Terry Ireland Poet Rhyme

Fish Finger Line

Friday night pints in Cleethorpes
I was young and fancy free,
Shift change lasses from Birds Eye
And one of them chatted with me.
She said she was bored near silly
Working on the Fish Finger line,
Was studying at her night class
For a white collar job like mine.

This was the mid nineteen sixties
Class distinction so much worse
For a lass it was work until marriage,
Factory, shop, maybe enrolled nurse.
Never heard of the  glass ceiling
Never heard of the Rat Race
All was well with the world and folk
Largely knew and kept their place .

So sweet, that lass from Birds Eye
As we kissed, cuddled, entwined
And for a few glorious moments
I was hers and she was mine.
I walked  her to her bus stop
Quickly kissed her goodbye
Watched her driven into my past
That sweet lass from Birds Eye.

Weeks later back to Cleethorpes
But by then it was far too late.
The Birds Eyes lasses there
And I chatted to one her mates.
No longer a fish factory worker,
She’d worked her notice, gone,
Nobody knew where or when
Just she’d recently moved on.

They said she’d been a loner, 
Not really one of their crowd
Was quiet and reserved ,
They were boisterous and loud.
None  knew where she went
None knew her address
She was just a past work mate
They couldn’t have cared less.

So I supped my pint, loudly
Played the chatting up game
My  heart not  really in it,  
Without her it wasn’t the same.
At closing time we parted,
They on their way,  I on mine,
The last time I met the  lasses
From the Fish Finger line.

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Ilene Bauer February 25, 2026 at 1:32 PM terry - i love the mood this poem conjured up for me and was able to picture it all so clearly. too bad you lost that connection (if this story is true, which it sure seems like it is)... Terry Ireland February 27, 2026 at 12:23 AM Thanks Ilene - I had this strange job where I worked from about 30 different Offices in different towns spread across the North - never knwew from week to week where I would be - might not be in the quieter ones more than once every 3 months, so that's how I lost my Fish Finger Girl.