Yorkshire Day 2019 | An Ode to Yorkshire

On Yorkshire Day, a little creative writing piece to pay homage to all that makes this glorious county that some of us are lucky enough to call home...

"Eee bah gum" she said, "isn't it a lovely feeling, being from that Yorkshire?"

There are many things to make us proud of God's own county, that's for sure.

The beautiful landscapes and coastlines up there in Scarborough, Brid and Whitby,

The Tour De Yorkshire flying past in as much times as it takes to say "si thi."

So much heritage and history and all those crucial industries,

Mining and waterways, steel, textiles and all the best breweries.

A recognisable dialect that unearths our home soil:

"Ow do, young bairn, put wood in't oyle."

The puddings, the rhubarb, Wensleydale cheese and parkin,

The liquorice, Henderson's Relish and while you're at it, get the Yorkshire Tea mashin'.

Museums a plenty with media, mining, Armories and railway,

Not forgetting Eden Camp, Eureka! and the Thackray.

Sheffield, York, Bradford, Hull and Leeds,

A city for each and all of your needs.

Cosmopolitan hubs full of business, finance, media and culture

Places decorated with Hockney's art and Hepworth and Moore sculptures.

From gothic, medieval, Viking and Roman

The castles and ruins will leave you unspoken.

And our musical talents, sure enough would make you gulp

Def Leppard, Arctic Monkeys, The Beautiful South and Pulp.

Everyone knows with Yorkshire, what you see is what you get.

Weather doesn't do much for us though, so prepare to get wet.

Yorkshire looks lovely when captured on the big and little screen

Full Monty, Emmerdale, Heartbeat and all that's in between.

Our little county offers a lot to see and do

Lots to take in while sipping your lovely brew.

So come and visit us, for we'll not bite

And we're not coming South, we're just too tight!

National Video Game Museum - Sheffield

The National Videogame Museum - Sheffield

If you're a sucker for a museum, an absorber of popular culture and have grown up loving video games or having at least one or two firm favourites from your youth (Tony Hawks Pro Skater 2 and Tekken, if anyone wondered) then you will love the National Videogame Museum in South Yorkshire. 

The NVM is a relatively new addition to Sheffield as it recently relocated from its original home in Nottingham. Based on Angel Street in the city centre, the museum is home to a range of different video gaming set-ups based around particular themes such as 'gravity and 'made in Sheffield', to name but two. It also houses some of the world's best loved video games from the industry's beginnings through to our modern day and all of these are completely free to play once you have paid for your admission.

There are old school consoles and games, newer consoles and games, arcade machines, multi-player set-ups, differing editions of particular games such as Super Mario, Sonic and Donkey Kong. There are also displays of familiar gaming memorabilia and artefacts from over the years.

The museum also has a lab area where you can test out a number of design, creation and development facilities and there is also a café and gift shop on site too.

Admission to the museum *costs £11 per adult, £9 per child or £35 for a family of four and after that, you can come and go as much as you please throughout the day with your wristband and can play on all the games for free. At the moment there is also a Groupon** deal on the museum with a significant discount on tickets on certain dates so be sure to check that out should you wish to visit soon. It is super easy to find from the train station and no more than a 10 minute walk, if that. The museum is *open Friday, Saturday and Sunday but all week during school holiday periods.

*At time of posting, please check out the NVM website for most up-to-date pricing and opening hours

** Limited time remaining Groupon offer, check availability

I recently took my 11 year old brother as a birthday treat and we both loved it and totally lost track of time, playing on every game there was to offer and snapping pics with the huge Sonic. Our favourites in the NVM were the Sonic set-ups, (particularly the original), the Street Fighter arcade machine, classics like Tetris and Space Invaders and a funny little snowball game that I've totally forgotten the name of but it had us giggling our faces off, trying to pelt each other's player with pixelated snowballs.

It's definitely worth a visit and I only hope that it can build more funding to expand further, acquiring more games and more artefacts as although me and my brother absolutely loved it, we both saw it as more of an arcade than a museum. Would love to see more of the history, info and timelines of video games, how they've adapted and developed and how our relationship with them is altering. 

But still, a proper little gem in the heart of Sheffield, go forth and check it out!

Portraits of a Nation - Sheffield DINA Venue

The age old saying goes that a picture tells a thousand words. 

A photograph can tell you all about a person, about their story, about a particular time, about an event, about a place, about a feeling or mood.

My colleague and friend, Sion Markham, known by his online handle ‘s.t.marks’, is a Sheffield based photographer who has been using his photos to express all of the above. He has been travelling the country, visiting different places and using his photography to bring attention and awareness to the growing UK homeless situation. He has spent time meeting and chatting to those sleeping on the streets of our major cities and towns and hearing their stories. Over the last year or two, he’s visited an amalgamation of places and met a variety of different people, hearing a variety of different accounts, all of which are tied together amidst the same social issue.

The project, aptly named Portraits of a Nation is currently being exhibited at the DINA Arts Venue in Sheffield from 28th May to the 5th June. Photos from the project are displayed in differing ways with accompanying prose detailing the accounts of some of the people photographed and a range of facts and figures surrounding the homeless crisis in the UK. 

The photographs are stunning as 's.t.marks' brilliantly displays such character and emotion in his work. If you are in the Sheffield area, a lover of photography and a supporter of great causes aimed to aid the development of society then please find some time to visit. 

The exhibit is open from 10AM until 4PM and whilst it is a free event, any support and donations will raise money for the Sheffield Cathedral Archer Project and S2 Foodbank. 

Check out this article from Sheffield Live! detailing more information about the exhibit and featuring a video interview with Sion himself to explain his idea and its purpose.

You can also follow 's.t.marks' via the following channels to see all of his work:

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