REFLECTIONS and RHYME

This poem is a nostalgic walk around my old Primary school classroom. I only have to close my eyes and I am back there with the sights, smells and feelings experienced. Everything from the clanking radiators, the store cupboard and the smell of dinner cooking next door, gets a mention. Do you remember the smell of the plasticine and the sound of the blackboard revolving, along with the kindly voic...

This poem is about the pre-school nursery which I went to in the hamlet of Bubnell, England,  when I was 2 or 3 years old. It covers my old memories and  also musings as to what happened to the teddy that I used to play with. A little more melancholy perhaps.

This is a poem about some of the curve balls that life can send us and how we can get through such tough situations or have to learn to adapt and find a new way of living with things that can’t be fixed. It also looks at some of the good things which can ultimately come out of such situations—things which you probably would never have noticed before life changed.

This poem will take you back to carnival time, wherever you went to yours and wherever you might still go to now to join in the fun. Can you hear the crowds cheering and see the bunting blowing in the wind, as the variety of floats, walkers and marching bands go past? I hope this poem re-captures for you some of the joy and energy of a summer carnival day wherever and whatever that means for you

I loved writing this poem because I was immediately back on our local "rec" in Baslow, and could see the bunting blowing in the wind and hear the children shouting! I hope it takes you back to the egg and spoon race, the sack race, the infamous tug of war, the tiny tot’s race and of course, the embarrassment of watching your mum and dad in the parent’s race. You’ll remember the anxiety, the fear,...

This poem takes a look at my ageing process and also that of my husband as we bumble along together. It is a tongue in cheek study of the changes we have seen and continue to see from needing glasses, our hearing changes, the menopause ( obviously me only), through the various new aches and pains experienced and our reactions to them. As there is little that we can do about the process, we basical...

This poem takes the listener on a walk around the old town of Bakewell in Derbyshire, England.    This is the Bakewell that I remember when growing up and is a special glimpse into a few frozen moments in time. If you are local it may trigger many memories and feelings which you thought were long gone. Even if you are not local, I suspect that it will take you back to another special town in your...

This poem contains a load of memories about dinner times at Primary School, from the meals we ate such as Cheese Pie and beans to the kind dinner ladies in their orange overalls who brought the trolleys to the tables for the very important servers to dish up. When you listen to it, I hope you hear the sounds from the kitchen, the chatter of the children and I hope you see those meals once again in...

The Village Hop  is a nostalgic walk down memory lane to the local village discos and hops which we used to go to as teenagers! Although the villages and towns mentioned in the poem are in Derbyshire, the verses will undoubtedly take you back to your youth and the parties you went to as a teenager. Wherever you spent those years, it may also remind you of some of the poignant feelings you experien...

This one, I guess is about knowing what helps to maintain your own mental health. Once again, it’s about stopping and focussing down on the small things.

This story is about waking up to find that the garden has been transformed with frosty cobwebs hanging in the trees because a spider has visited during the winter night.  I think the theme of this poem is about learning to stop for a while and look at the small but incredibly beautiful things in life.    

This is a short poem about the Derbyshire hills.    As a child I would sit and look at them initially from the village green and then from my window in Baslow, England, and be awe inspired as the night came down.   These magical memories have  given me strength and a sense of inner peace as an adult.    The poem ends with my awareness of an ultimate reunion with those hills.