David Bell

Welcome to this tour of Meersbrook Park. The park has been a wonderful space during 2020, for exercise, revitalisation, solace and connection. 

As you wander around, you will automatically trigger various 'echoes', spoken word or music reflecting some events, experiences and memories that are now so anchored in this special place. If you listen to all of everything, it takes a couple of hours. 

Tarry a while and take in the wonder of the world that surrounds you.

There's the odd sweary bit!

Enjoy!

Any feedback or queries? dingerarchos@gmail.com

Meersbrook Hall is a Grade II listed building in Meersbrook Park in south Sheffield in the UK. Built in 1780, the Hall was designed by William Fairbanks and was the home of the Ruskin Museum from 1890 to 1953.

Read more about the Hall and the Park here https://meersbrookhall.org.uk/about-meersbrook-hall/

And the people stayed home.

And they read books, and listened, and rested, and exercised, and made art, and played games, and learned new ways of being, and were still.

And they listened more deeply. Some meditated, some prayed, some danced. Some met their shadows. And the people began to think differently.

And the people healed.

And, in the absence of people living in ignorant, dangerous, mindless, and heartless ways, the earth began to heal.

And when the danger passed, and the people joined together again, they grieved their losses, and made new choices, and dreamed new images, and created new ways to live and heal the earth fully, as they had been healed."

Author: Kitty O'Meara: https://the-daily-round.com/2020/03/1...

Narration: Vivek Bhurtun, https://www.verbatimvo.com

Images of the Ruskin Museum and contemporary Ruskin poem films
(commissioned by Wordlife) were projected onto the front of the Hall every 15 mins.

Poetry Light Night was commissioned by Off The Shelf Festival of Words and run by Word Life in partnership with Ruskin in Sheffield. The Poets commissioned were Rommi Smith and Tony Walsh. The Filmmakers commissioned were Annie Watson and Rob Speranza.

"Speak Plainly Today" written and read by Tony Walsh. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJz8OvBu5q8&feature=youtu.be&ab_channel=NowThenMag

Over 18 years a dedicated team of Meersbrook Park Users Trust volunteers have worked hard to create a unique and beautiful space enjoyed regularly by groups, the community and people from all over the city. If you'd like to volunteer, call Naomi 0114 2810423.

This passage is from a longer poem set at Nun Appleton Hall near York where my paternal grandparents lived and worked on the estate. Mum was lodging with them one summer in the early 1950s, working as a milkmaid during a summer break from art college, dad came home from national service and love began. 

Years later, I discovered this poem by Andrew Marvell, tutor at Nun 
Appleton from 1650-52 to the daughter of the Lord General Thomas Fairfax, who had recently relinquished command of the Parliamentary army to Cromwell. Three hundred years later, mum and dad were falling in love in the same Garden, oblivious to the legacy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaLGXEyGjUA&ab_channel=PoemsCafe

Time for a cuppa? Or use the circle for a bit of guitar and singing?

You can't always get what you want...

5 ways to go here. Which will it be? No matter, the birds will accompany you. You might even pause the app and listen out for the real things!

How many can you identify in this 10 minute clip? Here they are in order of appearance (though some make multiple appearances):

Robin
Wren
Blackbird
Goldfinch
Woodpigeon
Crow
Great tit
Woodpecker
Magpie
Greenfinch
Blue tit
Robin
Jackdaw
Swift
Blackcap
Chaffinch
Coal tit
Collared dove
Goldcrest
House sparrow
Dunnock
House martin
Song thrush


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xudHav8digY&ab_channel=BBCEarth

The carved tree trunk is often strewn with seeds for the birds, squirrels and any other fauna. Stay a while and you may hear or even see a woodpecker.

The Green Man in the Garden by Charles Causley, read by Indra Singh
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhgHJpJq28s&ab_channel=IndraSingh-ThePoweroftheFlower

Respite has oft been offered and taken amidst the vegetables.

Dizzee Rascal Live - Bonkers @ Sziget 2013
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMjVsXE4DRM&ab_channel=SzigetFestival

Some of the most spectacular views of Sheffield as afforded by tarrying a while on this hill are often neglected by the catch up conversations, snatched over lunch breaks or after work, taking the dog for a walk or supposedly getting some exercise.

Steely Dan - Aja
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fG2seugAgnU&list=PLvYWP5Oco6XEg-LhbZzFR5RgSy4B6TuX8&index=143&ab_channel=thejazzcafe1

The eponymous brook doing its thing.

Aretha Franklin - Bridge Over Troubled Water
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9-yfeA2JZs&ab_channel=Revival

The Black Lives Matter saw huge protests and a socially distanced turn out in Meersbrook Park on 6 June 2020.

Audre Lorde - There Is No Hierarchy Of Oppressions
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CPAlSVaiL8&feature=youtu.be&ab_channel=AfroMarxist

As Lockdown #1 lifted, we were able to congregate again in socially distanced groups. The summer weather made for awesome gatherings and a breath of friendship.

Sweet Caroline by Neil Diamond
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmK5_lnQUbE&ab_channel=NeilDiamond-Topic

You'll often see tightrope walkers, yoga, fitness sessions, kickabouts and a whole bunch of circus tricks going on up here.

Janelle Monáe - Tightrope [feat. Big Boi]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwnefUaKCbc&ab_channel=JanelleMon%C3%A1e

Gigs! Remember those?

You can have a nosy round the museum when it re-opens. 

Neil Campbell live at Bishops' House, Sheffield
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4Phd5PKa18&ab_channel=NickRobinson

Neil Campbell live at Bishops' House, Sheffield

The Supremes-You Keep Me Hangin' On
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3bjMtqpGBw&ab_channel=iluvflorenceballard

A beautiful spot, ripe for picnic blankets and sky-gazing. These views were painted by JMW Turner in the 1790s.

Also, the BEST place in Sheffield for sledging!

'The Lark Ascending', inspired by a poem of the same name by George Meredith, was begun shortly before the outbreak of the First World War but not completed until Vaughan Williams returned from active service in France.  This performance is by Nicola Benedetti with the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Andrew Litton.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLhpkvQLDt0&ab_channel=Colin

The Hill We Climb: the Amanda Gorman poem that stole the inauguration show

When day comes, we ask ourselves where can we find light in this never-ending shade?
The loss we carry, a sea we must wade.
We’ve braved the belly of the beast.
We’ve learned that quiet isn’t always peace,
and the norms and notions of what “just” is isn’t always justice.
And yet, the dawn is ours before we knew it.
Somehow we do it.
Somehow we’ve weathered and witnessed a nation that isn’t broken,
but simply unfinished.
We, the successors of a country and a time where a skinny Black girl descended from slaves and raised by a single mother can dream of becoming president, only to find herself reciting for one.

And yes, we are far from polished, far from pristine,
but that doesn’t mean we are striving to form a union that is perfect.
We are striving to forge our union with purpose.
To compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters, and conditions of man.
And so we lift our gazes not to what stands between us, but what stands before us.
We close the divide because we know, to put our future first, we must first put our differences aside.
We lay down our arms so we can reach out our arms to one another.
We seek harm to none and harmony for all.
Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true:
That even as we grieved, we grew.
That even as we hurt, we hoped.
That even as we tired, we tried.
That we’ll forever be tied together, victorious.
Not because we will never again know defeat, but because we will never again sow division.

Scripture tells us to envision that everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree and no one shall make them afraid.
If we’re to live up to our own time, then victory won’t lie in the blade, but in all the bridges we’ve made.
That is the promise to glade, the hill we climb, if only we dare.
It’s because being American is more than a pride we inherit.
It’s the past we step into and how we repair it.
We’ve seen a force that would shatter our nation rather than share it.
Would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy.
This effort very nearly succeeded.
But while democracy can be periodically delayed,
it can never be permanently defeated.
In this truth, in this faith, we trust,
for while we have our eyes on the future, history has its eyes on us.
This is the era of just redemption.
We feared it at its inception.
We did not feel prepared to be the heirs of such a terrifying hour,
but within it, we found the power to author a new chapter, to offer hope and laughter to ourselves.
So while once we asked, ‘How could we possibly prevail over catastrophe?’ now we assert, ‘How could catastrophe possibly prevail over us?’

We will not march back to what was, but move to what shall be:
A country that is bruised but whole, benevolent but bold, fierce and free.
We will not be turned around or interrupted by intimidation because we know our inaction and inertia will be the inheritance of the next generation.
Our blunders become their burdens.
But one thing is certain:
If we merge mercy with might, and might with right, then love becomes our legacy and change, our children’s birthright.

So let us leave behind a country better than the one we were left.
With every breath from my bronze-pounded chest, we will raise this wounded world into a wondrous one.
We will rise from the golden hills of the west.
We will rise from the wind-swept north-east where our forefathers first realized revolution.
We will rise from the lake-rimmed cities of the midwestern states.
We will rise from the sun-baked south.
We will rebuild, reconcile, and recover.
In every known nook of our nation, in every corner called our country,
our people, diverse and beautiful, will emerge, battered and beautiful.
When day comes, we step out of the shade, aflame and unafraid.
The new dawn blooms as we free it.
For there is always light,
if only we’re brave enough to see it.
If only we’re brave enough to be it.


https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/20/amanda-gorman-poem-biden-inauguration-transcript

There are many ways in, this being one.

Aaltra Music's Sometimes it helps


Aaltra Music says "The drone is a field recording in Beely wood of jackdaws and crows, the sound is modulated by a couple of filters. The words are a chasm, on either side they are a reality for someone."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCcC9fpvejg&feature=youtu.be&ab_channel=AaltraMusic

Vulnerability is not a weakness. It's a courageous step to the connection that keeps us well.

The Power of Vulnerability | Brene Brown (TED Talk Summary)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BBE4sO4U1A&ab_channel=QuickTalks

It's coming to pass
My countries coming apart
The whole thing's becoming
Such a bumbling farce
Was that a pivotal historical moment
We just went stumbling past?
Here we are
Dancing in the rumbling dark
So come a little closer
Give me something to grasp
Give me your beautiful, crumbling heart
Another disaster
Catharsis
Another half-discarded mirage
Another mask slips
I face off with the physical
My head's ringing from the love of the stars
There is too much pretence here
And too much depends on the fragile wages
And extortionate rents here
We're working every dread day that is given us
Feeling like the person people meet
Really isn't us
Like we're going to buckle underneath the trouble
Like any minute now
The struggle's going to finish us
And then we smile at all our friends
It's hard
We got our heads down and our hackles up
Our back's against the wall
I can feel you aching
None of this was written in stone
There is nothing we're forbidden to know
And I can feel things changing
Even when I'm weak and I'm breaking
I'll stand weeping at the train station
'Cause I can see your faces
There is so much peace to be found in people's faces
I saw it roaring
I felt it clawing at my clothes like a grieving friend
It said
"There are no new beginnings
Until everybody sees that the old ways need to end"
But it's hard to accept that we're all one and the same flesh
Given the rampant divisions between oppressor and oppressed
But we are though
More empathy
Less greed
More respect
All I've got to say has already been said
I mean, you heard it from yourself
When you were lying in your bed and couldn't sleep
Thinking couldn't we be doing this
Differently?
I'm listening to every little whisper in the distance singing hymns
And I can
I can feel things
Changing
But it's so hard
We got our heads down and our hackles up
Our back's against the wall
I can feel your heart racing
None of this was written in stone
The currents fast but the river moves slow
And I can feel things changing
Even when I'm weak and I'm breaking
I stand weeping at the train station
'Cause I can see your faces
There is so much peace to be found in people's faces
It's not enough
To imagine we'll be happy, when we've got enough stuff
All this stuff is blocking us
I'm neat with no chaser
I'm all spirit but I'm sinking
Beause the days are not days but strange symptoms
This age is our age
But our age is rage sinking to beige
And yes our children are brave
But their mission is vague
Now I don't have the answers
But there are still things to say
I stare out at my city on another difficult day
And I scream inwardly
When will this change
I'm beginning to fade
But my sanity's saved, 'cause I can see your faces
My sanity's saved
'Cause I can see your faces
It's hard
We got our heads down and our hackles up
Our back's against the wall
I can feel your heart racing
None of this was written in stone
The current's fast but the river moves slow
And I can feel things changing
Even when I'm weak and I'm breaking
I stand weeping at the train station
'Cause I can see your faces
I love people's faces

Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Daniel De Mussenden Carey / Kate Tempest
People's Faces lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc, Domino Publishing Company


Kate Tempest - People's Faces
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9y0V0ro2Nf0&ab_channel=vprovrijegeluiden

In describing what the Voyager captured in that grainy photograph of mostly empty space, Sagan limned Earth as a “pale blue dot.” He wrote that “everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives” on this “mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.”

https://www.brainpickings.org/2018/05/09/a-brave-and-startling-truth-maya-angelou/

https://soundcloud.com/brainpicker/the-universe-in-verse-janna-levin-reads-a-brave-and-startling-truth-by-maya-angelou

Sometimes we're told to keep quiet. Sometimes we're told there's something wrong with us. 

Keep feeling, put your sadness on like it's the silkiest shirt in your wardrobe. Gather community around your table. Show them that your tenderness packs muscle.

Decolonising Distress by Sanah Ahsan
https://www.instagram.com/tv/CCDbyWYFvQw/

The bandstand situated just above the Westran fountain (made in 1891 in memory of William Westran) was for sometime a focus of enjoyment and social activity, such as Whitsuntide sings. The bandstand was removed on 11th February 1958.

Cat Stevens - Morning has broken
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0TInLOJuUM&ab_channel=MaizaGatti

Take a moment to connect with your surroundings and your self. In fact, take 4 minutes!

The Breathing Space by Jon Kabat Zinn
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oWmGJc8NWI&ab_channel=SamDC

Communication, life, and death. What else?

If you come as softly
As the wind within the trees
You may hear what I hear
See what sorrow sees.

If you come as lightly
As threading dew
I will take you gladly
Nor ask more of you.

You may sit beside me
Silent as a breath
Only those who stay dead
Shall remember death.

And if you come I will be silent
Nor speak harsh words to you.
I will not ask you why now.
Or how, or what you do.

We shall sit here, softly
Beneath two different years
And the rich between us
Shall drink our tears.


Song written by Kasper using the poem "If You Come Softly" by Audre Lorde as the lyrics

https://soundcloud.com/thisiskasper/if-you-come-softly-poem-by-audre-lorde

You're at the top of Meersbrook Park Road. Notice the beautiful avenue of lime trees. Thank STAG, the local community and others more widely afield for their protests and actions to save these trees from the rampages of Sheffield City Council's dreadful contract with Amey. Trees like these contribute to the many reasons people love Sheffield.

A thoughtful corner of the Park to envisage your love.

Rumi's I want to see you.

I want to see you.

Know your voice.

Recognize you when you
first come 'round the corner.

Sense your scent when I come
into a room you've just left.

Know the lift of your heel,
the glide of your foot.

Become familiar with the way
you purse your lips
then let them part,
just the slightest bit,
when I lean in to your space
and kiss you.

I want to know the joy
of how you whisper
"more”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_drPFwHjCKM&feature=youtu.be&ab_channel=SaeedJanYusufzai

Meersbrook Park, Sheffield UK

26 ECHOES

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