconut shells), the audience unfailingly rescue the broadcasting crew from impending doom, and probably dismissal.

On the 25th of June, the River Don over topped its banks causing widespread flooding in the Don Valley area of our city. During this time a 14-year-old boy was swept away by the swollen River Sheaf and a 68 year old man died after attempting to cross a flooded road in Sheffield city centre. The Meadowhall shopping centre also had close due to flooding and the Sheffield Wednesday football ground, Hillsborough was under 6 feet of water.

To mark the event, we present a reworking of the Sheffield Floods documentary we made in 2008.  This is a collaborative work; featuring contributions from Fabian Beckett, Alan Fransman Joe Fowler, Kit Lawrenson, Graham Marshall, Hannah Patnick, Kevin Resley and Dave Williams.  Special thanks go to the residents of Chapel Town, Sheffield City Council, Sheffield University and Sheffield Wednesday football club.

Well, we did it! On Saturday the 30th of October, as part of the ‘Off the Shelf’ festival, the ‘Cornucopia Radio Show’ was broadcast live from the Sheffield Winter Gardens, for 6 hours between 11am and 5pm.

The day featured poets, storytellers, comedians, performers, actors, musicians, singers and local amateur dramatic groups. Yes, it was a little chaotic (let there be no doubt about that!) but it was also pretty amazing, because amazing is the thing we do best!

Sophie cannot finish her dinner, she says she’s eaten enough. Sophie’s trying to make herself thinner. Says she’s eating too much and her brother says, “You’re joking,” and her mother’s heart is broken. Sophie has a hard time coping and besides; Sophie’s hoping… She can be like all the other girls…

Bones is a new play written by Renate Reynolds and tells the story of a young girl suffering through the inner turmoil and hurt that ‘Anorexia Nervosa’ has brought to her soul.