Best Swansea Poems
miles of sandy beaches
and the hills so green
the highest peaks
and lots of castles to be seen
the wooded mountains
deep beautiful valleys
and the long fairway
line with trees
this is my home
to leave i will never
cymru am byth
wales for ever
the long terrains
for taking endless walks
proud of our accent
and they way we talk
so when you come to wales
you have to be aware
so much of natural beauty
to be seen every where
the sheep on the pastures
and the grass so green
the most beautiful country sides
that i have ever seen
with people so friendly
with a pace thats slow
in lots of village and towns
where ever you go
singing land of our fathers
the national anthem
with hands on their chest
and pride in all of them
from the city of cadiff
to the port of swansea
cymru am byth
wales for ever for me
lots of celebrations
with music and dance
all coming together
singing and clapping hands
the taste of lava bread
bara brithe and cawl lamb stew
festivals of song and poetry
and the annual Eistedd fod too
the y. Ddraig goch
the red dragon
cymru am byth
wales for ever i belong
and in a house with a chimney
on the fairway
a proud daughter of wales
lives there today
cymru am byth
wales for ever
Forever Swansea...
Bright blue skies in the summer sun,
The birds among the trees.
The golden sands of Swansea Bay,
The calmness of the seas.
As I walk along these golden sands,
I watch each breaking wave.
The inshore lifeboat comes along,
But there's no-one here to save.
Hundreds of bathers on the beach,
In the water having fun.
Surfers, men with fishing rods,
All basking in the sun.
Barbecues and fizzy drinks,
Thermos flasks with tea.
Families sat eating lunch,
Just lazing by the sea.
The sounds of laughter fill the air,
Seeing lovers hand in hand.
Walking down to Swansea Docks,
Leaving footprints in the sand.
My memories of years gone by,
Of my walks along the shore.
Such times I hold within my heart,
And I will for ever-more........
Stef, born in New Zealand’s fine country,
Moved to Canada aged 4 with her parents,
Where she had a boating accident aged 9,
Which amputated her right foot for her life.
She’s married to fellow Paralympian fast,
Canadian wheelchair racer Brent Lakatos,
And they both train at Loughborough Uni,
Where there’s a plethora of sports facilities.
Stef graduated from good Queens University,
In Biochemistry with honours and at times,
Is a professional speaker, a fashion model,
And lay preacher of the gospel and the way.
Before the accident Stephanie played rugby,
But afterwards she could not do this because,
Her prosthetic was at risk of detaching itself,
Mid-game and injuring near placed players.
So she went into track and field athletics,
Practised until she became sick and tired,
Which saw her make the 2008 Paralympics,
In Beijing when she won gold for the sprint.
She graced the podium often at small meets,
In Manchester and in London. Christchurch
Saw her flourish when she won two bronzes:
One for the long jump and one for the 200m.
In Swansea at the European games in 2014,
Stef took home for the T44 long jump a gold,
And in the London Paras which introduced,
So many to disability sport, she won a silver.
In Rio she won another silver, on the mark
For TeamGB. She hasn’t always represented,
Britain because when she was much younger,
She competed for Canada’s rocky territory.
We have dear Grandsons one, two,three,
Now Dominic's off to the Learning Academy.
Luke's in the lead, with 3 years at Swansea U,
Scott's completed his course in Music too.
So Dominic has joined the happy band at last,
His days as a babe have officially passed.
Into his brand new uniform just to show,
He's a big lad and off to school you know.
We have watched him as he played with toys,
He has learning abilities to bring his Mum joy.
All three are getting education for future years
We hope that all three will surpass their peers.
To get themselves set in their chosen careers.
We pray for our Grandsons, one,two,three,
That they obtain honors that people will see,
They're good enough to employ in the industry.
In the years to come may they all stand tall,
Way to Go Guys. Well Done, We Love you All.
© Dave Timperley 07 September 2016
Born in Walsall but growing up in Aldridge,
Ellie was born with achondroplasia to bridge,
She ended up at Olchfa School in Swansea,
With a larger swimming pool, destiny to see.
She was born on the 11th of November 1994,
At an age of 5 she opened the swimming door,
Her coach for her young life was Ashley Cox,
Who made her into a phenomenon that rocks.
When just 13, she won two sparkling golds,
For the 100m and the 400m freestyle folds,
At Beijing in 2008 where the Paras occurred,
And so was picked for the 2012’s, referred.
In those vibrant Paralympics of London city,
Ellie did win the S6 category with great ability,
Because she got gold for the 400m yet again,
And also won the 200 Individual Medley pen.
She’s an OBE since 2013 in the Honours List,
Was the Young Sports Personality 2008, gist,
She also won a silver and a bronze in London,
And has two gold postboxes to proudly spawn.
The big debate : “What is a city ?” –
A town created by a charter
And often with cathedral church
But sometimes with an ancient abbey.
St David's, Pembroke is the smallest,
Just twelve hundred citizens
And London is by far the largest,
Populous eight million plus.
Many sprawling conurbations
Are the backbone of our nation :
There's Leeds and London, Bath and Bristol,
Canterbury, Sheffield, Hull;
Then Cardiff, Glasgow, Edinburgh,
Norwich, Wells and Peterborough,
Oxford, Cambridge, Manchester,
Swansea, Truro, Chichester,
Worcester, Portsmouth, York and Belfast,
Carlisle, Chelmsford, Perth.
In cities there is entertainment
With cinema and theatre too,
Museum, gallery and concert hall –
A cultured way of relaxation.
A city has a green side too
With parks and gardens to explore,
Pedestrian precincts help us shop
Away from traffic noise and fumes.
I recommend a city visit,
So many secrets are in store.
Leave your car outside the ring-road,
Hop on a bus to start your tour.
Sammi was crushed in snow and ice,
Under the beam of a forklift truck,
Being driven by her dad on his farm,
Such that her back did break, no luck.
Her physio at Glasgow’s Southern,
Sent her to top Stoke Mandeville,
Because she showed interest in,
Sports and exercise’s cool bevel.
“I thought I’d be in a bed forever.
So, then…a wheelchair was amazing.
Sounds strange, but I was so happy.
Then to find [myself competing]
in sport in my wheelchair, [mega],
has just been incredible, [indelible],
Sport has helped me [lots], hugely,
Helped me to accept it really. [Able].”
Before the accident Sammi played,
Hockey, did gymnastics and ballet,
So disability sports just means that,
She can continue on with her way.
Sammi met Jo Butterfield, club throw,
Whilst in Stoke Mandeville, a click,
And the two of them have become,
The leading Scots athletes thick.
In Swansea at the 2014 Europeans,
Sammi returned with three golds,
One for the 100m, one for the 400m
And another for the 800 metre’s folds.
Then in 2015 in Doha, the Worlds,
She bagged a bronze this time,
And was a star at Rio de Janeiro -
She intends on marathoning fine.
Tall as they come, this man is 1 metre 85,
A basketball player inspired by the 2012s,
To compete in disability sport so to thrive,
At the high jump, his practice bookshelves.
Loughborough students encouraged him,
To work on his basketball leaps by trying,
To high jump. He was so taken, no whim,
With the London Paras, he was pertaining,
That he became a T44 athlete for team GB,
To qualify with PB of 2.06 at Bedford in May;
2013 also saw him in the IPC, Lyon to see,
Where he took silver, loosing to Poland, ok.
2014 IPC Europeans in Swansea, Wales,
And he got another PB with 2.15m, a WR,
Which would’ve won gold in London sails,
But he had to accept silver, Poland did bar.
Jonathan lives in Reading at the age of 28,
But was born in Colchester well fine, fair,
With a clubbed foot, a week right knee fate,
And muscular imbalance thru his body, lair.
Olivia, or Livvy, is a Sky Academy Sports Scholar,
Competes in sprint T38 and long jump events F38.
She was born in Guildford, England, to a mother,
Who is Welsh and to a father who is of Irish state.
Born with Cerebral Palsy, Livvy raced at school,
In her primary years and she’s experienced
even though she’s very young. She has a stool,
At the Diamond League meets; she’s referenced.
She is coached by Jonas-Tawiah Doddo tough,
And Julie Hollman, and at the London Paralympics,
She won bronze in the 4x100m womens relay rough,
Doing very well in the 100m and in the 200m antics.
That same year and Holland, the Stadkanaal’s locale.
Livvy travelled to these IPC European Championships,
Where she procured the honour of the bronze medal,
Twice over, in the 100m and the 200 metre battleships.
Her mother’s country, Wales, in Swansea in 2014,
Livvy won at these Europeans a bronze and a silver,
In the 100m T38, and then in the 100m T35-38 gene,
Storming to victory like a train needing to deliver.
Then in 2015 in Qatar at the World Champs in Doha,
She won the gold with three team mates in the relay,
In the 4x100m they did pound with speed and power,
‘Cos Livvy had Di Dougherty as her mentor to sleigh.
2016, and the Grosseto Europeans happened in Italy,
And Livvy won a gold medal to boast about back home.
Then in Rio she came 7th in the 100m sprint, her tally,
But she was removed from the relay so she did moan.
Sad
Wasted
and
Negative.
Still
Everyone's
Ambitionless
Sophie was born with an abnormal right foot,
So when she was nine she chose amputation,
She comes from Camden then moved to Bath,
And now studies at Bath College Illustration.
In 2011 she went to a Playground to Podium,
Event at Bath University because she knew
As a junior wheelchair basketball: was good,
But she preferred individual sports - she flew.
Her debut came at the Manchester World Cup,
In 2012 just before the 2012 Paralympic games,
Which Sophie made and competed in the finals,
Of the 200m, scoring a personal best in flames.
In Lyon, France, in 2013, Sophie came fourth,
In the 100m sprint, but then in the 200m sprint,
She came third, winning her very first medal,
Internationally, which raised the roof at her print.
So Sophie participated in the Euros in 2014,
Which were held in Swansea in Wales’s land,
And also accelerated in the Worlds at Doha,
Which gave her experience to mature grand.
In dancing Rio Sophie broke the top WR speed,
In the heats of the 100m which were lastly held,
On the 17th of September 2016, on the second,
Last day of these Para games eventually weld.
Paul suffered a stroke at the young age of ten,
He was born 3rd October 1985 in Swansea,
He had been a keen footballer, it was his den,
So was introduced to table tennis for his tee.
At the age of sixteen he was selected for GB,
For the Paralympic team which goes everywhere,
And immediately won team bronze, dexterity,
At the European Championships, he had dare.
He took part in the Beijing and London Paras,
But was tots disappointed at his performance,
But in 2013 Paul collected very many medals,
In the Hungary, Slovenia and Slovak dance.
So in the land of Italy at the European Champs,
Paul picked up a bronze with mate Will Bayley,
Won the US Open in San Diego with clamps,
So that in 2014’s China Worlds, a bronze relay.
Vejle in Denmark, 2015, and Paul won silver,
At the Euro Champs in the team competition,
And he also won in the singles a bronze feather,
‘Cos his opponent had home crowd adulation.
At the Lignano Master Open in Italy in 2016,
He proudly won team silver and singles bronze,
Which selected him for Rio but he was beaten,
In the group matches. Born with energy, eons.
Hannah Crockroft has cerebral palsy from her birth,
And having CP myself, she’s kind of special to me,
Because CP is not derided anymore, much, as alien,
But is called brain damage, not your own currency.
She was born on the 30th July 1992, West Yorkshire,
In Halifax, and fought two cardiac arrests after birth,
The doctors said she’d never walk, talk, and function,
Or outlive her teens: but you just determine yourself.
She did lots of school sports and made the talent day,
By the BPA at that good old sports and tech university,
Loughborough, where she met Tanni Grey’s husband,
Dr Ian Thomson, who made her into racing authority.
She’s a wheelchair racer in the T34 class of sprints.
Her father, who she’s very close to and is a welder,
Built her first racing chair which was fast and neat:
He takes her out every morn on the Yorkshire felder.
At the Worlds 2011, in Christchurch in New Zealand,
Hannah won gold in both the 100 and the 200 metres,
And then, the Hurricane spry in 2012 London scored,
When she took gold in these two events again - litres!
She took gold at Lyon at the IPC Worlds, two, 2013,
Then in Swansea at the Euros she again took two,
And then 2015 at the Worlds in Doha she won three,
And now at Rio in the Paras she’s homed three due.
She breaks all the records with WRs, ERs and PRs,
Demolishing her personal best most times to achieve,
Ahead by 10 metres, 6, or even 4, she’s my stat hero,
And studies sports and media at university, to sleeve.
Rhoda Monihan
_________
I am extremely sad about the tragic accident which happened today in the cycling road race at Rio on a downhill stretch of the course. Iranian cyclist Bahman Golbarnezhad, aged 48, died of a cardiac arrest which he suffered in the ambulance after sustaining a brain injury when he crashed. My thoughts and love are with his family and friends. He leaves behind a wife and a son.
Paul was born with cerebral palsy,
Deprived of blood in the womb,
And his father, also called Paul,
Acted in Starwars, in the 1977 film.
He was born in 1990, 15 January,
And is a most consistent runner,
He must get fitness from his mum,
Who was a dancer, Royal Ballet.
He races in T36 middle distances,
And at the London Paralympics,
He won one silver and one bronze,
Owning the WR for 800m and 1500.
Then in 2013 at the Worlds, Lyon,
He took a gold and a silver swiftly,
In both the 800m and in the 400m,
Where his rivals did not glance.
In 2014 at the IPC Europeans,
Which were held in Swansea,
He collected silver and bronze,
This time in the 400 and 100m.
And in 2015, Doha at the Worlds,
Paul won gold in the 800 metres,
And took silver in the 400m charge.
As the co-captain of the GB team.
Night time casting shadows, all around the city
People hurry homeward, ready for the week-end
Fleeting lovers meeting, you say she looks pretty
Walking in the moonlight, something I do commend.
Starlight shining brightly, under a silver moon
Ocean breaking gently, lapping against the sand
Holding hands and strolling, two hearts singing in tune
Heartfelt loving romance, with my wife oh so grand