The Bear between the Wars

The Bear between the Wars

The Bear between the Wars

The Bear between the Wars

I sat on Little Boo�s seat,
(�Who loved Rodborough, 1954-69�)
The night after the �60�s party in Butterow,
(Keith Allen in attendance,
The Sheriff of Nottingham in Rodborough)
Gazing at the Oxford Movement�s Catholic revival,
Over in the Victorian valleys opposite,
Watching the dance of the Nymphsfield windmill,
In the blue-green April light, with cowslips and orchids
Nearby, at manly, protestant Baden-Powell�s plantation,
(�No man worthy of the name will allow a woman or child to stand up if he has a seat�)
I was alone and so stayed seated,
Thinking of B-P�s Easter 1916 Rodborough visit,
The same day as the Dublin Uprising,
Two months before the Somme,
And listened to a skylark sing,
(My grand-dad�s favourite bird-song,
Childhood armchair Great War stories for boys),
Then made my way to the Rodborough Croquet Club,
Up at the Bear,
17th century coaching-inn,
Ribbon-developed by inter-war arterial traffic,
New tennis courts in the 20�s,

Then a bowling green,
And now a lawn for croquet.
I walked past the tiled canopied bus shelter,
(Buses for Chalford, Ciren and Coates),
A small sign on the wall, revealing the past:
“Petrol and oil between 8a.m. and 6 p.m. Please ring the bell”,
Opened the fret-worked iron- gate,
To see the hidden, secret wonderland –
Chestnut tree candles lighting up the day,
Primrose on the shady bank,
A giant roller standing sentinel,
A perfect level greensward,
A perfect pavilion,
And no Alice in Wonderland caper,
Instead a perfect fusion of snooker and chess,
An open air series of plots and stratagems,
Where angles are measured by geometricians,
Like master mariners with an eye on the sun and sextant,
Mistress mariners too,
For this is a game where men and women are equal,
And where all are welcome,
Hoops and boundaries and baulks and pegs,
Red and yellow and black and blue,
25 years of the croquet club,
A Rodborough anniversary,

Come along and visit –
There might be a hoop and mallet just for you.

The Bear between the Wars