HAVE A DECKO IN THE ECHO

Watch page 12 have a decko

At the poems in the Echo.

Long and short, funny and sad

Some of them are not quite bad.

Just a little bit of fun

Nothing like it in the Sun.

Local news from near and far,

You don't get that in the Star.

So just keep watching, have a delve

And have a browse in page 12.

Betty Watt, Durham

PAWS FOR THOUGHT

I've just spent a week in Eastbourne,

And the heat was so terrific

That I had to buy some bigger shoes,

Size nine, to be specific.

For, my burning feet expanded

To astonishing dimensions,

So, I couldn't wear my normal shoes

Not even for a pension

On my super-swollen paws.

Though that holiday in Eastbourne

Was enjoyable, impressive

I was pleased to head back northwards

To a climate less excessive.

Now, my back-to-normal tootsies

Have no need of large containers.

But, that leaves me with the problem

Of those over-roomy trainers

For no-longer-swollen paws!

Ken Orton, Ferryhill Station

SMILE

Smiling is infectious,

You catch it like the flu.

When someone smiled at me today

I started smiling too.

I passed around the corner

And someone saw my grin,

When he smiled I realised

I'd passed it on to him.

I thought about that smile

Then I realised it was worth

A single smile just like mine

could travel round the earth.

So if you feel a smile begin

Don't leave it undetected.

Let's start an epidemic quick

And get the world infected.

Sheila Smith, Ludworth

CHILDHOOD DAYS

Oh what a joy to laugh and run

Down through green fields on summer days.

Past pond and hedgerows, oh such fun.

Happy to see skylark's displays

and hear it singing in the air

as rabbits ran without a care.

The silent fox with steely stare

Laying in wait and then not there.

Over the railway line we'd go

to hear the "plops" as water voles

Dropped into the beck's meandering flow

then disappeared into the holes

along the banks, beneath high trees

at West Howle where bold wasps displeased

and dragon-flies and bumble-bees

Took to the air to flaunt and tease.

But when slow coal-train rumbled by

And smoke swirled momentarily,

Coy cattle in the field would hie

to find tranquility.

'Til water-hen from East Howle nigh

Calmed all around with piercing cry

And we enjoyed we don't deny

To play there 'neath blue summer skies.

Albert Curle, Ferryhill

HUGGED STEAM

Hug the past,

That reminds only

of childhood, of rusted times been.

Back street, ash dust,

washing lines, shovelled dark gold,

to feed industry.

The roaring engines, boilers, kitchen fires,

the industry of those times.

If only prosperity still lurked in this time,

that is mine.

But it has gone, like everything else,

with the prosperity, the mines,

the minds, the industry of this time,

That has moved, to prove its potential,

but longer true to roots,

As chains as dust settles,

as the questing spirit, moves then parks.

Age remembers only the joy of the past.

Alison Carr, Bishop Auckland

MAM KNEW BEST

Can you remember that far off day

and all the things your Mam would say?

Pearls of wisdom one and all

"Don't run just walk you're sure to fall."

Sometimes you would think

"Oh drat, Mam, what's the use of that?"

Things that then could make you smile

but now can make you stop a while.

Like "Always have clean underwear,

you never know while you're out there

You might get knocked down by a bus,

don't let the nurses see and shame us."

But why a bus and not a car?

Well, Mam used the bus, she didn't go too far.

And when you got that "daring dress"

she'd offer a cardi but preferred a vest.

Then when you got a wheezy chest,

according to Mam "Goose grease is the best".

Often at night when you couldn't sleep

"Say your prayers," she said, "they'll keep

You safe and free from fear."

So pray you did and before you knew

Morning had come. Her words had come true.

Can you remember as you grew older

and winters always seemed much colder

Than they do now,

but Mam knew best

and still she pushed that blessed vest.

But fashions change, now vests are in

and now it's not an awful sin

To wear a frilly-fronted vest,

So once again, yes Mam knew best.

Another one of Mam's wee pearls was

"Eat your crusts and you'll get curls".

I never liked the crusts, perhaps that's why,

I now have hair that's as straight as a die.

Sometimes she'd shout and make a fuss,

"be sure that you're on that 10.30 bus".

And she'd always be there waiting up

"in case you feel you'd like a cup

of tea or cocoa or just a chat".

Have you noticed? Mams are nearly all like that.

Our teenage fashions turned Mam pale,

but she would never fail

To find some kind remark

or other, even if it was just the colour.

Although she'd sometimes have to find the strength

to turn a blind eye to the length

of skirt or dress,

which thinking back were quite a mess.

And the stilettos became the craze

and Mam viewed them with frightened gaze.

"You'll pay for wearing them" she said,

but remarks like that went over your head.

And now on your bunions you hobble,

you often wish you'd taken the trouble

To listen to your Mam a mite.

'Cos nine times out of ten - she was right!

PA Aspinall, Crook

THE RAINBOW

On the darkest day

We see a rainbow

And we know

That God is there.

For He never breaks

a promise

And He hears

Our prayer.

So trust your

Heavenly Father

Through storms

Both big and small.

For He's the one

Who loves us and

For us gave His all.

So when there seems

No sunshine

But only rain.

Day after day.

Hold on to His promises,

It is the only way.

Elizabeth Tomlinson,

Richmond

NELL'S LEGACY OF GOLD

We shared the glorious months of spring,

When life seemed young and kind.

When evergreen the valleys seemed

And fair the roses twined.

We savoured too the summer wine -

of endless happy hours.

And reaped the harvests rich and true

From autumn's gilded bowers.

Till winds of change hit hard and deep

Our way through life to sever.

But in the heart,

time turns to gold,

The memories Nell forever.

Gillian Walsh, of Bilsdale. A tribute to a beloved working Border Collie

THE SEETHING CLIMAX

Words of action dressed up in pain

As people ride roughshod over,

Expecting me to smile and take the hell

As I get knocked over again and again.

The dependable guy,

They teasingly mock.

A good natured bloke,

Never one to angst or bite.

Not any more!

As the venom seethes in veins,

Snarling steams of anger,

Eyes glazed in red mist.

The maddening power of Krakatoa

As propaganda of hate

Flash repeatedly over and over again.

For, like a a legionnaire ready for war,

No longer, no more.

Rob Moran

Consett