Mandy Rose, Helen Abbey with Stuart Brindle as M.C Last week, I was in Clacton with
The Grand Theatre of Lemmings.
The theme of the street theatre event was Then And Now. It was a commemoration of WW1, with Mandy Rose and Helen Abbey singing Old Time Music Hall, the young Lemmings running circus skills for children and a poppy making workshop. There were letters from the trenches read by Charlie Peacock and my workshop was to collect words, thoughts, ideas, and memories from people passing by and to write them on postcards to be added to a time capsule. I wrote the poem below from those words and memories and it was read back to the people of Clacton at the end of the day.
Then and Now
Written by the people of Clacton
25th July 2014
Never has so much been owed to so few.
I still think of you every day, Walter.
The arguments and fights we had as boys, but we were always friends
in the end.
You hated it when people wasted food.
Do you remember how we collected shrapnel after air raids
which we sold for sweets when we were evacuated to Wales?
I miss the comradeship.
My friends, brothers, real heroes
who gave their lives, and limbs for freedom.
For others.
Unselfish, loving, hopeful.
Brave men and women.
Memories gone by now...
A word, a sound, a bomb whistles by, or perhaps a sigh?
The world has failed.
What have we learned?
Missiles still fly, innocent people still die.
Lest we forget....
It was a great day. Thanks to The Grand Theatre of Lemmings and to all who passed by, aged from 8 -80's, and added their voice to the memories of Then And Now....
www.lemmingstheatre.co.uk/
https://www.facebook.com/theatreoflemmings
The Grand Theatre of Lemmings.
The theme of the street theatre event was Then And Now. It was a commemoration of WW1, with Mandy Rose and Helen Abbey singing Old Time Music Hall, the young Lemmings running circus skills for children and a poppy making workshop. There were letters from the trenches read by Charlie Peacock and my workshop was to collect words, thoughts, ideas, and memories from people passing by and to write them on postcards to be added to a time capsule. I wrote the poem below from those words and memories and it was read back to the people of Clacton at the end of the day.
Then and Now
Written by the people of Clacton
25th July 2014
Never has so much been owed to so few.
I still think of you every day, Walter.
The arguments and fights we had as boys, but we were always friends
in the end.
You hated it when people wasted food.
Do you remember how we collected shrapnel after air raids
which we sold for sweets when we were evacuated to Wales?
I miss the comradeship.
My friends, brothers, real heroes
who gave their lives, and limbs for freedom.
For others.
Unselfish, loving, hopeful.
Brave men and women.
Memories gone by now...
A word, a sound, a bomb whistles by, or perhaps a sigh?
The world has failed.
What have we learned?
Missiles still fly, innocent people still die.
Lest we forget....
It was a great day. Thanks to The Grand Theatre of Lemmings and to all who passed by, aged from 8 -80's, and added their voice to the memories of Then And Now....
www.lemmingstheatre.co.uk/
https://www.facebook.com/theatreoflemmings
