Sheffield Pilgrimage January 30th 2024

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Going on a Pilgrimage to another Cathedral, I am finding that I am appreciating, learning and observing things that I had never even thought about previously.

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We set off for Sheffield with the awful news that Mahmoud, our medical student, had found out that his father’s entire family in Gaza was either dead or missing. Thirty family members.

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Mahmoud is determined to be a great doctor and lighting a candle in Sheffield Cathedral and praying for him seemed such a small thing compared with his resilience at such loss. Resilience is the buzz word currently for coping with adversity, change and difficult work/social environments. This week I watched One Life, the film about Nicholas Winton and others organising the Czech Kindertransport, refugee children separated from their families sent to the UK and then last night watched the interview with Brianna Ghey’s mother, Esther Ghey.

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What links all these is not resilience but a dignity of purpose that out of adversity goodness is found. Whatever it is I am humbled.

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Our backroom support decided that he needed to go to an outdoor factory outlet in Alfreton (other brands available) so Dorothy, Scout, Kit, and I were dropped off at Sheffield Police Headquarters to start our walk to the Cathedral. This site chosen as it was next to the dual carriageway, has a large carpark and next to the canal.

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Sheffield is the UK’s greenest city, having more trees than any other. We walked along the canal and then across the tram tracks up to the Cholera Monument overlooking the city. We later found out from Canon Geoffrey that the city had thought that it was only the poor who succumbed to cholera but that when a Master Cutler died it was taken more seriously.

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The monument is very tall and visible from a distance...........Count one‘s blessings for clean running water and the NHS!

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The Cathedral is in the centre of Sheffield. There are virtually no cars in the centre but an extensive tram service. It seemed very clean and quiet for a major City Centre.

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We arrived early at Sheffield and as usual tried out the facilities. Sheffield is free to enter with a cafe and toilets. Dogs are allowed in, and we were enthusiastically greeted by the cafe staff. I can recommend the soup, whilst Dorothy was very complimentary about her Pasty.

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As Dorothy knows the cathedral well, I wandered around on my own whilst she dog sat. The Font is, of course, made from steel but I was drawn to the steel nativity. The artist said that he thought Joseph was not always represented in the Nativity, so he has him holding the Christ with a shepherd peering through holding a symbolic lamb too. I have asked a few people whether they know of any other nativity scene where Joseph is holding the baby with a common answer suggesting that men of that period never held any baby....

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I am not one for glorifying war, but I was very moved by the dignity of a Chapel dedicated to the York and Lancaster Regiment, with its dusty standards and plaques of commemoration including one for Dunkirk which I have never seen before. Likewise, the Bell from HMS Sheffield, sunk in the Falklands War next to a monument remembering police officers killed on active duty.

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We met with Canon Geoffrey from the Cathedral who stepped in at the last moment for which we were very grateful. He listened with interest about the JSF and then gave us a quick tour of the Shrewsbury Chapel, with tomb of the Earl, the one that was Mary Queen of Scots jailor, and explained that Bess of Hardwick, his wife, is buried in Derby Cathedral due to her belief that the Earl was a little too friendly with his prisoner! Guess which Cathedral we have decided to do next?

Shop investigated, present for the backup crew and postcards purchased we set off to walk the Five Weirs Walk back to meet the back up outside Meadow Hall. The Five weirs walk is well marked, and we enjoyed the amble back. No Kingfishers as promised by the Interpretation boards but a few goosanders in the water.

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Thanks again to Sheffield for another interesting and meaningful visit.

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