matzie

https://www.channel4.com/news/exclusive-investigation-uncovers-alleged-homophobia-and-untrained-staff-at-government-funded-charity https://www.thestar.co.uk/news/you-have-the-devil-in-you-sheffield-charity-probed-over-homophobia-claims-1-9063950 "A Sheffield charity is being investigated over allegations that staff were homophobic towards victims of human trafficking who they were supposed to be helping." Hope City Church is a IMHO (and experience) a deeply toxic organisation, not just to LGBT people, and I think this is the tip of the iceberg. I'd be very interested to speak with other people they have hurt down the years.

Thanks for all the advice everyone, I've learned a lot and will contact some plasterers for quotes, armed now with at least a basic idea of what's involved. Thanks!

I'm looking for some advice about repairing a large living room ceiling. Prior to our occupation it had wallpaper on the ceiling, but a leak from the shower above made it come down in one patch. With the leak repaired, we removed the wallpaper, planning to paint over the discoloured plasterboard. Unfortunately we discovered that underneath the wallpaper, most of the ceiling was covered in very flaky paint which has taken many, many hours of back-breaking work to remove even in a small area. I don't think preparing the ceiling to be painted is going to be feasible. There's also a large crack across the middle of the ceiling, across the whole width, and several smalller cracks. We thought about applying polystyrene tiles (modern fire-resistant ones) but I think we'd regret it in the long run. Ditto for PVC panels. I don't know anything about plastering except what I've read while searching the forums before writing this post. I have heard about overboarding vs removing the old boards but I really don't know what's involved and more importantly I haven't got even the remotest clue about ballpark costs for either option. Appreciate any and all advice on the best thing to do to resolve this! Thanks.

I'm looking to connect with other people who have "escaped" from pushy evangelical / pentecostal / charismatic churches, who have changed what they believe or maybe don't believe in anything at all any more. Maybe like me you've been hurt by those kind of systems and people. Maybe you're still interested in searching for the spiritual side of life and maybe you're not. I'm thinking that perhaps there's enough people in that kind of situation who'd enjoy having a chat over a coffee or a pint or whatever together? If so, drop me a line... cheers Matt

Does anyone have any good suggestions to help my daughter find a summer job? She's just finished a 2 year art course (equivalent to 3 A Levels) and has passed with Distinction, and she starts a degree in makeup artistry in September, and she's free up until then. Unfortunately she doesn't have much experience outside of art and cosmetics, but she's willing to consider anything. Obvious suggestions might be retail in somewhere like Boots or Superdrug and we're looking into that, although whether they'd be interested in someone without retail experience, I don't know. Any advice gratefully received!

So this is a bit of a longshot... but does anyone remember seeing any of these Cornish ginger biscuits in any Sheffield shops recently? http://www.furniss-foods.co.uk/shop/products/Cornish-Gingerbread-Drum.html Can order online but probably too late for Christmas delivery. Present for someone who loved these on a recent holiday. Ring any bells for anyone? It's the sort of thing I could imagine seeing in B&M or somewhere like that. Thanks in advance!

I'm looking to buy a new range cooker but don't know anywhere with more than one or two models on display. Any suggestions? Ideally near Meadowhall but anywhere's fine. Thanks for any advice!

When I enter my phone number on https://my.virginmedia.com/faults/service-status I get a fault listed: intermittent connection issues on your broadband internet service Reported on: Mon 07 May 2012, 07:27 PM Estimated fix time: Tue 15 May 2012, 06:00 PM Fault reference: F001989870 Doesn't show up when I search by postcode though. Speeds are still terrible for me.

Well... a total of 90 minutes on the phone to three different offshore support people, none of whom knew the difference between a bit and a byte or could comprehend anything that was going on. We hit an impasse once I was unwilling to let them take remote control of my computer; eventually they gave me a password for a private speed tester which confirmed how slow it was but then they said remote access was essential - and I'm legally unable to do that for various reasons. I'll try in the week - I know that sometimes when I've had trouble before, calling in office hours has got me through to someone actually in this country, and actually able to appreciate basic troubleshooting. A shibboleet - http://xkcd.com/806/ - would be wonderful right now! This sort of stuff is agony for me as my career has included time training tech support staff for a large ISP, so I really do know my stuff... shame they don't :-(

dreadfully slow for me too at the moment - more like 2 mb, and that's on a 100mb connection that is usually perfect :-(. S9 area; on hold with VM at the moment.

Hi all... this is a bit random but I've just bought a house with a large installed wooden home bar. There's a couple of pumps, one of which looks like it might work; a large mirror built in, shelves, a door, lighting. I'm not really into this kind of thing at all and want to reclaim the space, but I'd like it to benefit someone who is. I've no idea what, if anything, it would be worth, or even if I'd end up paying someone to take it away. Any advice? TIA.

I have a spare Wk 1 and Wk 5 from Morrisons Ecclesfield; need a spare Wk 4 or 6 please!

Thanks, I've read everything there and had already tried most of the advice from other sources; I'd already heard of a bios update as a potential solution, and when trying to run it (with battery disconnected; wont' start when it's connected) I get this message: "No battery presented or Bettery"(sic) "gasgauge lower than 10%" One thing that the link you posted did suggest in that event was adding a full-control ACL to "everyone"; I tried that although I didn't expect it to work, and it didn't. Thanks for the advice though! cheers

Hi I have a Dell 11z which has recently had a screen replacement. In that respect it's fine, but now it says on booting - in a bios-type screen - "Warning battery not identified, will not be charged". I'm hoping someone in the Sheffield area with an 11z will let me plug in their battery to my 11z and see whether I get the same message - I have a feeling I will, and new batteries are about £40 on top of the money I've already spent trying to resurrect this thing. Could anyone help me out please? Cheers Matt

Hi My car, a Honda Stream (a 5+2 MPV) is being recovered to our house right now by the RAC a engine sensor problem. I'll need a tow/recovery firm to take it somewhere next week, and I need to know where to take it to. Does anyone have any recommendations for either of these? My regular garage isn't equipped for Honda engine work so I'm prepared for it having to be a main dealership (ie Peter Brooks) but if anyone knows any other garages that could do this sort of work I'd love to know. TIA Matt