My Sheffield . . . an Expat returns

Hi Downsunder,Glad that you had a nice visit to your old Home town which gave you some more memories to savour.Me and my wife met Millsie and his wife for a meal.They thoroughly enjoyed their time here and crammed so much in they were Knackered,I think they are pleased to be home for a rest.Best wishes Mel.Ps Skippy hasnt got the stamina these days ehehe sorry Trevor (not).

Sorry I missed it Bullerboy, it would have been great to catch up. Maybe next time.

Downsunder, I seriously think that there is a book in you aching to get out. Do it.

Thanks Belle, I wish I had the time to put one together.

I'm glad that you enjoyed your visit, and that the weather behaved itself, might catch up with you when I visit Sheffield in Tassie one day.

Look forward to that Skippy, Sheffield is only 30 mins away, let me know when you're coming.

I hope my reminiscing wasn’t too dark, it wasn’t meant to be. My holiday had many more highs than lows, here is one of the best.

 

The Five Weirs Walk

One of the highlights of my holiday was not just doing the Five Weirs Walk but doing the Five Weirs Walk with my brother. He’s sixty something, come to think of it, we both are. Him with his dodgy hip and me with the hernia, setting off one Tuesday morning from the Crucible on another beautiful day in the indian summer of 2014. The Five Weirs – you cannot get more Sheffield than this, walking along the banks of the Don through the heartland of the steel industry. Samuel Osborn, T. W. Wards, River Don Works, Firth Vickers, Hadfields . . . the names roll off the tongue and even though they are just ghosts now, I am so grateful that they did exist. In the heydays of steel in Sheffield (ante full monte) everyone knew someone who worked in the rolling mills or the foundries. My brother-in-law was a labourer in the steel works before Hodgkin’s disease took him at the age of 24.

We did the walk from west to east which is like stepping into the future, you start at Lady’s Bridge, pass under the Wicker Arches and end up at Meadowhall. The walk relates how we went from a nation of producers and manufacturers to a nation of shopkeepers but it says nothing about the blood, sweat and tears that the factories extracted from the men who worked the furnaces. On this sublime walk, the noise of the hammers has been drowned out by the twitter of birds and the tinkling of water over the weirs.

After four miles my brother and I detoured from the tow path to share a welcome pint with the heroes of the Civil War. Did the Civil War have heroes? Heroes or not, their portraits adorn the Oak Room of Carbrook Hall. In 1640 Sheffield didn’t even appear on the map of England but Carbrook Hall did and this magnificent old building welcomed us with open arms. I think it’s the best pint I had in all my time in England. I swear some planets must have aligned at that moment producing a set of circumstances which might never be repeated in my lifetime; the weather, the atmosphere, being on home soil, walking with my brother after so long, a feeling of peace and contentment. I could have stayed there all afternoon but there was Hadfields Weir still to do before I could say I had walked the Five Weirs.

That's a wonderfully evocative read, thank you. I keep promising myself I will take the walk one day.

Apologies for resurrecting this old thread but some time ago, as you can see above, after reading his excellent posts, I suggested Downsunder should write a book. He has !! and has kindly sent me a complimentary copy (Wow! and thank you) for the initial suggestion. Its such a good read and so cleverly illustrated, I definitely recommend it. Details in the LINK

From the eloquence and feeling in his first post - which contains many elements with which expat Sheffielders such as myself can identify - it should be a very worthwhile read, thanks for bringing it to my attention.