One of our local heroes:
his record of try’s in a season
has still not been beaten.
Jack Harrison VC, MC
A Temporary Gentleman
Not really the right sort
Just a common school master
Who played professional sport,
But he was a volunteer
Not a Conscripted man
Volunteering for service
Soon after war began.
A Temporary Gentleman
Who came to the good
Charged a machine gun
And died at Oppy Wood.
Charged a machine gun
Tying down his men
They never found his body
He was never seen again.
Over there at Oppy Wood
His final try was laid
Revolver in hand
Carrying live grenade.
No body to be buried,
No remains to be found,
He just became as one with
That blood soaked ground,
.
A person of courage
A man of gallantry
Posthumously awarded
His well deserved V.C.
A Temporary Gentleman
But in truth I must confess
Not really the type to join
Any Regular Officers’ Mess.
The Guildhall clock chimes
Eleven times this special day,
A great silence descends as
The two minutes tick away.
On parade at the Cenotaph,
An old man among old men
(Where did the years go for
In my mind I’m young again):
Not in best battledress
Or even Regimental Blues
But I’m booted and suited
With not quite bulled shoes,
And the old drill moves come back
So i manage to get them right
But age won’t quite let me stand
To attention, back ramrod straight.
Mixed in with the younger ones we old
Men marched with swagger and pride
Through the applause of the crowds,
Who lined the streets on either side.
For each of us in our way
Have walked that special walk
And we all still today
Can talk that special talk.
With pride and emotion we accepted
From those crowds at the parade
On behalf of those long dead
Recognition of sacrifices made.
I shall not march again, this
Time I just needed to appear
To show my respect in this
One Hundredth Anniversary Year
By heck it was cold on the Humber ferry
The water was deep and Hull smelled like leather
May I mention the bridge it’s all there’s left
The boat man’s gone, it must be the Styx
Right it was cold on the Humber ferry
!ow I’m a widow from him who I married
His mother was Hilda his father was Harry
His father went fast but his mother did tarry
We could well have drowned her
If she had come on the ferry.
Hull fair
October and it arrives,
Hull fair is a family thing,
As children parents take you,
Teenagers you go with mates,
As adults you take your kids,
I've not seen in years now,
No grandchildren you see.
In my life time it's always arrived and I'm 55,
I still remember the sights, sounds and shouts of joy,
Hull fair brings it all to all ages there is nothing around to compete,
In 1993 it was the 700th anniversary and still going strong.
Only twice had it closed in all that time,
For WW1 and WW2 because illuminations could be seen,
It's never closed again it's always arrived in Hull down Walton street,
This year 2020 will see it closed once again,
Due to a war with covid 19,
Hull will welcome you next year ....... hopefully.
No sunrise sparkled brighter,
No thunder clapped,
No trumpet sounded at your birth.
You were just born,
Grew to live youth,
To fish back country ponds, summer streams,
Run roadways and highways like a deer,
To work, to marry,
Raise a family,
Retire to loneliness,
To find yourself
Within yourself
In back woods you loved.
Your friends were trees,
As were birds, and clouds and summer flowers
And squash berries.
When you were down, you looked up
To her, your departed love and wife-Annie.
Your joy was in a tenor voice to guitars,
Kitchen sing -a- longs
And cowboy yodeling.
You knew not your time.
No bugle sounded at your death,
The world paid no respects
But we wept there beneath tall trees and mountains,
Where you were laid to rest,
Where mother finally saw you home
And peace was truly yours.
Spruce trees, fish, clouds, ponds and streams
Will all remember you…as I.
W.C.Hull ©2000-2020-20-11-018
I'm going to sea in a blueberry boat
paddling far past fakers and breakers
where I'm told there's happiness and hope
more givers and doers, not dreamers and takers.
I'll sing salty songs with sharks and gulls,
until they nibble away my blueberry hull
and gift this soul unto the deep blueness-
Hull is the great and unique city where I was born
Sitting on the Humber estuary...proud and all alone
Known for keeping Charles I and his army out through courage and bravery
Also the birthplace of William Wilberforce who helped abolish slavery
The most bombed city outside of London during the 2nd World War
This made a strong community stronger even more
With a long and colourful history in shipbuilding, fishing and trading
The old image of Hull is still there ...but it's fading
The docks have been redesigned as shopping centre's or parks
It has an amazing aquarium that's got jellyfish, stingrays and sharks
The music and arts scene in Hull holds its own against the rest
The 2 mile bridge that spans the river is rated amongst the best
There's many green spaces to chill or restaurants to drink and dine in
It's now not unusual for Hull City or FC to score or even get a win
Hull has been rewarded with the City of Culture 2017
The redevelopment of this great city is very welcome but totally unforeseen
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