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St Johns Newington
Such a beautiful building
Airy and spacy and light
Just off Hesse Road, a place,
For that occasion, just right.
One of the trawlermens’ churches
A community now scattered and gone
But thanks to these old photos
It's memory will live on and on.
Just a visitor from the Social
For years I wandered each street
Learning compassion and humilty
From many I happened to meet.
That spirit of survival
That spirit of making do
That spirit of optimism
A spirit of just pulling through.
I think I know some of the faces
But then again I don't really know
Memory can play many tricks
And it was so many years ago.
They smashed down those streets
But what was so much worse
They rehoused in new estates so that
The Community was almost dispersed
Deep Sea Fishing died in Hull
And with it many other jobs gone.
It's been a long slow process but
Maybe our City has finally moved on.
One hundred old photos displayed
To remind us of just what we've lost
I know in time all things progress
But sometimes at a terrible cost.
Old Hessle Road now just a shadow
Of the place it used to be
When it housed those who
Dragged their livings from the sea.
I left that beautiful building feeling
Full of hope rather than despair.
Although most things have changed
That community, in spirit, was still there.
,
Copyright ©
Terry Ireland
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