11:00am Tuesday 7th July 2009
HAPPY DAYS
I used to go down Park House
In the summer hols
When Peggy was a little girl
Playing with her dolls.
I’d go along to Spa Well
If there’d been a flood
Because the murky water
Made the fishing good.
Once I caught a good ’un
And yanked it out with pace
Landing with a smack
Right across Peggy’s face.
I’d wander through Carwood
On a rabbit’s trail.
They were in abundance
So I’d very rarely fail.
I used to go out beating
For all sorts of game.
Grouse, pheasant and partridge,
Just a few to name.
I’d battle through the bracken
Which was as tall as me
And sometimes even the heather
Came up to my knee.
We started up a football team
Not long after the war.
We played the Germans at Bedburn Camp
But I can’t remember the score.
We had a tennis tournament
And I was runner-up
I got a loser’s medal
But Joey got the cup.
We used to bike to dances
On a Saturday night,
To Butterknowle or Woodland
With my mate Shirty White.
Now that I have written down
The story of my youth,
I wouldn’t change a single thing
And that’s the honest truth.
Fred Mangles, Crook
H WAITING
Rip clean the scar
The hurt, the tedious time of waiting,
Spent seeking the appointment
Watching the lights,
Of the canned drinks machine,
In all its fizzing,
Metal can falling glory.
As I rest in antiseptic order
I wait
Sip coffee near the noise of bored patients
Palms wait wet try to stem sweating nervousness,
Wishing this never-ending restraint
Of calmly waiting would end,
That release from a never-ending
Seeking treatment would cease.
Alison Carr, Bishop Auckland
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