Poetry Please
Title
Subject
Poems L - R, T - B :
1,2 and 3. 'My Grandparents', 'Dyslexia' and 'Spring Cleaning' by Alison Gardiner
Alison Gardiner has lived in Waterlane her whole life. Now in her 80's you only have to speak to Alison to appreciate her affection for everything 'Oakridge' and her deep love and knowledge of everything and everyone in the area!
In 'My Grandparents', Alison remembers her Grandparents and their life in the 1930's.
4. 'The Cotswold Farmers' and 'Cottage Song'
by John Drinkwater
John Drinkwater was introduced introduced to Oakridge by William Rothenstein. He so loved the setting that he stayed at Winson Cottage for a year! Drinkwater was attracted by the people and the landscape, he wrote :
The Cotswold country is, as I think, the most beautiful in England. There is no more tender or subtle landscape on earth.
He loved the old stone cottages, admiring 'an architecture that has never lost its vitality.'
Around him in Oakridge were craftsmen, thatchers, tilers, carpenters and stonemasons, still working in the traditional way, using skills handed down through countless generations.
The local people inspired Drinkwater to write a small book, Cotswold Characters, which contains a series of portraits of craftsmen, clearly local, though Drinkwater disguises their identity.
A pair of poems are featured here, the second, 'Cottage Song', is followed by a parody by his friend and essayist Max Beerbohm, illustrating very differing attitudes to the rigors of life in Far Oakridge, where both lived for a period in 1917!
5. The Peaceful Countryside by Rustic ...
A lament for times gone by ...
6. Cotswold Choice and The Holy Brook by Frank Mansell
Frank Mansell is a well known Cotswold poet who lived nearby at Salt Box and played cricket for Sheepscombe.
'Holy Brook' runs through Tunley parallel to the Daneway Road before reaching Peyton's Grove.
In 'Cotswold Choice' Frank Mansell cheekily comes to the conclusion he prefers Sheepscombe to Tunley!
7. Bywell Cottage by William Bucknell
William Bucknell (Alfed Bucknell's Father) wrote this poem c. 1835
8. Cotswold Quest by Sydney Coles
Sydney Frederick Arthur Coles wrote this poem whilst at Watercombe House in the spring of 1929. He included it in his book ‘Pilgrimage: Memorials of a Journey’ published by The Columbia Press, London, 1931. He returned thirty years later and presented a copy to H. Demuth, Esq. at Watercombe House, Waterlane.
9. Memories by Dorothy McGarry
Dorothy McGarry (Mrs) wrote from Basingstoke:
Having read with great interest and enjoyment an article about Mr. Norman Bucknell, Gloucestershire craftsman, some years ago, I was prompted to copy out some verses which I wrote in about 1970 concerning the Bucknell family. I call them "Cotswold Memories".
My grandfather, Walter Bucknell, was Alfred Bucknell's brother, and I well remember his Blacksmith's Forge at Waterlane.
From early childhood, we spent almost every summer holiday in Waterlane, and with most of our relatives still there and in surrounding districts, we still visit as often as time permits.
I shall never forget those carefree days at Duttons, our Bucknell family home. We were indeed fortunate to belong there.
Perhaps there is a possibility that through your pages, others may share my memories.
10. Two Poems contributed by Queenie Pearman, nee Gardiner
Queenie Pearman, nee Gardiner, shared her memories a few years ago. She talked vividly of her childhood and how, during the First World War, many women in the village took in machining work for one of the factories on Brick Row where Mr White, who lived in the village, worked. The factory made khaki and white overalls for the army and local women sewed the pieces together.
Queenie's mother worked the button holes for removable 'batchelor' buttons. This helped to bring in a bit of extra money. Queenie also remembered her mother being asked to provide hot meals for five Australian mechanics who came from Aston Down to repair an Allied forces plane that crashed nearby. They wrote a poem in her mothers visitors book and she could recite that poem as the first contribution featured here.
The second poem, equally vivid, is her own work and remembers the Chapel Sunday School.
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