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    • 2023-24 Trophy Winners >
      • Richard Holland Cup Winning Entry
      • Harry Craven Cup Winning Entry
      • President's Cup Winning Entry
      • T' Kissin' Shuttle Winning Entry
    • 2022 - 23 Trophy Winners
    • 2022 - 23 Winners' Photo Gallery
    • 2020 - 21 Trophy Winners
    • 2020 - 21 Winners' Photo Gallery
    • 2020 - 21 Winning Entries blank >
      • ODE TO A COTTON REEL - Sally James
      • ABSENT FRIENDS - NODDLE YED'S TALE - Betty Lightfoot
      • PiICKING COAL WITH DAD - Sally James
      • NIGHT SHIFT - Neville Southern
      • Frank Gibson's entry not published
    • 2019 Winning Entries >
      • A LUVIN’ ‘USBANT’S TREAT - Ron Williams
      • MOLLIE'S MEANDERINGS - Sally James
      • BLOOD BROTHERS - Sally James
      • THE OLD MILL STREAM - Sally James
      • Frank Gibson's entry not published
  • Edwin Waugh
    • Brief Biography
    • Waugh's Poems >
      • Poems and Songs Vol 1 1889
      • Posies From a Country Garden
      • More Poems and Songs - Full Length Book
      • Miscellany
    • Waugh's letters to his publisher
    • Other Waugh's letters
  • Waugh's Well
    • Notice Board Replacement
    • WAUGH'S WELL WALK
    • Videos and Gallery - 2021 Walk
    • Gallery - 2018 Walk
    • Gallery - 2017 Walk
    • Early Waugh's Well Photos
  • OUTSIDE EVENTS
    • FOLK LIKE US EVENT
    • 2018 Bolton Station Promotion >
      • Gallery - Bolton Station Stall
      • Video - Sid Calderbank with his Bones
      • Video - Come Whoam to thi' Childer an' Me
    • 2017 Nov 24 Edwin Waugh Tribute Night >
      • Edwin Waugh Tribute Night - Video of the whole performance
      • Videos of the Individual Songs from the evening >
        • Lift On The Way
        • Com Whoam t' thi' Childer and Me
        • Bide On
        • When The Sun Goes Down
    • 2017 National Dialect Festival >
      • Video - Sid Calderbank recites poem
  • SALES

SALLY JAMES       The best POEM in Standard English - subject matter open 
                                             The winner of the President's Cup


                                                               The Old Mill Stream

                                                           I love to walk by the old mill stream
                                                          where the Rose Bay Willow grows
                                                          where catkins weep and bluebells peep
                                                          and entwine the Briar Rose.

                                                                                                     I love to hear the cuckoo call
                                                                                                     near the crumbling dry stone wall
                                                                                                     yet that rippling stream isn’t all it seems
                                                                                                      near the flowing waterfall.

                                                            For I hear the voice of yesterday
                                                            babbling through cold waters
                                                           echoing words tired fathers said
                                                           to mothers, sons and daughters.

                                                                                                         They talk of hours long and hard
                                                                                                         and the meagre lowly pay
                                                                                                         of children’s laughter turned to tears
                                                                                                         in the early hours of day.

                                                              Half-timers juggling work with school
                                                              too young to know the shame
                                                              of crawling under lashing looms
                                                             oblivious of who’s to blame.

                                                                                                         Those days are gone and glad I am
                                                                                                         that the old mill stream still flows
                                                                                                         rambling on in the same old way
                                                                                                         where the Rose Bay Willow grows.

                                                               Sally James
                                                          _____________________     
  • HOME
  • LATEST NEWS
  • Calendar
    • EVENTS 2024-25
  • ABOUT US
    • HOW TO FIND US
    • HOW TO JOIN
    • WAUGH'S BIRTHDAY SUPPER
    • COMMITTEE
    • OUR CONSTITUTION
    • SPEAKER SERVICES
    • CONTACT US
  • COMPETITIONS
    • 2023-24 Trophy Winners >
      • Richard Holland Cup Winning Entry
      • Harry Craven Cup Winning Entry
      • President's Cup Winning Entry
      • T' Kissin' Shuttle Winning Entry
    • 2022 - 23 Trophy Winners
    • 2022 - 23 Winners' Photo Gallery
    • 2020 - 21 Trophy Winners
    • 2020 - 21 Winners' Photo Gallery
    • 2020 - 21 Winning Entries blank >
      • ODE TO A COTTON REEL - Sally James
      • ABSENT FRIENDS - NODDLE YED'S TALE - Betty Lightfoot
      • PiICKING COAL WITH DAD - Sally James
      • NIGHT SHIFT - Neville Southern
      • Frank Gibson's entry not published
    • 2019 Winning Entries >
      • A LUVIN’ ‘USBANT’S TREAT - Ron Williams
      • MOLLIE'S MEANDERINGS - Sally James
      • BLOOD BROTHERS - Sally James
      • THE OLD MILL STREAM - Sally James
      • Frank Gibson's entry not published
  • Edwin Waugh
    • Brief Biography
    • Waugh's Poems >
      • Poems and Songs Vol 1 1889
      • Posies From a Country Garden
      • More Poems and Songs - Full Length Book
      • Miscellany
    • Waugh's letters to his publisher
    • Other Waugh's letters
  • Waugh's Well
    • Notice Board Replacement
    • WAUGH'S WELL WALK
    • Videos and Gallery - 2021 Walk
    • Gallery - 2018 Walk
    • Gallery - 2017 Walk
    • Early Waugh's Well Photos
  • OUTSIDE EVENTS
    • FOLK LIKE US EVENT
    • 2018 Bolton Station Promotion >
      • Gallery - Bolton Station Stall
      • Video - Sid Calderbank with his Bones
      • Video - Come Whoam to thi' Childer an' Me
    • 2017 Nov 24 Edwin Waugh Tribute Night >
      • Edwin Waugh Tribute Night - Video of the whole performance
      • Videos of the Individual Songs from the evening >
        • Lift On The Way
        • Com Whoam t' thi' Childer and Me
        • Bide On
        • When The Sun Goes Down
    • 2017 National Dialect Festival >
      • Video - Sid Calderbank recites poem
  • SALES