Tales
Hiya how are you doin?
I’m ok..getting a bit colder tho isn’t it?
Yes you’ll need a hat on
Well I’ve got my scarf on!
Where you off to..town?
No I’m going to London..I’m in the Oral history Society
They record people’s stories.
Well I could tell you a few stories, the stuff I’ve seen!
Yeah me an all! We could tell you a few stories..
Janet Jones (age 54) Halifax
Home
Snug
Hyacinths
Cat
Conker trees and lambs’ tails innit
A broken home
Becoming
A stable home
With solid wooden beams
Stunning sunsets beat Thornton Heath
Pet ponies and large geese
fantastic nest of a bed
snuggy snuggy snug.
A collaboration between friends over Sunday lunch:
Carter Carter, Annie, Cindie, Louise, Fay, Jen and Fiona
Sometimes my home is a precarious place,
An uncertain structure,
Crumbling and creaking at every stormy hit.
this home of mine endures
Sometimes my home is magnificent
and makes me proud.
It cushions me against onslaught and hurt.
this home of mine evolves.
My home is a sanctuary
Always open to others,
Despite every failure it has never failed.
This home of mine is steadfast
This home is my body
My temple
This home is my heart.
Megan Williams (age 64) Wales
The front door slams shut
and the warmth of the heat flushes his cheeks.
The wine sloshes into the glass.
The purr of the zip sliding closed as the breeze is temporarily blocked.
Still too cold to take off his hat.
A tug of the ring pull to open the can.
The covers flap and shuffle in the wind.
He draws them over his rough stubble on his cold and weary body.
He reaches for another can.
Our ‘homes’ are so different but are we?
Anne Lamb (51) Palm Bay
Come nuh. Come mek we watch.Tallawa.
Seet deh, how we rumble tumble back black inna we love.
Tek of we hat, boot and glove.
Nyam till we belly full. Returning. Renewed.
Jo Fraser, London
Hallowe’en 1987
the tartan flash of your scarf as you appeared at the top of the platform at Euston
the beam of your smile as you ran towards me
hurtling a trolley to scoop up all my worldy possessions
crammed in cardboard boxes
the look of sheer delight across your face as you held my face
and we kissed
a long deep kiss
and a warm knowing glow hummed between us
as we took the first steps to setting up home together
sharing the weight of the wobbly trolley
up the sloping platform.
Fiona Thomson (age 58) Margate
I’d know the split in the road
Gear down the confluence of valleys
Tighter grip to take the bend
His compression brakes and ring the bell twice for last homeward stops of excited moments to an ending.
This fortress, cloaks and shields.
Where we lay ourselves bare.
Front door, family, heat, quiet, company sometimes.
Cooking, home-cooking.
A collective piece by:
Janet Jones (age 54) Halifax
Nicola (age 48) Shoreham
Davinia (age 40) Shoreham
Tracey Daley (age 53) Hackney
I’d know the split in the road
Gear down the confluence of valleys
Tighter grip to take the bend
His compression brakes and ring the bell twice for last homeward stops of excited moments to an ending.
This fortress, cloaks and shields.
Where we lay ourselves bare.
a collective effort by:
Janet Jones (age 54) Halifax
Nicola 48 Shoreham
Davinia 40 Shoreham
Ride
I’d know the split in the road
Gear down the confluence of valleys
Tighter grip to take the bend
His compression brakes and ring the bell twice for last homeward stops of
excited moments to an ending.
Janet Jones (age 54) Halifax
Home
Home is family,
Home is a friend,
Home is a mystery from end
to end
home is a house for me.
Home is a puzzle as big as the world,
Home is a house for young and old,
Home is a house for me.
Home is my family,
Home is my friend,
My house is the home for me.
Erin Lobb, (age 11), Horsham
