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For several years, I've completed a Writing Challenge with many people all over the globe. We write something inspired by prompts for 21 days plus an introduction. This year the prompts are about place, and I've chosen the River Porter in Sheffield. I hope some readers will participate and I have a couple of challenges; see the paragraphs in bold towards the end.

Last summer I went on my first writing retreat.  The retreat centre was on the west coast of Wales, close to a river, with loads of epiphytes, a temperate rainforest.  The Porter Valley has fewer epiphytes but there are some.

I felt like the proverbial person who brings a sword to a gunfight.  Everyone else had a book in mind.  I enjoy writing but I’m first a performer.  I decided to tell the story of the River Porter from its source to its confluence with the Sheaf and then the Don.  After recounting this lengthy story I checked the Friends of Porter Valley website and found my story was almost word for word what was on the site.

This is hardly surprising.  I’d read the interpretation boards many times and picked up the stories here and there over the years.  What felt like part of my story is something I share with many Sheffielders.  But maybe not.  There are so many people who, like me, who grew up beside this river and one of the challenges of this series is recounting personal experience, along the river's length.  My other challenge is to discover the folklore of this river.  This is much harder because, you see, there isn’t any (apart from the Morris Dancers).

Folklore acknowledges the long history of this river.  We all know about the mills but what happened before them?  If we go back to Sheffield’s dream time, after the Romans left – what state the river? 

So, I invite you to accompany me on a walk through Whiteley Woods and Endcliffe Park in the dead of night.  Sheffield is no stranger to ghosts.  Mr and Mrs P Dreadful have researched many ghosts in the city centre but none so far out.

This should be a simple walk and then cocoa and bed, what could possibly go wrong?  Look there’s nothing to be afraid of, there ahead, someone else is taking a moonlight stroll.  And someone else and look, there’s another and another.

What do you mean they’re carrying weapons?  Those are knives and scythes and saws and …   Yes, I can hear many of them coughing but not everyone.  Look, he’s not coughing … he’s just bleeding from the forehead.  Are you alright sir?  What’s that?  A rattening?  Yes I can hear they’ve all taken up the chant … a rattening … a rattening. 

Where are we?  No that can’t be the Ibbotson Wheel, there’s no building on the end of it.  I really don’t think it’s a good idea to look in through the window.  They’re cutting the belts!  I remember now, rattening was a trade union campaign.  Let’s get away before they drop gunpowder down the chimney.  Too late …

Endcliffe is full of people walking and banging the tools they carry and chanting.  Hundreds walking towards the park gates.  I see now, despite the beauty of this valley, it is Sheffield’s killing fields …

As they pass out of the park, they cross to the traffic island, pay their toll and disappear into the air.  I think it’s time for that cocoa.

How might posts of this type be used for marketing?  Think about how you might use this post or a post like it to promote your business.  I add a few thoughts after each post, like this:

This is the first post in this sequence that touches on folklore.  In the absence, so far, of genuine folklore, I've made this up.  If folklore is involved it is in the often repeated history of the river.  "The strongest man among us is old at thirty-two".  But as we enjoy this pleasant valley do we remember those who died over many decades?  

Does this type of dark theme have any place in marketing?   There's no definitive answer but remember some products and services address painful aspects of our lives.  It may be glib to point to these deaths to sell face masks but is it not legitimate to use history to remember the dangers of certain activities?  As we explore the sections of the Porter flowing into the city centre, we shall see the environmental consequences of neglecting our rivers.  Does it work to turn to the past to warn about possible futures?

My other challenge is for Sheffielders.  Do you have anything to share about the Porter?  Your experiences along it, bits and pieces of history you've uncovered, folklore you've heard.  If you remember something, please share it in the comments.  (Or maybe you are more familiar with other rivers in Sheffield, you could share those too.)  Let's see what we can find out over the coming weeks.

This is the fifth of 21 stories about the Porter.  The last story was: A Large Fall.  The next is: The Wrath to Come.

This is the entrance to Endcliffe Park at Hunters Bar.  Just beyond the gate, there's a roundabout and upon it stands the old toll bar.  Blank knives would be carried up the river and sharpened knives back again.  The tree is amazing.  I don't know whether it's deer or park keepers who keep it that way.  Both are rarely seen in the park.