Dayspring
Writing Challenge 2023
Posted by Chris Sissons on Apr 19, 2023
Writing Challenge ยป Chris Sissons
This morning just after 7am, walking to a lift to a business network meeting (at the South Yorkshire Transport Museum; presentations, new contacts and dangerous fried egg sandwiches, since you ask) I took this photo.
It hardly does justice to the dayspring, a bright orange band across the sky, pre-dawn. Above the band you see the night sky, the sun is still beneath the horizon. Below the band, the hill across the Lower Don Valley, with the lights of the city.
It’s probably safer not to ask a Sheffielder but if you do, they’ll tell you Sheffield is built on seven hills, like Rome. (I’ve no idea whether Romans say they’re built on seven hills like Sheffield but they’ve been around longer and probably think they have prior claims to seven hills.)
This means wherever you are in Sheffield, you’re looking up a hill, down a hill or across the valley to another hill. You’d think it would keep us all terribly fit. I’ll allow you to think that.
So, the main river, the Don enters the city in the north-west, loops round and exits in the north-east. One hill is in the loop. The Loxley flows into the Don in the east and the Rivelin flows into the Loxley. The Sheaf flows into the Don in the South, at the bottom of the loop and the Porter flows into the Sheaf. 5 rivers and there’s a hill between each one and that adds up to 6 hills. The seventh is Wincobank Hill to the north of the Don and if you stand on the top you’re standing on a Pictish fort (I’ve no idea what the Picts were doing there but they’ve gone now) and look east, the next highest ground you see is the Urals but Sheffielders don’t go there.
According to TripAdvisor, Sheffield is the 2023 best place to visit. I remember a sketch on the tele in 60s, where someone visited a travel agents and asked them to arrange a holiday in … Sheffield and much hilarity ensued! Any road, they’ve cleaned Sheffield up a bit since then and so it’s worth a visit. It’s the nation’s fourth largest city in population and the largest in area outside London. Which means it has loads of parks and open spaces.
But the beauty hides a dark secret (OK it’s not very secret if you read the interpretation boards). Those rivers, all of them include riverside walks past numerous dams built to power the grinder wheels, which for centuries produced fine Sheffield cutlery. Thousands of young men died of emphysema from breathing in the dust. On their lives, the wealth of this city was founded.
“To be a Sheffield grinder it is no easy trade
There’s more than you’d imagine to the grinding of a blade.
The strongest man among us is old at 32,
There’s few who brave such hardships as we poor grinders do.”
This year's writing challenge, fueled by prompts, is about the City of Sheffield. Be surprised by what's included and even more surprised by what's left out. This is Post 2 and there are 21 altogether. Share your thoughts and your love for the City in the comments. The first Post 0 is Context: Sheffield. The last post 1 is Shifting Sands. The next post 3 is Birth of a Dynamic New City?
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