On Friday I met an up and coming Rotherham based documentary writer, called Joshua Daniels who has several youtube videos on Rotherham and its history. They are under the title of Historic Rotherham and the subjects he has covered are the Buildings of the Wentworth Family, Rotherham Town Hall, the Minster and the Chapel on the Bridge. If you have ever asked yourself why there is a cannon outside the Town Hall, or what were the little green men of the Minster, or even what does the inside of the Hoober Stand looks like, and what the view is like from the top, these are some of the things that these documentaries will tell you. One comment I particularly found amusing was when talking about the Chapel on the Bridge and how, in 1779 it was turned into a prison, Joshua says ‘where services were carried out, now sentences were carried out’. Magic!

Anyone who follows my books and website will know that I am passionate about the two subjects of History and the towns of Rotherham and Sheffield, so to meet someone who is as passionate as I am about such topics, was delightful. I do believe that these documentaries are a powerful tool to teach future generations about the towns in which they live. I feel that such documentary writers and presenters should be encouraged and supported to continue to make these programmes about the history of our towns and cities.

Joshua is currently working on a documentary about the Blitz in Sheffield for its 80 year anniversary. His aim is to tell the story of the city on the two worst nights of the bombing, but also to hear the stories from those who were alive at the time. If you, or anyone you know, lived through such bombing, has an object that survived the bombing, or has a story to tell about the Sheffield Blitz, I know he would be very pleased to hear from you. You can get in touch with him on joshdanielshist@gmail.com or his phone 07730356338 I know he would love to hear from you!