Hi All,

Any help or information would be fantastic. The Police have been informed, so if you could pass along any information to them, or PM me, I would appreciate it.

A few years ago Sheffield Wildlife Trust with support from Sheffield City Council ran a project to replace the old low railings of the pedestrian bridge over the Jervis Lum ravine (not the pub!) in Norfolk Park with higher, decorative railings that included 42 bronze plaques designed by children from Norfolk Community Primary School.
The plaques are round, bronze, contain images of frogs, newts, turtles, sharks (lol) and other watery wildlife, and are approximately 20cm in diameter.

I expect they were taken either to be melted down or to be sold on. If you work in a scrapyard, or regularly visit one, and see these, or if you are offered these for your garden/home...please do the right thing and inform the Police.

The children will be heartbroken to have their work stolen, and I have little doubt that the people who did it have committed similar crimes in the past - stop them wrecking your community. Report it!

Thanks for your help.
Cosy

Here are some photos: of the Jervis Lum Bridge and a couple of examples of the plaques.
As you can see, they may make better garden ornaments than scrap, so please do keep your eyes open. Reclamation yards and similar places may take them on unknowingly, so if you're doing a little shopping, please just have a quick look...

If you think you've already got your hands on some and didn't know they were stolen, please contact me, I promise not to bite.

Thank you!

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t12/cosywolf/bridgewithlauraatend1-1.jpg

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t12/cosywolf/lizardartwork-1.jpg

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t12/cosywolf/starryfrogartwork.jpg

Ahh Cosy, that is so horrible! :rant: bloody gits...


Sorry cant help you and they have probably been melted down or are in someone's bedroom by now.

PS: Your links are not working.

I've adjusted cosywolf's links:

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t12/cosywolf/bridgewithlauraatend1-1.jpg

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t12/cosywolf/lizardartwork-1.jpg

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t12/cosywolf/starryfrogartwork-1.jpg

I've adjusted cosywolf's links:

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t12/cosywolf/bridgewithlauraatend1-1.jpg

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t12/cosywolf/lizardartwork-1.jpg

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t12/cosywolf/starryfrogartwork-1.jpg

So have I, thank you, hun. I think they're working now...

Very kind, cgksheff:thumbsup:

I'm so sorry I just don't know what to say. Could you do an appeal in the Star? RedRobbo will be livid when he finds out & I know he will do all he can. Whoever did this had it planned - you'd need metal cutters to remove all those plaques.

What sort of message does this give to our children ?

This makes me sick.

I hope that they're found - if not, and the decision is made to replace them, I'd happily contribute a few quid to any funds needed.

Best of luck.

Dear god is nothing safe.

One plaque can provide a family of seventy two chavs sovereign rings for a year!

I will keep my ear to the ground!

Thanks for your concern, and for your offers of help.

It does seem very cruel to take the children's artwork like that. They had been in place for quite a while, as well, but recently it became clear that they were being targetted, but nothing could be done to stop it (save staking the bridge out all night, and I've done that once in Arbourthorne, thanks, and decided I'm getting too old to do it anymore, lol). The final push must have been a big one, and it's possible they stole some cones and a Streetforce Men at Work sign to stop local people asking questions.

The plan now, even if we get them back, is unfortunately not to replace them in their original position. Similar plaques went missing from Arbourthorne Rec some time ago, and it's time to take the hint, I think. We will most likely replace them with panels of plain steel with the same designs cut out like stencils (thankfully Campbells, the wonderful people who made them with the children, kept the original drawings.) It means the children still get their artwork on show, but not in the really stunning way it was originally displayed.

If (and it's unlikely) we get any of the original bronze panels back, we will try and recycle them in the area, for instance (just a possible example) set into decorative paving in the school or the park...something a little more secure.

It's a real pity the people of Norfolk Park can't expect to make and keep these beautiful things out in their community without some nasty piece of work ruining it for everyone. Personally, I'm gutted. I was so pleased with that bridge...

:rant: Some folk would steal your breath. :mad:

the rotten, thieving, low-lived louses.

:rant: Some folk would steal your breath. :mad:

the rotten, thieving, low-lived louses.


Ditto..............

Thats disgusting. I can't believe anyone would sink so low, and that bridge looked lovely.

:rant:

Took my little girl to the park this aft and she was upset cos she loves telling me what is on each plaque. The words I want to use on here to describe the low life thieving scum would get me an instant ban.

I'm so sorry I just don't know what to say. Could you do an appeal in the Star? RedRobbo will be livid when he finds out & I know he will do all he can. Whoever did this had it planned - you'd need metal cutters to remove all those plaques.

What sort of message does this give to our children ?

I am indeed livid RosyRat! :rant:

I have a pre-arranged meeting next Monday at the Jervis Lum bridge, with the Park Ranger, Friends of Norfolk Heritage Park and a Planning officer, specifically to look at the problems with fly tipping in the area. Now we also have to contend with this appalling theft of the wonderful plaques.

The children at Norfolk Community Primary school will be heartbroken. I've recently been attending a series of events at the school, including the planting of 50 trees, the launch of the nearby green eco homes, the Rainbow breakfast club, and I'm visiting again next week to see the children and parents taking part in a rug making and cross stitch class. I am at a loss to express my own feelings to the children when I see them next week about this theft of their artwork, but I will say to them that plaques will be replaced - as suggested by cosywolf. I shall today be speaking to my fellow councillors on the Park/Heeley Area Panel (which I chair) to ensure that we find the funds to replace the stolen plaques.

I recently took an Albanian local government graduate on a tour of the school, and then proudly showed her the children's artwork on the Jervis Lum (and on the underpass on Park Grange Road). She too will be devastated when I email her the news that the plaques have been stolen. However, I am determined that replacement plaques will be provided, if only in stainless steel.

Unbelievable - and this is the kind of thing that should be made as public as possible to shame the scummers that did this

Unbelievable - and this is the kind of thing that should be made as public as possible to shame the scummers that did this

I doubt that they would even understand the concept of shame. Let alone be capable of experiencing it.

I wonder if the thieves were caught and went to court, whether they would just get a ticking off and be allowed free to do it again ?

It's acts like this that not only upsets the children who did it - but contributes to the whole standards of this city going down the pan.

What's the point in improving our city if a small minority are allowed to ruin it and get away with it ?

no doubt the thieves will have taken them because the pictures on them are more than likely a lot better than what the thieves can produce themselves.

disgraceful. makes me :gag:

Cosy, i can't believe this! its awful, why on earth would someone go to so much trouble?! They were great on the bridge, i run there regularly & its made that bridge much safer & nicer than it used to be.
At least if they've not been melted down, they are easily recognisable.

Thanks, Redrobbo...I didn't want to tell you in person, I expected a small nuclear meltdown, lol.

I'm afraid there has been no further development on finding the plaques, but if I can urge people to continue to keep looking, please.
If we can at least return the plaques to Norfolk Park in some way, that would be fantastic.
I have currently had enough of watching the improvements people who care about their areas get involved in and make being systematically ruined and would really, really like to see the people who did it caught by the Police and made to pay for their crime.

We need to see that there is a penalty for vandalism, etc...not just to put off the people who are doing it, but so that the community members who cared enough to get involved in projects like this can see that their efforts are worthwhile and important enough for something to be done about it should they be damaged.
It is all too easy to become worn out and disillusioned when you keep seeing things being broken and knocked down and stolen...to give up and say 'why should I bother' - but that's something we can never do if we want to live in a world where nice things stay put and people who vandalise and steal get caught and punished for it. We have to keep pushing for the good stuff and keep reporting the bad.

Please excuse the ranting, just been up Arbourthorne reporting yet more vandalism to the Police. Some weeks just make you want to cry.:rolleyes:

A quick update:

South Yorkshire Police have very quickly and efficiently checked out a tip we were given, but unfortunately the plaques weren't there. A big thank you to SYP for following that up!:thumbsup:

A press release has gone out, so hopefully we can expect a piece in the Star about it, which may help, you never know! Many thanks to Investigator for your help with that!

Redrobbo is looking into how the Area Panel can help us replace the plaques with an alternative option - thanks Redrobbo, you are a fantastic councillor :thumbsup: (embarassed much yet? Shall i go on? lol)

So all in all, a great response, from so many people, not least the Forum...thank you, and don't forget to keep your eyes peeled! This isn't over yet!

Thanks Cosy - really hope you get somewhere with this. Keep us informed.

If people are prepared to steal railway signal cable, then expecting the low life that stole the bronze plaques to feel remorse is maybe asking too much.
People that do those sort of things have no scruples at all. It would be nice if they were returned though.

It is all too easy to become worn out and disillusioned when you keep seeing things being broken and knocked down and stolen...to give up and say 'why should I bother' - but that's something we can never do if we want to live in a world where nice things stay put and people who vandalise and steal get caught and punished for it. We have to keep pushing for the good stuff and keep reporting the bad.



Hi cosywolf - I am with you on this one. We can't let vandalism be a reason for not engaging in improvements and community participation projects - I have come across it so many times, including the pointless destruction of lovely hand-made cob shelters on multi-use trails in Cornwall, but firmly believe that we take it on the chin and carry on undefeated! These works give so much pleasure to so many people we must not be disheartened.
Good luck with the next projects!

i,m told that someone has also stolen bronze plaques from city road rememberance garden .how would they respond if it was there close relative .
I SAY LOCK EM UP AND THROW AWAY THE KEY

i,m told that someone has also stolen bronze plaques from city road rememberance garden .how would they respond if it was there close relative .
I SAY LOCK EM UP AND THROW AWAY THE KEY

It isn't as simple as the people who steal the stuff directly...it's also the people who accept it no questions asked and sell it on or melt it down, and the people who deal with them after the fact.
As long as there is a market for it...

Well it's in tonight's Star...we're spreading the word. DIYers, remember to keep your eyes open this weekend!
Thanks!

(I did mention Sheffield Forum in the press release, but it didn't make the final cut, lol. Never mind.)

Being a regular visitor to Norfolk Park i normally cross over the bridge to get there,
the plaque This one (http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k265/SteveSheff/2006_1015np0001.jpg) on the bridge entrance N/P side was taken some days before the others went.
Looking at the marks it was cut off either with a hacksaw or rotary cutter, the others were cut off with burning gear.
Some of the others. (http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k265/SteveSheff/bridge.jpg):sad: