Allotments
The crowd is running, my heart is thumping Apples pears, we’ve just been scrumping The Hungerhill Gardens, there’s allotments galore we’d see fallen apples all over the floor The owner shouted, “Don’t dare climb the gate There’s fallen fruit if you just wait" But scrumping was fun and not getting caught They tasted better than the ones we bought Cold ashes, and soot, Shipstone’s horse muck Lots of elbow grease, and a bit of luck (Made the garden grow, and do you know) Things that were grown were yearly shown. A silver cup for the winner, for him to take home Some allotments are still there They thrive year after year Fruit, veg. flowers, hedge, green fingers turned the soil Still today Gardeners would say It was worth all the sweat and toil Friends together would keep “on lookout " If the owner was coming, they’d whistle and shout We shouldn’t have scrumped them, it wasn’t allowed It was 1960 when I ran with the crowd The gardener said “I’ll teach you to scrump my apples” I wish he would we didn’t do very well .......................only jesting Where did all the years go ? We had a million plans A happy Crowd of kids Who were raised in St Ann's There's lots of roads and side streets Off St Ann's Well Road Hunger Hills and Allotments Today let my memories unfold Jean |
After the first visit to the Allotments I penned a few lines, I'd already had a poem about scrumping.
And now I was going for a second visit, this time Janet Watson an old school pal had got in touch . Through the wonderful St Ann's site - the happiness this site has given me personally is amazing - almost 50 years had gone by. but when we met Janet it was like yesterday. When I got home I penned these few lines. Our second visit to the Allotments It was so much fun and after 50 years I met an old school chum The crowd we were with was amazing just like the Gardens ..that we saw Mo Cooper's knowledge is great and the information she has in store All the memories of being a kid When families grew fruit and veg and playing up there in the summer Hide and seek behind the hedge A short cut to Coppice Rec do a bit of scrumping on the way all the memories come back just like Yesterday . |
Webmaster: Mavis Baker (co-admin of St Ann's Well Road Pre-Demolition (1970) Online Community)