The Sheffield flood of 1864

The Grinder sits astride his wheel

Honing blades of Sheffield Steel

The knives will travel far and wide

To the Americas and around the world

With the spinning wheel between his knees

He draws the blade across the stone

The sparkes light up the night sky

Like fireworks on a bonfire night

As he works and as he dreams

Surrounded by the woods and fields

Past his door, the shimmering stream

Soon to be a torrent, ne’er before seen

High above on Bradfield Moor

Stands the new dam, water running o’er

A crack is seen, the pressure builds

A gaping hole soon appears

The water pours through the gap

The Loxley Valley, in it’s jaws it traps

Sweeping all before it, drowning all

That’s in its way, be large or small

Down in the Valley, the Grinder sits

With the dust, he’s got a coughing fit

Through his short life of toil and pain

It shreds his lungs, and tears his soul

The Grinders, they never live long

As the deadly dust, takes it’s toll

What is that noise?

He turns his head

The Flood is here

And now he’s trapped

The poor Grinder

He’s just breathed his last.

Let’s not forget, these men’s toil

Made Sheffield famous, around the world

The tag “Made in England” on other stuff

On cutlery, “Made in Sheffield” is enough.

Graham Senter

by email

Divide and rule

I would like to make a brief reply to some recent letters.

I would say to Jon Ball, as I have many times, it is not about winning or losing. That applies to games of sport, and furthermore no one who voted remain will gloat if things go wrong. Why should they because they will be in the same “smelly stuff”, as you put it.

To Terry Palmer, why does he feel the need to bring up sexual relations between Blair and Edwina Currie, that’s totally irrelevant to the argument?

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To Mike Dodgson, the leaflet costing £8million, was not received by many in this area I can assure you, me included.

I didn’t require any such leaflet to arrive at my decision to stay. I just researched genuine information, and still do so. Peddling negative information was almost entirely the “prerogative” of the Mail, Express and Mirror. They still do it every time there seems to be a “stutter” in the leave programme. I will agree on one thing, we probably will be the first to offer help to others in distress. That’s if there is any left.

As for wanting things back as they used to be, well yes, I would like to be 18 again, (in my own era), fat chance of that either.

Finally the “united we stand” has gone along with the vote, another Tory plan. “Divide and Rule” and they have so far succeeded well. DS Whitehead’s letter goes some way to showing that.

B Heaton

DN5

Take a breath and think

Open Letter to Councillor Bryan Lodge.

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Dear Bryan, you can stop now. We know the truth. You are just a mouthpiece for council officers who leave it to you and others to peddle the propaganda that you still hope will fool the people of Sheffield into believing your policy of felling thousands of mature healthy street trees is justified.

Sheffield is becoming evermore aware of the nonsense as STAG membership continues to grow by the day.

We did not elect you and your colleagues to do the bidding of your officers!

Tell us exactly when the tail started to wag the dog. More importantly you owe us an explanation so tell us why.

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Are you and the rest of the ruling group in council really prepared to carry on letting these cowardly officers damage your hold on power?

Are you working under the misapprehension that Sheffield will forget before May next year? Those officers do not have to answer to the electorate but you do.

Before you tell me Sheffield wants what you’re doing just take a breath and think...Beauchief and Greenhill.

That should sober you!

Dave Dillner

Chairman Sheffield Tree Action Groups

It’s never ending

RE RJB, Greystones. I have nothing against people protesting. It’s the seemingly never-ending exposure in this paper I have an agenda with.

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I just think, yes you have made your point, and, believe it or not, I agree with you, but give it a rest now. It’s not just me, other people are bit tired of it now.

I have worked all over Britain and most of Europe and I’ve got to tell you I struggle to think of a greener city than Sheffield.

Indeed my sister-in-law came to visit last summer and the first thing she said on arriving was: “Wow, I’ve never seen so many trees,” and she only comes from up the road from Batley in West Yorkshire.

You want to jump on a train and pop up to say, Newcastle and you’ll see a concrete jungle of a city.

Then you will appreciate just how many trees we have here.

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So I don’t think removing a few trees to make our streets a little safer is that bad.

Ted Fowler

by email

A freestyle thing?

I was unsure about replying to PG, (Letters, March 4), but it would be churlish to ignore an apology, however qualified.

Certainly as you say nobody would suppose that Tony Blair returned to the Brexit fray in order to do down Terry Palmer.

However, if you express your thoughts in phrases that mean something other than what you intended to say, and certainly we’ve all done it, please don’t be too surprised if someone makes fun of it.

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I regret that I am still unable to see Mr Palmer as South Yorkshire’s answer to Winston Smith.

Smith was tortured by the security services of a tyrannical one-party state determined to crush all dissent and impose total uniformity of thought, word and deed.

Mr Palmer has been criticised in his local press by some of his fellow citizens who do not share his views and who have in some cases been quite uncomplimentary about him.

Not really the same in my view.

Your assertion that, if I read you correctly, name calling is perfectly acceptable so long as it is PC(?!) and providing that it accompanies political comment is interesting.

Could I ask if there is an accepted ratio between comment and insult or is it more of a freestyle thing?

Stephen Crowther

Greystones