The sun's shining outside my window, even if the local five day forecast looks somewhat changeable at present.  In case you wanted to take a quick hour out of the conference to stretch your legs over the next three days, here are some suggestions within easy walking distance of the Information Commons, many of which you could take in on a walking route home to the conference accommodation at The Edge. 

For those who like a cerebral challenge, or are more motivated by the prospects of a material reward, we're also offering the prize of one complimentary family ticket to Haddon Hall (2 adults, 3 children; 2008 season) to the best creative offering posted to the wiki in response to one or more of the individual posers included below.  Our thanks to Haddon Hall for donating this ticket - they have also donated a second which will be awarded to the runners-up in the LTEA2008 Peak District Discovery Tour wikilogue competition.  Entries posted to the wiki by close of play on Monday 30 June, please, with prize judging by the CILASS-LTEA team later that week.  If you're interested in the small print, please drop me an email at w.kitchen@shef.ac.uk

For a map pinpointing all the sites mentioned below, please click here.  If anyone is clever enough to embed the map into this page, please feel free to do so on my behalf.  I confess the photo/image embedding technology generally defeats me, and it has on this occasion. 

Sheffield Steel with just a hint of Dickens ...

Only a tantalising glimpse of the small, integrated steelworks that packed into this part of town in the 19th century survive today.  For a flavour of what once was, visit Well Meadow Street and the last standing cementation furnace in the city on Doncaster Street, both within 10 minutes stroll of the IC.  And for one way of re-materializing the development of works like these in the east end of Sheffield in the 18th century, have a look at the reconstructions of Benjamin Huntsman's steel works in Attercliffe.  The challenge for these sites, should you choose to accept it, is to create and upload an image (drawn, photographic, modelled or otherwise) inspired by one or more of these places.

Recharge the tanks and get those creative juices flowing at the Fat Cat.

Within a hop and a skip (and a recently reworked road system) of the Doncaster Street furnace is the Fat Cat, where you can unwind after a hard day's conferencing and get stuck into the challenge here of writing a limerick inspired by this setting, or the LTEA conference more generally.  The eagle-eyed might also note material evidence here which provides one spatio-temporal link to LTEA2007 ... and some good potential fodder for limerick composition too perhaps.

A walk in the park

Weston Park, laid out by Robert Marnock (who also had a significant hand in both the Botanical Gardens and the General Cemetery as well as Regent's Park in London) and opened in 1875, plays host to a number of monuments as well as to the Mappin Art Gallery and City Museum - something for most people, come rain or shine.  Your challenge on this occasion is, recognising Sheffield's more radical past as embodied in the statue of Ebenezer Elliott, the "corn law rhymer", is to write a protest song or verse in a genre and on a topic of your choosing.  Uploaded video performances particularly welcomed.

Some railings to ponder ... or not

Ever wondered about all those railings they cut up and carted off during the second world war?  The challenge here is to come up with a short story retelling the history of the railings which once adorned the walls around Dalkeith Terrace - the run of houses on the left hand side as you come up Whitham Road, immediately beyond the University hockey pitches.  If you ponder long enough, you should be able to come up with a pretty good guess at what the original railings once looked like - and historical plausibility is one important criterion for this particular task.  Broomhill was a typical emergent middle-class suburb in Victorian Sheffield.

Botanical Gardens

Restored with a series of Lottery Grants and similar over the past decade, the Botanical Gardens are well worth an early evening stroll.  They've laid out their very own "discovery trail" for kids, with one popular landmark being the  enigmatic bear pit and rather more problematic statue contained within.  Your challenge, once you've found the bear pit, is to write a haiku in response.

General Cemetery

If you like this kind of thing, then the Sheffield General Cemetery is not to missed.  A crazy mix of overgrown Victorian bombast and intimate insights into the lives of a broad cross-section of Sheffield's people in the 19th century.  Some very atmospheric architecture here too - the earlier non-conformist and later Anglican chapels both.  Your final choice of challenge is to record and upload a three minute podcast inspired by the General Cemetery and its contents.