I popped in to see John Tizehurst the other day (he plays the accordion in my photofilm Memories of a house). I wanted to show him the pictures of him lighting the Jubilee Beacon from back in June. He's not been so well lately and I thought they might cheer him up. We had a lovely chat about this and that and as I was leaving he gave me a copy of this poem. Spoken in the old Devon way it sounds really lovely.
Old cob wall
Have fell at last:
Us knowed he might
A good while past.
Great-grandad he
Built thicky wall
With maiden earth
And oaten strawl
He built en in
The good old way.
And there he've stood
Until today
But wind and rain
And frost and snow
Have all combined
To lay en low.
Us propped en up
With stones and 'ood
Us done our best,
But tweren't no good.
He gived a bit
And then a lot,
And at the finish
Down he squat.
And now, since barns
Has got to be,
Us'll build another
'Stead of he.
But not the same
He was afore,
'Cos no one builds
Cob walls no more.
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