Five on Friday

Yesterday I had time to go into Sheffield in search of more elephant sculptures before they disappear to jungles new when they're auctioned off in aid of the Children's Hospital Charity. I went on the trail around the city centre and found many of them, including the Little Herd, (those created by the schoolchildren) in the Winter Garden.

Today I'm joining Amy's Five on Friday and sharing five of the schools whose pupils, with the help of their teachers, created these elephants. They are all very different, but each one is imaginatively decorated. I've also included a photo collage of one or two more that deserve to be featured.

1. Welly the Elephant

St Anselm's School ran a competition giving everyone a chance to submit a design. The winning design came from a year 4 child.  The panel of children and staff thought her design was very colourful and they liked the way the bright colours blended together.

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2. An Elephant Never Forgets

Sheffield High School (Junior School) The design is based on the saying 'an elephant never forgets'. From netball to art, coding club to science, playing with their friends and eating school dinners each pupil contributed to the elephant design by drawing a picture of their favourite memory from the past year on a square of coloured paper. The squares create the Sheffield High School tartan, which is part of the school uniform.

The sculptures are all wonderful, inspired by good ideas with positive messages about the present and aspirations for the future as well as reflecting what these particular children are experiencing in today's modern world.  However, my favourite is this Elephant (who never forgets).  I like the fact it shows the drawings of so many children in the school who've enjoyed participating in the project and it's a great record of some special moments that they've remembered this past year.

  

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3. Eco Elephant

Nether Green Junior School's design, Eco Elephant, reflects the green city of Sheffield and the children of Nether Green Junior School's desire to create an eco-friendly environment, now and for the future. The design process has been led by the School Council and every pupil in the school has been inspired by the beautiful trees that surround their playground to create their own unique leaf to add to Eco.

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You can see the scale of the little elephants from this photo (above).

4. Heart

Acres Hill Primary School's main designer was Hasti Rashid from Year 3.  The whole school took part in sharing ideas for their elephant, Heart.  They were inspired by Indian prints, patterns and artwork. Patterns from other children at the school have also been included in the final design. The school's golden rule was used to help the students, 'we are gentle, kind and helpful'. The school's motto, 'bringing learning to life!' was also incorporated in the project.

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5. Bradley

Bradfield's School's elephant design, Bradley, is based on the link between Bradfield School and Sheffield's industry.  The feet are the foundations of the city with the industry supporting it. Smoke rises up from the chimneys to create the city's trees and rural heritage.  Behind this are cogs, representing the city schools' 'stem' education emphasis.  The colours are greys and silvers representing steel. 

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Top: Emojiphant and Water Ways, 

Bottom: Timothea Peake S.T.E.A.M. Elephant and Waffles

Do go and see what others have posted this week or join in yourself if you are new to

 the Five on Friday link-up.  

a good day and a very peaceful weekend.

Ladybower Reservoir walk

Today I'm looking back at a walk by Ladybower Reservoir in the Upper Derwent Valley which I featured on my last Five on Friday blog post as a photo collage. It's possible to walk for miles around the reservoir. There are wonderful views across the water on both sides of the path by the side of the wall of the dam and you can marvel at the way it was constructed to contain so much water and manage the overflow. Everything is solidly built and on a grand scale.

On the side nearest the water is a high wall and on the other side is a wide area and another high wall at the water's edge.  On the other side of the path there's a steep bank and views of the river Derwent, the water treatment buildings and the surrounding land which is maintained by the Severn Trent Water Company.

The water and buildings at the bottom of the sloping land is called the tail bay.  It provides a route for overflow water from the reservoir to flow into the river Derwent and from there to the river Trent. By ensuring that the flow from the reservoir is maintained, controlled from the two draw-off towers on the dam, wildlife is protected.  At the same time the energy produced from the release of water as it transfers from the reservoir through hydro turbines helps generate renewable electricity. The two pumping stations are capable of pumping around 170 megalitres of water every day to be cleaned at the Bamford treatment works which is then transferred for public use in the region.  Two large bellmouth spillway shafts also help to maintain the flow of water as they act like giant plugholes. At certain times when the water is high the sight of water flowing into the shafts is spectacular although I've only seen and photographed this sight once a few years ago.

the tail bay

a bellmouth spillway shaft

a draw-off tower

On reaching the other side of the reservoir I turned back, but the walk either way by the river and across a bridge to Bamford or along the path to the upper end of this great expanse of water would have been enjoyable.  

One of the sculptures on what is called the Bamford Touchstone Trail.

These were created to commemorate the Millennium to reflect memorable aspects of the village, old and new, with the help of a local artist, Jenny Mather.  Clay models were created by local families and then the artist arranged them together to produce intricate designs.  Rubber moulds were made to enable a resin and ground stone mixture to be poured in.  This hardwearing material was used to withstand the weather conditions. The finish resembles gritstone found in the surrounding Dark Peak area and the form to look like the standing stones that can be seen on the moors.  Sheffield University have made replicas of these ancient artefacts using similar techniques.  The touchstones illustrate air, water, earth and fire and are situated on a 5 mile walk around the edges of the village. A celtic symbol is present on all the sculpture. (Notes taken from the Bamford Village web site about the project).

As always, wishing you a good day.  At the moment I'm at the hospital every day sdo I'm taking a blog break.